Opinion ID: 836247
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: third cause of complaint: neglect and desertion

Text: The Bar alleges that the accused violated DR 2-110(A)(2), DR 6-101(B), DR 7-101(A)(1), and DR 7-101(A)(2) by withdrawing from employment without taking reasonable steps to avoid foreseeable prejudice to his clients, neglecting a legal matter entrusted to him by failing to prepare for and appear at the defendants' trial, and failing to carry out a contract of employment. The Bar acknowledges that those charges turn on resolution of the primary factual dispute in this case, namely, whether the accused agreed to represent the defendants at trial. The Bar relies on Yother junior's and Szlavich's testimony that they thought that the accused was going to represent them at trial and that the accused discussed trial strategy with them. It also relies on the fact that the defendants met with the accused only a week before trial and that Laura Yother and Szlavich expressed shock and disappointment the day of trial when they learned that the accused was not going to be there. Only two of the defendants, Yother junior and Szlavich, talked to the LPRC investigator or testified at the hearing. As the trial panel noted, their testimony consisted primarily of short affirmations of Bar counsel's leading questions. Their testimony was short on detail about the conversations that the accused had with them, beyond their repeated assertions that they thought that the accused would represent them at trial even though each had appointed counsel. According to the LPRC investigator's report, Yother junior and Szlavich stated that the accused spent a lot of time in his meetings with them boasting about his successes in court in criminal proceedings and discussing the individual abilities and weaknesses of the lawyers in the Linn County district attorney's office. They attributed his talk to the fact that the accused is an old man. Their dismissive attitude toward the accused in their interview with the LPRC investigator stands in marked contrast to their testimony before the trial panel that they had believed before their criminal trial that the accused was taking care of everything for them and that he would make a surprise appearance on the day of trial to assure that they were not convicted. We agree with the trial panel that Yother junior's and Szlavich's testimony was not persuasive. In addition, the record reveals that, despite inconsistencies in his testimony on other matters, the accused never wavered in his assertion about the scope of his representation in the criminal matter. On September 17, 1996, he told the trial court that he had been retained only to provide a second opinion about whether the defendants should plead no contest to reduced charges; he wrote the same to Cooper on October 2, 1996; he told the same thing to the LPRC investigator in July 1997; and he testified to the same effect in his deposition on July 13, 1999, and before the trial panel on November 2, 1999. Finally, the defendants had appointed counsel to represent them at trial, a fact of which the accused was aware. The accused testified that he attempted to contact Bispham to discuss the charges against the defendants, but Bispham did not return his telephone calls. The accused also stated in his deposition that, if he had been retained to represent the defendants at trial, there would have been a substitution of counsel. Based on our review of the record, we agree with the trial panel that the Bar has failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the accused agreed to represent the defendants at trial. Accordingly, the predicate for the Bar's third cause of complaint is missing, and we conclude that that cause of complaint must be dismissed. We turn to the Bar's contention that the accused nonetheless violated DR 5-105(E).