Opinion ID: 2295026
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: monmouth county proceedings

Text: The Monmouth County Ethics Committee found respondent guilty of unethical and unprofessional conduct arising out of two complaints. The first, by Josephine E. Cox, charged that on December 1, 1975 respondent issued to complainant a check in the amount of $1518.67 drawn on his trust account. The amount represented the balance of funds due complainant from a real estate transaction, those funds having been held in escrow by respondent since the closing date of October 29, 1975. The check was returned for insufficient funds, as was a second check drawn on the same account on December 29, 1975. Respondent, who had failed to answer the complaint, testified before a hearing panel of the Committee and admitted the accuracy of the charges against him. His explanation for the insufficiency of the funds in his trust account was, as to the first bad check, that certain other checks which were negotiated through that account    had failed to clear; and, as to the second, it was issued on the belief that I would have certain funds to make that check valid and [t]o make a long story short, the funds did not come through. [2] The record before the hearing panel further contained Mrs. Cox's assertion, not denied by respondent, that her efforts to communicate with respondent after notification of the first bad check were unavailing, until her husband went to Mr. Netchert's home to protest. This visit apparently resulted in the issuance of the second check, likewise bad. In addition, at the conclusion of the hearing on the Cox matter respondent assured the panel that within a week he would present the records of his trust account from October 1975 through January 1976, covering the transaction in question. He has, however, never done so. The Committee concluded that respondent's conduct was unethical and unprofessional in the following respects: (a) he used a client's funds held in his trust account and failed to return moneys owed, in violation of DR 9-102(B)(4); (b) his actions involved misrepresentation to the client with respect to the trust funds, in violation of DR 1-102(A)(4); and his conduct adversely reflects on his fitness to practice law, in violation of DR 1-102(A)(6). The second complaint before the Monmouth County Ethics Committee involved one William Hanford, who sustained personal injuries as a passenger in a two-vehicular collision in February, 1970. Hanford alleged that he was accepted as a client by respondent after meeting with him some time in 1971; that thereafter he received a carbon copy of a letter from the liability insurer of one of the drivers, dated November 15, 1971, the original of which went to Mr. Netchert, reciting an offer which had been extended about seven months previously to settle Hanford's claim for $1500 and requesting a decision thereon; that respondent advised him that no settlement should be effected until medical treatment had been completed; that thereafter he authorized respondent in writing to obtain copies of his physicians' reports; and that in '72 sometime he had a discussion with respondent relative to the statute of limitations (which complainant believed to be three years) running on his case and was told that it had already been filed and not to worry about it. Hanford never had a further office conference with respondent after their first meeting in 1971, and his efforts and those of his wife to reach Netchert by telephone were met with either no response or an evasive answer as to the progress of the case. Complainant testified that he had placed at least fifty telephone calls to Mr. Netchert's office without reply, and he produced telephone bills supporting many of those calls. When asked to summarize his complaint against respondent, Hanford said: Well, the complaint is I can't get in touch with him. I believe that I've lost the case, because I don't know what's going on. I don't even know if the case is still pending or not. I have no idea. I don't know  maybe he can  maybe Mr. Netchert can tell me now what is the status. You know. What is the case. Is there a case? Do I have a case or not? Finally, complainant said that in 1975, during the course of a worker's compensation claim being prosecuted on his behalf by another attorney, one Anthony DeFino, he asked the latter to write respondent requesting that he communicate with Hanford. Mr. DeFino did so but received no response. Respondent, who, as with the Cox complaint, had failed to file any answer, at first appeared to concede the essential elements of the charge. As the proceedings before the hearing panel of the Committee developed, however, he took the position that Hanford had been referred to him by an attorney with whom he was at the time sharing office space; that he had never met with complainant and had spoken with him only once or twice by telephone; that while an offer was made by the insurance company and certain medical records were furnished to his office, he nevertheless did not represent Hanford; that he did discuss the case with the attorney with whom he shared space, who assured Mr. Netchert that the complainant was being sent to DeFino, who he understood had started suit on Hanford's behalf. Respondent specifically denied telling complainant that a suit had been instituted. He ascribed his failure to answer any telephone calls to the inefficiency of his answering service. On cross-examination he admitted that he probably received the settlement offer from the insurance company and possibly received complainant's letter regarding physicians' reports. The Committee found Hanford's version credible and concluded that respondent's conduct was clearly unethical and unprofessional in that he knowingly failed to carry out his contract of employment in violation of DR 7-101(A)(2), failed to maintain proper records and to communicate with his client in violation of DR 1-102(A)(6), and misrepresented to his client that he had commenced suit in violation of DR 1-102(A)(4).