Opinion ID: 1749026
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Doe charge.

Text: 1. Evidence. In November 2000, Jane Doe engaged the respondent to represent her in a dissolution case that included a custody fight. Her husband, John, had obtained money from relatives to pay for his attorney, but, as Doe told the respondent, she did not have money or assets to pay for representation. The respondent, she claimed, informed her several times she had other things to offer. She understood that the other things she had to offer were sexual favors. McGrath told her he would call [her] when he wanted to have a meeting ... and there might be a possibility of [her] going to his home; when he was done with [her] he was done and [she] wasn't to call him. Doe testified she wanted her children more than anything, so she agreed. The respondent and Doe first had sex on the evening of December 5, 2000, when Doe went to McGrath's office at his request. According to Doe, they had intercourse on the floor of the library. The respondent did not use a condom; he told Doe he had no diseases and had had a vasectomy. Doe also testified the respondent was uncircumcised. She said she wore a trench coat with lingerie underneath and spiked heels, and her children saw her when she returned home because she had locked herself out of the house. Doe testified that, in addition to this incident, the respondent asked her to accompany him to the courthouse in a neighboring town to obtain papers filed in a domestic abuse action involving her husband. She brought her son along, and during the drive, the respondent lamented that he was hoping to get road head, meaning oral sex while he was driving. Doe told the commission that during an argument with her husband, John, in the summer of 2001, she told her husband that she had to sleep with the respondent just to get a divorce. She thought her husband might have compassion and stop their court battles if he knew what she was going through to litigate their disputes. Instead, John informed the court that his wife was having sexual relations with her attorney. Doe testified she falsely denied this charge in an affidavit prepared by the respondent and filed in the dissolution action. Doe had one more sexual encounter with the respondent on Sunday, May 6, 2001. McGrath called Doe at home and asked her to come to his office. She did so, and they had sexual intercourse on the floor again. After this episode, Doe always took one of her children with her to the respondent's office or gave the respondent an excuse that she could not come when he called. Doe testified she never paid any money to McGrath for his legal services. Although she received one bill from him after they first had sex, she complained to him, and she did not receive any further bills after that. Doe also testified that McGrath gave her $500 cash on two occasions, once to help her out with bills and once as payment for a used car she sold to him. Doe never filed an ethics complaint against the respondent. She first learned that her ex-husband had done so when she was contacted by the board's investigator in August 2004. She described her reaction: I was upset about the whole proceeding because since this all has passed, my life is very quiet and comfortable; and I didn't want this in my life; and I didn't want to come here. And I contacted Jim [McGrath] and I asked to speak with him. He met with me and he told me that just, you know, follow his lead and do what he tells me and it will be all okay; it will all be okay. Doe testified that she did not come willingly to the hearing; she was subpoenaed by the board. On cross-examination, Doe admitted she told the respondent's attorney in a telephone conversation that she had never had sexual relations with McGrath and that she was being harassed by the board's investigator. (She later testified the investigator called her two to four times.) Doe said she was very uncomfortable with the whole situation. She also related a telephone conversation she had with the board's counsel. In that conversation, counsel advised Doe that it was a federal crime to perjure [oneself], information that scared her. Doe said she did not want to testify at the hearing so she told board counsel that she would say anything and that she was a compulsive liar. She denied at the hearing, however, that she was in fact a compulsive liar. The respondent's counsel also sought to impeach Doe by bringing out a romantic relationship Doe had with another man after she filed for divorce but while she was still married to John. Doe's ex-husband, John, also testified at the hearing. He said he paid his attorney $25,000 for handling the divorce, and he does not know where his wife would have gotten any money to pay her attorney because money was very tight. John was ordered to pay $500 toward Doe's attorney fees, but he never did because he believed she was not paying any fees to McGrath. (McGrath testified at the hearing that he did not try to collect the $500 fee from John because he assumed it was uncollectible.) John recalled his wife telling him early on that she had found a lawyer who would let her work off her fees. He suspected she was engaging in non-monetary compensation of Mr. McGrath when his children told him that his wife left to see her lawyer late at night dressed in a trench coat, high heels, and nothing but her underwear on. In addition, on an occasion when Doe was trying to make him feel guilty about spending his relatives' money on the divorce, she asked him how much money he was going to waste before they could get a divorce because it wasn't costing her a dime. Another time she complained to him, At least you don't have to sleep with a disgusting old man to keep fighting. John Doe also testified that he filed an ethics complaint against McGrath in August 2004, sixteen months after the dissolution was final. He explained he was considering seeking a modification of his child support at the time, and he wanted to prevent his ex-wife from using McGrath if they went back to court because he thought McGrath would represent her for free. John testified he was unaware of the pending complaint against McGrath when he filed his ethics complaint, that he did not know Shannon Jackson, and that he had not been contacted by anyone representing the board prior to filing his complaint. He said his ex-wife was very upset that he had filed the complaint, claiming she would have to leave the area if this came out. On cross-examination, John testified that his ex-wife had told him many lies, including a statement that she had had an extra-marital affair while they were still living together, a relationship she denied at the ethics hearing. John also said he suspected his wife of having had other affairs while they were married. In addition, the respondent's counsel brought out allegations made by John in the dissolution case concerning Doe's emotional state and mental health at that time, including that she was manipulative and unstable. McGrath denied that he had sexual relations with Jane Doe, but he confirmed he was uncircumcised. He testified that he had a written fee agreement with Doe, and that agreement was received as an exhibit. A billing statement was also admitted into evidence. According to this statement, Doe made three payments, a $750 payment on November 16, 2000, a $150 payment on March 28, 2001, and a $750 payment in the form of a car on July 18, 2001. McGrath asserted the first two payments were made in cash. He acknowledged he had not established a trust account ledger for Doe, and that he had no record of having received these payments other than the entries made on the bill. The respondent explained that he customarily distributed cash payments to his office employees as a bonus. He said he kept track of cash payments from clients on a separate sheet of paper at the back of his calendar, and then submitted this sheet to his accountant at the end of each year. He did not produce any documentation of this practice. McGrath's legal assistant at the time of these events also testified concerning his billing system. She said McGrath kept time slips during the time he represented Doe, but they were shredded after the bill was prepared. (He no longer keeps time slips, but rather enters his time on the computer.) In addition, the office does not keep copies of bills, and the only billing statement admitted into the record had been printed from their computer records a few weeks before the hearing. The billing statement showed Doe had an outstanding balance of $4158.75. This statement also reflected that bills had been sent to Doe on January 31, February 28, March 29, and May 30, 2001. The typical procedure would be for the witness to prepare the bills, and then the respondent would decide which ones to send to clients. When the witness was asked why no bills were sent after the divorce was final, she responded that sometimes it's a save-your-stamp situation. This witness had no independent recollection of mailing any bills to Doe or of receiving the indicated payments. She did recall getting a $200 cash bonus from McGrath in November 2000, and testified it was his normal procedure to distribute all cash payments from clients to the employees. She confirmed there was no trust account ledger for Doe and no deposit slips for sums paid by Doe. This witness also testified the respondent has computer access for inputting billing information. 2. Commission's findings. The commission made the following comments on the board's proof regarding the Doe charge: The testimony of Jane Doe was not sufficiently credible for the board to meet its burden of proof. Although the commission found her testimony to be consistent with the testimony from Heather Williams and Shannon Jackson insofar as an offer of services in exchange for sex, the commission does not believe that the [board] met its burden in establishing that her testimony was believable. The commission finds that Jane Doe's credibility was impeached by her own admissions of having lied under oath and being a compulsive liar. As noted earlier, one commissioner dissented from this finding, stating: I believe that the board has met its burden of proving by a convincing preponderance of the evidence that the respondent violated the Code as charged under count II. I found the testimony of Jane Doe to be very believable despite respondent's attempts at impeaching her credibility. Jane Doe's demeanor from the witness stand throughout her direct and cross examination led me to believe that she was telling the truth. Furthermore, she testified that she knew the penalties for perjury and I do not believe that respondent established any motive as to why Jane Doe would take the stand and lie under oath. In fact, Jane Doe was a reluctant witness who did not wish to pursue any complaint against respondent. .... Jane Doe testified that respondent was uncircumcised. Respondent confirmed that he was uncircumcised. I believe that this testimony also supports Jane Doe's testimony that she had sex with respondent. I do not believe that respondent introduced sufficient evidence to rebut Jane Doe's testimony that she was never charged by respondent or that she never paid any money for respondent's legal representation. Further, the fact that respondent's total bill for his services was one-fifth that charged by the lawyer representing her husband is consistent with Jane Doe's testimony that she was not charged for his services. ... All of her testimony rang true for me and I could find no reasonable motive for Jane Doe to have lied. 3. Our findings. Notwithstanding the deference this court typically gives to credibility findings made by the commission, we agree with the dissenting commissioner. We can understand the commission's reluctance to place any reliance on Doe's testimony at the hearing given the fact that over the last five years Doe has given two, contradictory versions of her relationship with McGrath. But while it is clear Doe has not always told the truth, that conclusion is not the end of the analysis. The critical question is: was she telling the truth when she said she exchanged sex for fees or when she denied having done so? When we view her statements in the context in which they were made, we are convinced she was telling the truth on the occasions she asserted she had sex with McGrath in payment for his legal services. Doe's motivation to lie in the dissolution proceedings concerning the nature of her relationship with the respondent is apparent: she wanted the court to order her husband to pay her attorney fees, and she did not want to be viewed by the court as an unfit parent, thereby jeopardizing her quest for custody. On the other hand, we discern no credible explanation for why Doe would lie in this disciplinary proceeding. By all accounts, she had no complaints with McGrath's legal representation of her. She obtained custody of her children, and even if we believe McGrath's testimony that she made three payments towards her legal fees, she paid a minimal amount in comparison to the cost of the divorce to her husband. McGrath asserted at the hearing that perhaps Doe lied about having sex with him because she believed her husband had tape-recorded a telephone conversation in which Doe told her husband that she was exchanging sex for fees. (John had originally told the board investigator that he had a tape-recording of a phone conversation in which Doe made such allegations, but he was unable to locate the tape.) According to the respondent, Doe might then have felt compelled to testify consistently with what she had told her ex-husband. But we find this explanation contrary to human nature. Doe knew when she testified at the hearing that she would have to acknowledge that she lied at some point. (She told the board investigator she had sex with McGrath; she told the respondent's attorney she did not.) It would have been much easier for her and more protective of her reputation to say that she lied when she said she and McGrath had a sex-for-fees arrangement. We cannot imagine that she would perjure herself at the disciplinary hearing simply to remain consistent with tape-recorded statements she made to her ex-husband in the heat of a custody battle. The lack of documented payment of fees by Doe and the consistency of her testimony with that of Williams also support our credibility determination. And finally, the respondent has offered no explanation for how Doe would know that he was uncircumcised. Although this court does not often disregard the credibility determinations of the commission, we do so here. We, like the dissenting commissioner, find Doe's testimony to ring true, and therefore, we conclude the board has proven count II by a convincing preponderance of the evidence.