Opinion ID: 1377729
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Count VILuther Cook

Text: The complainant, Luther Cook, was involved in a car accident. He retained Keenan to represent him in a civil action against the other driver. The case went to trial on July 18, 1996. The jury found Mr. Cook 49% negligent and the defendant 51% negligent. After calculations, Mr. Cook was awarded a judgment of $707.39. Following the trial, a dispute arose between counsel for both parties as to whether Mr. Cook would have to pay a portion of the court costs. The defendant's attorney prepared a final order reflecting the jury decision, but Keenan refused to sign the order because the order did not resolve the issue of court costs. On March 20, 1997, Mr. Cook filed an ethics complaint against both Keenan and defendant's counsel because Mr. Cook had not received the money from his judgment. A copy of the complaint was forwarded to Keenan on April 4, 1997, by the ODC, along with instructions to respond to the complaint within 10 days. Keenan did not respond to the complaint. On May 15, 1997, a second request to respond to the complaint was sent to Keenan, and he did not respond to this request. Keenan eventually responded to the Disciplinary Counsel's June 18, 1997 requestthe third. Keenan testified before the Board that he refused to sign the order because he was waiting for the judge to rule on the court costs issue. [14] The Board charged Keenan with violating Rule 8.1(b) [15] for failing to respond to a request for information from the Disciplinary Counsel. Keenan stipulated to the Board's charge.