Case Title: Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility v. James A. Beau

Citation: 

Docket Number: 1994AP002158-D

State: wisconsin

Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court

Date: 1995-10-10T00:00:00Z

Document:
No. 94-2158-D 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
NOTICE 
This opinion is subject to further 
editing and modification.  The final 
version will appear in the bound 
volume of the official reports.   
 
 
 
 
No.  94-2158-D 
 
STATE OF WISCONSIN             :                IN SUPREME COURT 
                                                                   
 
 
In the Matter of Disciplinary Proceedings 
Against JAMES A. BEAUDRY, Attorney at Law. 
 
FILED 
 
 
OCT 10, 1995 
 
 
 Marilyn L. Graves 
  Clerk of Supreme Court 
  
Madison, WI  
 
                                                                
   
 
 
 
ATTORNEY 
disciplinary 
proceeding. 
 
Attorney 
publicly 
reprimanded.   
 
PER CURIAM.   We review the recommendation of the referee 
that Attorney James A. Beaudry be publicly reprimanded for 
professional misconduct.  That misconduct consisted of his failure 
to act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing a 
client in a personal bankruptcy, failing to keep that client 
reasonably informed of the status of the matter and engaging in 
conduct involving dishonesty or misrepresentation in his filing of 
the bankruptcy petition.  We determine that the recommended public 
reprimand 
is 
appropriate 
discipline 
to 
impose 
for 
that 
professional misconduct.   
 
No. 94-2158-D 
 
 
 
2 
 
Attorney Beaudry was licensed to practice law in Wisconsin in 
1978 and practices in Milwaukee county.  In 1993, the Board of 
Attorneys Professional Responsibility privately reprimanded him 
for neglect of a legal matter.   
 
The referee, Attorney Michael Ash, made the following 
findings of fact concerning Attorney Beaudry's misconduct in the 
representation of a client who retained him in June, 1993 to 
pursue a personal bankruptcy, for which she paid him $450.  At her 
second meeting with him on August 24, 1993, the client signed a 
voluntary bankruptcy petition that Attorney Beaudry had prepared, 
which included schedules of debts and assets and other financial 
information the client had provided him.  Three of the client's 
five signatures on the petition declared "under penalty of 
perjury" that the information set forth therein was true and 
correct.  Although the client did not herself enter the date she 
had signed, the referee found that the date of August 24, 1993 had 
been typed or written next to each of her signatures.   
 
During that meeting, when the client expressed concern that 
not all of her creditors had been listed on the schedules, 
Attorney Beaudry told her to obtain a credit report and said he 
would hold the petition and schedules until he heard from her.  
The client gave him a credit report on September 10, 1993, that 
revealed one creditor not previously named on the schedules.  
Attorney Beaudry told the client he would add the additional 
 
No. 94-2158-D 
 
 
 
3 
creditor to the schedule and that within two or three weeks he 
would file the bankruptcy petition.   
 
Notwithstanding that he had all of the information needed to 
file the petition on September 10, 1993, Attorney Beaudry did not 
file it until November 10, 1993.  In the intervening time, 
Attorney Beaudry and his client never spoke with one another, 
despite the client's repeated attempts to contact him.  The client 
had received numerous calls from creditors who said they were 
unaware of her bankruptcy.  The client then attempted numerous 
times to reach Attorney Beaudry by telephone to learn the status 
of the bankruptcy and went to his office several times but did not 
get to see him.  Attorney Beaudry never contacted his client in 
response to those inquiries and made no significant effort to do 
so.   
 
When the client contacted the bankruptcy court in November, 
1993 and learned that no petition had been filed, she retained 
other counsel to represent her.  That attorney filed the 
bankruptcy petition on November 10, 1993, coincidentally the same 
day Attorney Beaudry filed the client's bankruptcy petition.   
 
The petition Attorney Beaudry filed was generally the same 
document the client had signed on August 24, 1993 but he added one 
or two creditors, apparently based on the credit report the client 
gave him, although he did so without the client's knowledge.  
Although the client did not have an opportunity to review and 
verify the contents of the revised petition prior to its filing, 
 
No. 94-2158-D 
 
 
 
4 
Attorney Beaudry altered all of the dates that had been inserted 
next to his client's signatures to read "11-9-93,"  making it 
appear that the client had signed and verified the information on 
the revised petition.  Attorney Beaudry did not inform the client 
that he had altered the date of her signature and had done nothing 
to verify that the financial information set forth in the petition 
was the same as that of two months earlier.  When he filed the 
petition, the information contained in it was not current.   
 
The filing of two bankruptcy petitions on behalf of the same 
person on the same day by two different attorneys prompted an 
inquiry by the bankruptcy judge.  Following a hearing at which 
Attorney Beaudry acknowledged he had changed the dates on the 
petition signed by his client, the court found that he had not 
acted diligently and, because of the two months' delay in filing 
the client's petition, was not entitled to compensation for or 
reimbursement of any expenses he incurred in her representation.  
The court dismissed the petition filed by Attorney Beaudry for 
cause and ordered him to refund to the client the fee she had paid 
him.  Attorney Beaudry complied with that order.   
 
On the basis of those facts, the referee concluded as 
follows.  Attorney Beaudry failed to act with reasonable diligence 
and promptness in representing this client, in violation of SCR 
20:1.3;1 failed to keep his client reasonably informed of the 
                     
     1  SCR 20:1.3 provides:  Diligence 
 
A lawyer shall act with reasonable diligence and promptness 
in representing a client.   
 
No. 94-2158-D 
 
 
 
5 
status of her bankruptcy matter, in violation of SCR 20:1.4(a);2 
and engaged in conduct involving dishonesty or misrepresentation, 
in violation of SCR 20:8.4(c),3 by altering the bankruptcy 
petition to indicate falsely that it had been signed and the 
financial information in it verified by his client on November 9, 
1993, when in fact it was not signed on that date and the client 
had not verified the financial information in it.  As discipline 
for that misconduct, the referee recommended that the court impose 
a public reprimand on Attorney Beaudry.   
 
We adopt the referee's findings of fact and conclusions of 
law concerning Attorney Beaudry's professional misconduct.  A 
public reprimand is the appropriate discipline to impose for that 
misconduct.   
 
IT IS ORDERED that Attorney James A. Beaudry is publicly 
reprimanded as discipline for professional misconduct.   
 
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that within 60 days of the date of this 
order James A. Beaudry pay to the Board of Attorneys Professional 
Responsibility the costs of this disciplinary proceeding, provided 
that if the costs are not paid within the time specified and 
                     
     2  SCR 20:1.4 provides, in pertinent part:  Communication 
 
(a)  A lawyer shall keep a client reasonably informed about 
the status of a matter and promptly comply with reasonable 
requests for information.   
     3  SCR 20:8.4 provides, in pertinent part:  Misconduct 
 
It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to:   
 
. . . 
 
(c)  engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or 
misrepresentation;   
 
No. 94-2158-D 
 
 
 
6 
absent a showing to this court of his inability to pay the costs 
within that time, the license of James A. Beaudry to practice law 
in Wisconsin shall be suspended until further order of the court. 
  
 
 
No. 94-2158-D 
 
 
 
 
SUPREME COURT OF WISCONSIN 
 
                                                              
 
Case No.: 
 
94-2158-D 
                                                              
 
Complete Title 
of Case: 
In the Matter of Disciplinary 
 
 
 
Proceedings Against 
 
 
 
James A. Beaudry, 
 
 
 
Attorney at Law. 
 
 
 
___________________________________ 
 
 
 
 
DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS AGAINST BEAUDRY 
 
                                                              
 
Opinion Filed:  
October 10, 1995 
Submitted on Briefs: 
 
Oral Argument: 
 
 
                                                              
 
Source of APPEAL 
 
COURT: 
 
 
COUNTY: 
 
 
JUDGE: 
 
 
                                                              
 
JUSTICES: 
 
 
Concurred: 
 
 
Dissented: 
 
 
Not Participating: 
 
                                                              
 
ATTORNEYS: