Opinion ID: 1402169
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: First Trial Committee Hearing (January 5, 1967).

Text: Early in March 1966 Mrs. Cardoza, a bookkeeper, prepared a joint federal income tax return for 1965 for the Barbas showing a tax due of $483.79 and a claim for refund of $562.99. She testified that sometime around the beginning of March 1966 Mrs. Barba came by and picked up the original (unsigned) and a copy, that the B copy of the W-2 form was stapled to the original, that she could not recall the exact date but it was late in the afternoon; that she had offered Mrs. Barba a cup of coffee but the latter had declined, stating that she was in a hurry as she had an appointment with petitioner who had to have her tax returns. Mrs. Barba testified that she first consulted petitioner about the 7th or 8th of March, 1966; that she saw him twice the first day, both times late in the afternoon. He asked questions about her husband's income and assets. She left his office to get the tax returns for him. It was late in the day but he agreed to wait. She went to Mrs. Cardoza's, returned with the original and a copy, gave them both to him. He returned the original to her. [1] Later she had her husband sign it and she mailed it. She testified that petitioner asked her a lot of questions and made notes on long yellow sheets of paper. She brought him the $150 cash he demanded but did not get a receipt for it. Before she received the refund check she discussed this with petitioner many times, and he told her not to tell anyone about it, and if she was asked questions about it to answer she never received it. He asked her if she had ever signed her husband's checks and she told him that she usually signed his salary checks and deposited them in their joint checking account. He told her to sign Mr. Barba's name to this check and to cash it, but not to say anything to her husband or to her husband's attorney, Dunn. She received the refund check on April 15, made payable to her and her husband jointly. She held it until May 11, being reluctant to cash it because they would know she would receive the refund within a certain amount of time, but she trusted petitioner as an attorney. On May 11, the day before the third hearing in the divorce matter, she endorsed her husband's name on the check and cashed it, depositing all but $50 of the proceeds in a new bank account in her name only. She gave the $50 to petitioner, in payment of a prior personal loan to her for which he was then demanding repayment. He knew she had no other money. She did not tell him what she did with the balance of the refund. She was asked whether she could recall if she had testified in the divorce hearing on May 12 and whether she had been asked by anyone whether she had any money. She replied that attorney Dunn had asked her this question and that she had replied No. None of the witnesses (petitioner or attorney Dunn) could remember whether during any of her testimony at the divorce hearings she had been questioned or had denied receiving the refund check. The committee found, for lack of evidence, that this charge was not true. She testified that she reconciled with her husband about July 1, 1966, and told him what she had done with the refund check. She then telephoned petitioner, offering to pay him the $100 balance on his fee (the court had ordered Mr. Barba to pay petitioner $250) and requested a receipt from him for the $150 already paid. He demanded an additional $75. He told her that he would give her the receipt when she brought him the rest of the money, that she would have to pay the constable who was levying an execution of the judgment for petitioner's fees, and that there was nothing he could do about it. She further testified that before the reconciliation she was in his office one day and he took a gun out of his drawer and showed it to her, saying he did not like Mr. Barba and that if he ever came and bothered him that he (petitioner) would not be afraid to shoot him (Mr. Barba) then and there. She also related that in a telephone conversation with him after the reconciliation he had threatened her that if she told about the income tax matter there would be Two children who no longer had a mother. She did not know what he meant by that. Petitioner denied that he ever received or saw the income tax return or that he had been told of the anticipated refund or of its receipt. He denied having advised Mrs. Barba not to tell her husband or attorney Dunn or the court about it, or having advised her to testify falsely. He indicated that during the divorce proceeding he was not interested in whether there was a tax obligation or a tax refund and that he never discussed these matters with her. He admitted that he asked her for the W-2 form as he wanted to know the couple's income and assets. He did not know how the photocopy of the W-2 form got in his file, or why it was so placed in the file as to be chronologically below the complaint (which might indicate it had been received before he filed the complaint, particularly in view of evidence that he always filed chronologically). [2] He had no explanation for certain notations in his handwriting in his file. The third page from the bottom of the file contained a pencilled notation depreciation schedule see for farm equipment. The divorce complaint and wife's affidavit prepared by him each contained a description of the farm equipment almost identical in sequence and wording as that set forth in the depreciation schedules of the Barba's tax return. Nowhere else in the file was there a list of the farm equipment. He could not recall where he had received the description of this equipment. He supposed that Mrs. Barba had brought it in. The complaint does not show any value for this equipment. The original wife's affidavit shows value unknown. His copy of this affidavit shows, in his handwriting, values almost identical with those shown on the depreciation schedules which he claimed he never saw. Notations in his handwriting on yellow legal pad paper included one, apparently outlining questions to be asked at the second order to show cause hearing on April 11, 1966, reading (9) Tax refund due ... amount ($483.00) ... when; another, apparently as part of litigation notes, reads 1965 total income (cf. Income Returns); another, apparently an outline of questions to ask, reads Total 1965 income cf. income tax return. He stated that he had no independent recollection of giving Mrs. Barba a receipt for the $150 cash. He had his secretary look through his receipt book and she discovered a carbon copy of a receipt that she had allegedly given to Mrs. Barba on March 8th. It was numbered 0092. The writing on the copy is double imaged, the date of the month is not clear, the receipt is out of order chronologically (the copy of the receipt before, 0091, and the seven receipts thereafter (0093-0103) bear dates prior to March 8th). His secretary denied having filled in the receipt after commencement of the disciplinary proceedings, although she testified they usually used the next blank receipt in chronological order. She could not account for the double images on the receipt. Petitioner also introduced a taped transcript of the conversation with Mrs. Barba in which she had said he had threatened her. He testified that it was his practice when taking a call on the phone to record it without his client's knowledge or consent. The transcript is admittedly not complete and ends in the middle of a sentence. The committee concluded that there were some discrepancies in Mrs. Barba's testimony but that her credibility was not impaired. It concluded, moreover, that even without consideration of her testimony the evidence overwhelmingly proved that petitioner had possession of the Barba's income tax return prior to his preparation of the divorce complaint and that at all times he was aware of the existence of the claim for a tax refund and the amount thereof. It regretfully concluded that he had wilfully testified falsely. In the light of this they gave little credence to his denials that he had advised Mrs. Barba to cash the refund check and to keep still about it. Relevancy of the dates of phone calls to or from his client was considered. The committee concluded that he did not intend to harm Mrs. Barba by his threats or by his showing her the gun; that he had not shown good judgment or professional restraint in dealing with an inexperienced young client; but that his misconduct was motivated by aggressiveness. It found that the fees charged by him were reasonable, that his misconduct did not involve any quest for financial gain or other benefit, and that it was this uninhibited aggressiveness in collecting his fee from the couple that caused Mrs. Barba to complain to the State Bar. The committee stated that the offenses would not merit disbarment or suspension but that they were serious enough to preclude a private reprimand. Petitioner conditionally accepted their recommendation that he be given a public reproval. The Disciplinary Board rejected this conditional acceptance and on August 25, 1967, again ordered the case to be calendared before it. Petitioner again requested permission to present additional evidence. The proffered evidence consisted of an affidavit signed by Mrs. Barba, dated September 12, 1967, prepared for her signature by attorney Dunn and notarized by him, in which she purported to recant in material respects her testimony at the first hearing. Petitioner's attorney also submitted an affidavit summarizing her recanting and attached a photocopy of a blank W-2 form. Counsel alleged in this affidavit that he had made this copy on petitioner's office machine and that it showed staple marks which were on the original from which it was copied. He advanced the theory that since the photocopy of the W-2 form in petitioner's file did not show staple marks, and since it was made from the original B copy, that it must have been made from that copy before it was delivered to Mrs. Cardoza and before she prepared the tax return. No supporting evidence was offered at the second hearing regarding the process by which his photocopy of the W-2 form had been made nor physical evidence to support his theory that staple marks will always show on a photocopy.