Title: Disciplinary Counsel v. Johnson

State: ohio

Issuer: Ohio Supreme Court

Document:

[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as 
Disciplinary Counsel v. Johnson, Slip Opinion No. 2012-Ohio-1284.] 
 
 
NOTICE 
This slip opinion is subject to formal revision before it is published in 
an advance sheet of the Ohio Official Reports.  Readers are requested 
to promptly notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of Ohio, 
65 South Front Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, of any typographical or 
other formal errors in the opinion, in order that corrections may be 
made before the opinion is published. 
 
SLIP OPINION NO. 2012-OHIO-1284 
DISCIPLINARY COUNSEL v. JOHNSON. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets,  
it may be cited as Disciplinary Counsel v. Johnson,  
Slip Opinion No. 2012-Ohio-1284.] 
Attorney misconduct, including commingling and failing to keep records of funds 
held for clients—Two-year suspension with 18 months stayed on 
condition. 
(No. 2010-2199—Submitted October 18, 2011—Decided March 28, 2012.) 
ON CERTIFIED REPORT by the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and 
Discipline of the Supreme Court, No. 10-081. 
__________________ 
Per Curiam. 
{¶ 1} Respondent, Frederick Bruce Johnson of Marysville, Ohio, 
Attorney Registration No. 0003093, was admitted to the practice of law in Ohio in 
1977.  In a three-count complaint filed on August 16, 2010, relator, disciplinary 
counsel charged Johnson with multiple counts of professional misconduct based 
on his commingling personal and client funds in his client trust account, 
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improperly withdrawing client funds from that account, failing to maintain 
records for each client for whom he held funds, and failing to cooperate in the 
ensuing disciplinary investigation. 
{¶ 2} Although Johnson received relator’s complaint by certified mail, 
he did not answer it, and on November 16, 2010, relator filed a motion for default.  
A master commissioner appointed by the Board of Commissioners on Grievances 
and Discipline appointed a master commissioner, who made findings of fact and 
misconduct and recommended that Johnson be suspended from the practice of law 
for two years with six months stayed on the condition that he attend at least six 
hours of continuing legal education in law-office management. 
{¶ 3} The board adopted the master commissioner’s report and filed it 
with this court.  Johnson timely filed objections to the board’s report and moved 
to both supplement the record and remand the matter to the board for presentation 
of additional evidence in mitigation.  On February 24, 2011, we remanded this 
cause to the board to receive and consider supplementary mitigation evidence.  
128 Ohio St.3d 1404, 2011-Ohio-807, 941 N.E.2d 1205. 
{¶ 4} In light of the mitigating evidence submitted on remand, the board 
now recommends that Johnson be suspended from the practice of law for two 
years, with 18 months stayed.  Neither party objects to the board’s report.  We 
adopt the findings of fact and misconduct as found by the board in its December 
17, 2010 report, and agree with its August 22, 2011 report that a two-year 
suspension with 18 months stayed is the appropriate sanction for Johnson’s 
misconduct. 
Misconduct 
{¶ 5} Based upon Johnson’s deposition testimony and the documents 
submitted by relator, the board found that on July 31, 2006, Johnson deposited 
into his client trust account $89,000 that he had received as an inheritance.  
Before he made the deposit, the account contained over $17,000, $13,300 of 
January Term, 2012 
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which was held in trust for divorce client Lawrence Shane Malloy.  Johnson 
continued to deposit personal and client funds into the account and wrote 
numerous checks to himself, his wife, his assistant, and various entities for his 
personal and business expenses.  At his deposition, Johnson testified that he had 
used his client trust account for personal transactions under the mistaken belief 
that the Internal Revenue Service had placed a lien on his personal checking 
account. 
{¶ 6} Johnson failed to maintain individual client ledgers for all of the 
client funds in his possession.  And from August to December 2009, there were at 
least nine separate occasions when his client trust account was either overdrawn 
or checks were returned for insufficient funds. 
{¶ 7} On April 27, 2009, Malloy’s divorce decree, which ordered that 
the funds Johnson held in trust for Malloy be paid to Malloy’s ex-wife, became 
final.  When Johnson did not respond to requests for payment, the ex-wife moved 
the court to compel payment and award attorney fees.  Johnson did not respond to 
the ex-wife’s motion, but appeared for deposition.  There, Johnson represented 
that the entire $13,300 was in his trust account, but it was not. 
{¶ 8} Johnson failed to abide by a court order to deposit the funds with 
the clerk of court, but he appeared at an August 2009 hearing with a certified bank 
check for $13,300.  He objected to the ex-wife’s counsel’s request to see his bank 
records, arguing that it should not matter what his records showed because he was 
tendering the full $13,300.  Johnson advised the court that his accounting methods 
would not make any sense to counsel, and he falsely stated that he maintained a 
separate ledger for each of his clients.  But when the court specifically asked 
whether the $13,300 had remained in Johnson’s trust account continuously from 
the date he received the funds, he admitted that they had not. 
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{¶ 9} The board found that Johnson’s conduct with regard to his client 
trust account prior to February 1, 2007,1 violated DR 9-102(A)2 (requiring a 
lawyer to deposit all client funds in one or more identifiable bank accounts and to 
keep the funds separate from the lawyer’s own property) and 9-102(B)(3) 
(requiring a lawyer to maintain complete records of all client property coming 
into the lawyer’s possession and render appropriate accounts to each client) and 
that his conduct after February 1, 2007, violated Prof.Cond.R. 1.15(a) (requiring a 
lawyer to hold property of clients in an interest-bearing client trust account, 
separate from the lawyer’s own property), 1.15(a)(2) (requiring a lawyer to 
maintain a record of the funds held on behalf of each client), 1.15(b) (permitting a 
lawyer to deposit his or her own funds in a client trust account for the sole 
purpose of paying or obtaining a waiver of bank service charges), 1.15(c) 
(requiring a lawyer to deposit into a client trust account legal fees and expenses 
that have been paid in advance), 8.4(c) (prohibiting a lawyer from engaging in 
conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation), 8.4(d) 
(prohibiting a lawyer from engaging in conduct that is prejudicial to the 
administration of justice), and 8.4(h) (prohibiting a lawyer from engaging in 
conduct that adversely reflects on the lawyer’s fitness to practice law). 
{¶ 10} The board also found that Johnson’s conduct with respect to the 
Malloy matter violated Prof.Cond.R. 1.15(d) (requiring a lawyer to promptly 
deliver funds or other property that a client or third party is entitled to receive) 
and 3.3(a)(1) (prohibiting a lawyer from knowingly making a false statement of 
fact or law to a tribunal), as well as Prof.Cond.R. 8.4(c), (d), and (h). 
                                                 
1  Relator charged respondent with misconduct under applicable rules for acts occurring before and 
after February 1, 2007, the effective date of the Rules of Professional Conduct, which supersede 
the Code of Professional Responsibility.  When both the former and current rules are cited for the 
same act, the allegation constitutes a single ethical violation.  Disciplinary Counsel v. Freeman, 
119 Ohio St.3d 330, 2008-Ohio-3836, 894 N.E.2d 31, ¶ 1, fn. 1. 
 
2 The board mistakenly lists DR 9-101(A), but includes the summary of DR 9-102(A). 
January Term, 2012 
5 
 
{¶ 11} Additionally, citing the fact that Johnson responded to only a few 
of relator’s eight letters of inquiry and failed to produce all the documents 
requested by relator, the board found that Johnson had violated Prof.Cond.R. 
8.1(b) (prohibiting a lawyer from knowingly failing to respond to a demand for 
information by a disciplinary authority during an investigation) and Gov.Bar R. 
V(4)(G) (requiring a lawyer to cooperate with a disciplinary investigation). 
Sanction 
{¶ 12} In imposing a sanction for attorney misconduct, we consider 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.”).  See 
Disciplinary Counsel v. Broeren, 115 Ohio St.3d 473, 2007-Ohio-5251, 875 
N.E.2d 935, ¶ 21. 
{¶ 13} The board found that Johnson’s failure to cooperate in the 
disciplinary process was the only aggravating factor in this case.  See BCGD 
Proc.Reg. 10(B)(1)(e).  In mitigation, however, the board found that Johnson did 
not have a prior disciplinary record and had made a timely good-faith effort to 
make restitution.  See BCGD Proc.Reg. 10(B)(2)(a) and (c).  And citing a letter 
from Union County Probate and Juvenile Judge Charlotte Coleman Eufinger and 
the testimony of Union County Common Pleas Judge Don Fraser, who were 
instrumental in getting Johnson to finally engage in the disciplinary process, the 
board found that apart from the underlying misconduct, Johnson possesses high 
ethical standards, is a truthful and honest person, and has an excellent reputation.  
See BCGD Proc.Reg. 10(B)(2)(e). 
{¶ 14} The board also found that Johnson suffers from a number of 
physical conditions and that he has been diagnosed with significant mental 
disabilities, including major depressive disorder.  The licensed independent social 
worker who diagnosed and continues to treat Johnson’s mental disabilities 
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testified on remand that those disabilities contributed to cause his misconduct, that 
he has had a sustained period of successful treatment, and that he will be able to 
return to the competent, ethical, professional practice of law.  Therefore, the board 
found that his mental disabilities qualify as a mitigating factor pursuant to BCGD 
Proc.Reg. 10(B)(2)(g)(i) through (iv). 
{¶ 15} The board observed that Johnson’s complete disregard for the 
disciplinary process resulted in a default judgment and a board recommendation 
that, but for the kindness of two local judges, would likely have prevented him 
from practicing law for one and one-half years.  Therefore, it rejected Johnson’s 
request that it recommend a two-year suspension fully stayed on conditions. 
{¶ 16} The board agreed with relator’s argument and our recognition that 
the “ ‘mishandling of clients’ funds, either by way of conversion, commingling, 
or just poor management, encompasses an area of the gravest concern’ ” and 
generally warrants a substantial sanction, Disciplinary Counsel v. Riek, 125 Ohio 
St.3d 46, 2010-Ohio-1556, 925 N.E.2d 980, ¶ 10, quoting Columbus Bar Assn. v. 
Thompson, 69 Ohio St.2d 667, 669, 433 N.E.2d 602 (1982).  But the board 
rejected relator’s request that it recommend a two-year suspension with six 
months stayed on conditions, observing that relator failed to account for the 
mitigating evidence submitted on remand.  Instead, the board recommends that 
Johnson be suspended for two years, with the final 18 months stayed.  Neither 
party has objected to this recommendation. 
{¶ 17} In Disciplinary Counsel v. Crosby, 124 Ohio St.3d 226, 2009-
Ohio-6763, 921 N.E.2d 225, ¶ 3-13, we imposed a two-year suspension on an 
attorney who used his client trust account as a personal and operating account, 
failed to promptly withdraw earned funds from the account, and failed to properly 
train and supervise a paralegal who he had designated as an authorized user of the 
account.  As aggravating factors, we determined that Crosby had engaged in a 
pattern of misconduct over several years, that he had had a dishonest and selfish 
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motive for the misconduct in that he had used his trust account to avoid the 
collection efforts of taxing authorities and judgment creditors, that he had failed 
to fully cooperate in the disciplinary process, and that he had lied about his 
reasons for misusing his client trust account.  Id. at ¶ 17.  See also BCGD 
Proc.Reg. 10(B)(1)(b), (c), (e), and (f).  The only mitigating factors were the 
absence of a prior disciplinary record and lack of any evidence that clients were 
harmed.  Id. at ¶ 16.  See also BCGD Proc.Reg. 10(B)(2)(a) and (h). 
{¶ 18} Johnson’s misconduct is comparable to that of Crosby.  But on 
remand, Johnson successfully demonstrated that he suffers from mental 
disabilities that contributed to his misconduct.  He sought treatment for those 
conditions and signed a three-year contract with the Ohio Lawyers Assistance 
Program to help him deal with them.  Having considered these facts and the 
additional mitigating factors established on remand, we agree with the board’s 
recommended sanction. 
{¶ 19} Accordingly, Frederick Bruce Johnson is suspended from the 
practice of law in Ohio for two years, with the last 18 months stayed on the 
condition that he commit no further misconduct.  If Johnson fails to comply with 
the condition of the stay, the stay will be lifted and he will serve the full two-year 
suspension.  Costs are taxed to Johnson. 
Judgment accordingly. 
O’CONNOR, C.J., and PFEIFER, LUNDBERG STRATTON, O’DONNELL, 
LANZINGER, CUPP, and MCGEE BROWN, JJ., concur. 
__________________ 
Jonathan E. Coughlan, Disciplinary Counsel, Lori J. Brown, Chief 
Assistant Disciplinary Counsel, and Karen H. Osmond, Assistant Disciplinary 
Counsel, for relator. 
Bricker & Eckler, L.L.P., and Alvin E. Mathews Jr., for respondent. 
______________________