Title: Disciplinary Counsel v. Champion

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. Champion, Slip Opinion No. 2016-Ohio-8023.] 
 
 
 
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. 2016-OHIO-8023 
DISCIPLINARY COUNSEL v. CHAMPION. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it 
may be cited as Disciplinary Counsel v. Champion, Slip Opinion No.  
2016-Ohio-8023.] 
Attorneys—Misconduct—Violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct—
Conditionally stayed one-year suspension. 
(No. 2016-0851—Submitted August 17, 2016—Decided December 8, 2016.) 
ON CERTIFIED REPORT by the Board of Professional Conduct of the Supreme 
Court, No. 2015-071. 
_______________________ 
Per Curiam. 
{¶ 1} Respondent, Timothy Harman Champion of Akron, Ohio, Attorney 
Registration No. 0040254, was admitted to the practice of law in Ohio in 1988.  In 
a November 30, 2015 complaint, relator, disciplinary counsel, alleged that 
Champion violated four professional-conduct rules in connection with a civil action 
filed against him by the city of Akron for delinquent income taxes. 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
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{¶ 2} The parties submitted stipulations of fact, misconduct, and 
aggravating and mitigating factors and a recommended sanction, and they agreed 
to dismiss three additional violations that were alleged in the complaint.  The panel 
of the Board of Professional Conduct appointed to hear the matter granted the 
parties’ joint motion to waive the hearing and have the matter decided on their 
stipulations.  The panel adopted the parties’ stipulations, found that Champion 
engaged in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation in 
violation of Prof.Cond.R. 8.4(c), dismissed three additional alleged violations as 
stipulated by the parties, and recommended that he be suspended from the practice 
of law for one year, fully stayed on the condition that he commit no further 
misconduct.  The board adopted the panel’s findings of fact, conclusions of law, 
and recommended sanction. 
{¶ 3} We adopt the board’s report and suspend Champion from the practice 
of law for one year and stay the suspension in its entirety on the condition that he 
commit no further misconduct. 
Misconduct 
{¶ 4} The parties’ stipulations, which are hereby incorporated by reference, 
show that the city of Akron filed a civil action against Champion for the collection 
of $544.36 in delinquent municipal income taxes plus interest and costs.  In 
response, Champion repeatedly made false statements claiming that he had paid the 
taxes and submitted to the city a fraudulent copy of a canceled check that purported 
to show partial payment of the taxes he owed. 
{¶ 5} Following an extensive investigation, Akron’s tax department 
concluded that the check that Champion had submitted to prove payment of his 
taxes had been altered.  After the city confronted him with its evidence, Champion 
acknowledged that the check he had provided as evidence of his payment had been 
altered.  Champion subsequently remitted a check to the city for the full amount of 
the taxes owed plus additional costs of collection incurred by the city.  The city 
January Term, 2016 
 
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demanded that Champion self-report his conduct to relator.  Champion failed to 
self-report his misconduct, and the city’s attorney filed a grievance against him. 
{¶ 6} The board found that by submitting an altered version of a check 
purportedly reflecting prior payment of income taxes owed to the city, Champion 
engaged in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation in 
violation of Prof.Cond.R. 8.4(c). 
Sanction 
{¶ 7} When imposing sanctions for attorney misconduct, we consider 
several relevant factors, including the ethical duties that the lawyer violated, 
relevant aggravating and mitigating factors, and the sanctions imposed in similar 
cases.  See Gov.Bar R. V(13)(A). 
{¶ 8} The parties stipulated and the board found that Champion’s dishonest 
motive was an aggravating factor weighing in favor of a harsher sanction.  See 
Gov.Bar R. V(13)(B)(2).  As mitigating factors, the parties agreed and the board 
found that Champion does not have a prior disciplinary record, made full and free 
disclosure to the board, and presented evidence of his good character and reputation 
apart from the charged misconduct.  See Gov.Bar R. V(13)(C)(1), (4), and (5). 
{¶ 9} The board acknowledged that we typically require attorneys who have 
engaged in illegal and dishonest conduct to serve an actual suspension from the 
practice of law.  See, e.g., Disciplinary Counsel v. Fowerbaugh, 74 Ohio St.3d 187, 
191, 658 N.E.2d 237 (1995).  But citing three cases in which we imposed fully 
stayed suspensions for misconduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or 
misrepresentation, the board adopted the parties’ stipulation that Champion should 
be suspended from the practice of law for one year, fully stayed on the condition 
that he engage in no further misconduct.  See Medina Cty. Bar Assn. v. Cameron, 
130 Ohio St.3d 299, 2011-Ohio-5200, 958 N.E.2d 138 (imposing a fully stayed 
one-year suspension on an attorney with 18 years of experience and no prior 
disciplinary action who falsely represented to a court that the parties to a lawsuit 
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had settled their case); Columbus Bar Assn. v. Stubbs, 109 Ohio St.3d 446, 2006-
Ohio-2818, 848 N.E.2d 843 (imposing a fully stayed six-month suspension on an 
attorney with no prior discipline who falsified a document in an attempt to show 
that she had been properly insured at the time she received a traffic citation but also 
cooperated in the disciplinary investigation and presented evidence of her good 
character and reputation); Disciplinary Counsel v. Niermeyer, 119 Ohio St.3d 99, 
2008-Ohio-3824, 892 N.E.2d 434 (imposing a fully stayed one-year suspension on 
an attorney who, after missing a filing deadline, falsified a document to make it 
appear that it had been timely filed). 
{¶ 10} Having considered Champion’s misconduct, the applicable 
aggravating and mitigating factors, and the sanctions imposed for comparable 
misconduct, we agree that a one-year suspension, fully stayed on the condition that 
Champion engage in no further misconduct, is the appropriate sanction in this case. 
{¶ 11} Accordingly, Timothy Harman Champion is hereby suspended from 
the practice of law for one year, fully stayed on the condition that he engage in no 
further misconduct.  If Champion fails to comply with the condition of the stay, the 
stay will be lifted and he will serve the full one-year suspension.  Costs are taxed 
to Champion. 
Judgment accordingly. 
O’CONNOR, C.J., and PFEIFER, O’DONNELL, LANZINGER, KENNEDY, and 
FRENCH, JJ., concur. 
O’NEILL, J., dissents and would remand the cause to the Board of 
Professional Conduct to consider increasing the severity of the sanction imposed 
upon the respondent. 
_________________ 
Scott J. Drexel, Disciplinary Counsel, for relator. 
Gorman, Malarcik & Pierce and Donald J. Malarcik, for respondent. 
_________________