Opinion ID: 2135775
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Valerie Zara

Text: Count VII of the Administrator's complaint charged respondent with neglecting a dissolution of marriage petition. Valerie Zara retained respondent to represent her in her marriage dissolution proceedings in 1983. Respondent filed a petition for dissolution of marriage on behalf of Zara in Cook County on September 2, 1983. Discovery was completed in July 1984, and the case was assigned for trial on December 17, 1984. However, respondent failed to appear several times and the matter was eventually dismissed on April 31, 1986, for want of prosecution. Zara was later divorced in a 1987 proceeding initiated by her husband. Respondent testified that the neglect resulted from a confusing reorganization in the divorce courts and that he did not refile Zara's petition because Zara's husband's attorney agreed to file a petition and pay the filing fees. The Hearing Board found respondent neglected Zara's petition for divorce in failing to reinstate the case within the time allowed once it was originally dismissed in 1984. However, the Board found that respondent's conduct did not involve dishonesty, deceit, or misrepresentation.