Title: Cleveland Bar Assn. v. Berk

State: ohio

Issuer: Ohio Supreme Court

Document:

[Cite as Cleveland Bar Assn. v. Berk, 114 Ohio St.3d 478, 2007-Ohio-4264.] 
 
 
CLEVELAND BAR ASSOCIATION v. BERK. 
[Cite as Cleveland Bar Assn. v. Berk, 114 Ohio St.3d 478, 2007-Ohio-4264.] 
Attorneys at law—Misconduct — Multiple violations of the Disciplinary Rules — 
One-year stayed suspension and two years of probation ordered. 
(No. 2007-0737 — Submitted June 6, 2007 — Decided August 29, 2007.) 
ON CERTIFIED REPORT by the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and 
Discipline of the Supreme Court, No. 06-043. 
__________________ 
 
Per Curiam. 
{¶ 1} Respondent, Robert Jerome Berk of Cleveland, Ohio, Attorney 
Registration No. 0001031, was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1969.  For the reasons 
that follow, we conclude that respondent’s license to practice law in Ohio should 
be suspended for one year, with the suspension stayed on specified conditions.  
We also place respondent on probation for two years. 
{¶ 2} On June 12, 2006, relator, Cleveland Bar Association, filed a 
complaint charging respondent with professional misconduct.  A panel of the 
Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline held a hearing, considered 
the parties’ agreed stipulations, and made findings of misconduct and a 
recommendation, which the board adopted. 
Misconduct 
{¶ 3} In January 2001, Bonita Bryant and her mother, Eartha Bryant, 
hired respondent to represent them in a personal-injury matter.  Just prior to the 
expiration of the statute of limitations, respondent filed a lawsuit on the Bryants’ 
behalf in January 2003. 
{¶ 4} Respondent failed to attend a scheduled case-management 
conference on the matter in the Cuyahoga County trial court in April 2003 as well 
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as the rescheduled conference the following month.  At his disciplinary hearing, 
respondent described his failure to attend those conferences as “not good 
lawyering” and acknowledged that his conduct was “not reasonable or 
appropriate.” 
{¶ 5} Because the defendant named in the Bryants’ lawsuit did not 
answer the complaint, the trial court ordered respondent to file a motion for default 
judgment within ten days after June 25, 2003.  Respondent failed to file that 
motion, prompting the trial court to dismiss the Bryants’ case for want of 
prosecution. 
{¶ 6} Respondent refiled the case in January 2004, and the defendant 
again failed to respond to the complaint.  A default hearing was scheduled in the 
trial court in Cuyahoga County for May 18, 2004, and respondent was ordered to 
provide certain documents that would allow the court to grant a default judgment 
against the defendant.  Respondent did not provide the requested documents, and 
the case was again dismissed by the trial court for want of prosecution in 
December 2004. 
{¶ 7} During the course of the representation, the Bryants asked 
respondent for financial assistance to help them pay housing costs and other 
personal expenses.  Respondent gave each of them $500 as an advance on the 
settlement that he hoped to obtain for them from the defendant. 
{¶ 8} In November 2004 – before their second lawsuit was dismissed – 
the Bryants met with respondent and expressed their frustration about the long 
delay in getting the money that they believed they were entitled to receive from 
the defendant.  Respondent testified at his disciplinary hearing that he believed the 
Bryants were “unlikely to get very much, if anything” from their pending 
personal-injury lawsuit. He paid each of them an additional $500 after they 
executed a settlement agreement that he had prepared.  That agreement included a 
January Term, 2007 
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waiver of any rights that the Bryants may have had against respondent for his 
representation of them. 
{¶ 9} Respondent acknowledged, and the panel and the board found, that 
respondent’s actions violated the following Disciplinary Rules: DR 5-103(B) 
(prohibiting a lawyer from providing financial assistance or advancing funds to a 
client for expenses other than litigation costs), 6-101(A)(3) (barring an attorney 
from neglecting an entrusted legal matter), 6-102(A) (barring an attorney from 
attempting to exonerate himself or limit his liability to his client for personal 
malpractice), 7-101(A)(2) (prohibiting an attorney from intentionally failing to 
carry out a contract of professional employment), and 7-101(A)(3) (barring 
conduct that prejudices or damages a client). 
Sanction 
{¶ 10} In recommending a sanction for this misconduct, the board 
considered the aggravating and mitigating factors listed in Section 10 of the Rules 
and Regulations Governing Procedure on Complaints and Hearings Before the 
Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline (“BCGD Proc.Reg.”).  The 
board cited as an aggravating factor the pattern of misconduct evident in 
respondent’s failure to attend court hearings and meet court deadlines.  BCGD 
Proc.Reg. 10(B)(1)(c).  Mitigating factors identified by the board included the 
absence of any prior disciplinary record, the absence of any dishonest or selfish 
motive on the part of respondent, his cooperative attitude during the disciplinary 
process, and his good character and reputation.  BCGD Proc.Reg. 10(B)(2)(a), (b), 
(d), and (e). 
{¶ 11} The parties recommended that respondent be suspended from the 
practice of law for one year, with the entire suspension stayed on specified 
conditions.  The panel and the board agreed with that recommendation, although 
they also recommended that a monitor be appointed by relator to assist respondent 
with office-management issues in his law practice. 
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{¶ 12} We agree that respondent has committed the misconduct as 
described and agree that a one-year stayed suspension is the appropriate sanction.  
We have imposed a similar sanction in other cases.  See, e.g., Columbus Bar Assn. 
v. Micciulla, 106 Ohio St.3d 19, 2005-Ohio-3470, 830 N.E.2d 332 (imposing a 
one-year stayed suspension on an attorney who had neglected client matters but 
who had no prior disciplinary record, had not acted with a dishonest or selfish 
motive, and had cooperated with the disciplinary process); Columbus Bar Assn. v. 
Halliburton-Cohen (2002), 94 Ohio St.3d 217, 761 N.E.2d 1040 (imposing a one-
year stayed suspension on an attorney whose poor office-management practices 
had led her to violate ethical rules governing client funds); Toledo Bar Assn. v. 
Westmeyer (1988), 35 Ohio St.3d 261, 520 N.E.2d 223 (imposing a one-year 
stayed suspension on an attorney who had neglected a client matter and had tried 
to exonerate himself from liability for his malpractice). 
{¶ 13} Accordingly, respondent is suspended from the practice of law in 
Ohio for one year with the entire suspension stayed, provided that respondent (1) 
commits no further misconduct during the suspension period and (2) complies 
with all continuing-legal-education requirements for Ohio attorneys and attends at 
least six hours of instruction on effective office-management practices.  
Additionally, respondent is placed on probation for a period of two years pursuant 
to Gov.Bar R. V(9).  During the probation, respondent shall (1) allow the monitor 
appointed by relator pursuant to Gov.Bar R. V(9) to monitor his office-
management practices and his compliance with the rules governing the 
professional conduct of attorneys and (2) work with the monitor to ensure that he 
attends scheduled court appearances and responds to court orders.  If respondent 
violates any of the conditions of the stay or terms of the probation during the 
stayed portion of his suspension, the stay will be lifted, and respondent will serve 
the entire term as a period of actual suspension.  Costs are taxed to respondent. 
Judgment accordingly. 
January Term, 2007 
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MOYER, C.J., PFEIFER, LUNDBERG STRATTON, O’CONNOR, O’DONNELL, 
LANZINGER and CUPP, JJ., concur. 
__________________ 
 
Reminger & Reminger Co., L.P.A., Gary H. Goldwasser, and Bradley J. 
Barmen, for relator. 
 
Koblentz & Koblentz, Richard S. Koblentz, and Craig J. Morice, for 
respondent. 
______________________