CONCORD, N.H. – The New Hampshire Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the disbarment of a personal injury lawyer who made a settlement demand without his clients’ consent and threatened to drop the case on the morning of mediation unless they paid him a $2 million fee.

The court called Attorney Timothy O’Meara’s conduct “egregious” and said the biggest injury he caused was to the integrity of the legal profession.

O’Meara, who practices law in both New Hampshire and Vermont, did not immediately return a call seeking comment. His lawyer, Joshua Gordon, said he had not yet read the decision and couldn’t comment.

O’Meara represented Anita Conant, who was rendered a paraplegic after being rear-ended by a paving truck in 2005. She was 47 and the postmaster in New Castle, N.H., at the time of the accident.

O’Meara offered to settle the case for $11 million – the paving company’s policy limit – without her approval. The court says he also lied to the Professional Conduct Committee about whether the Conant family agreed to pay him $2 million months before the mediation session.

The court ruling states that when the Conants asked O’Meara what would happen if they fired him, O’Meara told them he would sue for a one-third contingency fee and that litigation “gets ugly.”

The Conants ultimately settled the lawsuit for $11.5 million.

The Professional Conduct Committee recommended that O’Meara be suspended from practicing law for three years, but the Supreme Court – the ultimate authority in lawyer disciplinary cases – ordered him disbarred and rejected his appeal. The court also ordered him to pay all costs of the PCC investigation and prosecution.

“Disbarment is necessary to protect the public and preserve the integrity of the legal profession when…,” Justice Carol Ann Conboy wrote, in the unanimous ruling.