Opinion ID: 1800005
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: ) Neglect of Ms. Sutherland's Legal Matter

Text: The bar association alleges that respondent violated several provisions of the Disciplinary Rules in connection with her representation of Ms. Marilyn Sutherland. Specifically, it alleges that she violated DR 1-102(A)(1) and (6), which state that an attorney shall not violate a disciplinary rule or engage in other conduct that adversely reflects on his fitness to practice law, and DR 6-101(A)(3), which states that an attorney shall not neglect a legal matter entrusted to her. Ms. Sutherland retained respondent to represent her in obtaining rights to her ex-husband's pension after hearing her speak at the Center for Displaced Homemakers in March and April of 1986. Ms. Sutherland testified that she paid respondent $100 for court costs and that they agreed respondent's fee would be $40 per hour, which was to be paid out of the settlement of the case, since Ms. Sutherland did not have more money to pay respondent. Ms. Sutherland's check was cashed the next day. Ms. Sutherland testified that when she did not hear from respondent, she tried to contact her several times, but her calls were not returned. When she was finally able to get in touch with her, respondent told her a court date of May 23, 1986 had been set. Respondent returned a call from Ms. Sutherland the week before the court date, and told her that the court date had been canceled because her ex-husband could not be served. The client continued to try to call respondent during June, July, and August, but her calls were never returned. Ms. Sutherland called the courthouse and learned that nothing had been filed on her behalf. When she was able to contact respondent to inquire about this, she was given another court date of September 19th. Mrs. Sutherland went to court on that date, only to learn that her case was not on the docket; she subsequently learned that no new suit had been filed on her behalf, nor had anything been filed in her divorce suit since 1981. Ms. Sutherland went immediately to respondent's office, which was closed and had mail in the door. Ms. Sutherland wrote letters to respondent, but received no answer. Respondent's testimony conflicted with that of her client. She testified that the $100 was for legal research, and that the agreement was that her fee was $60 per hour, or $500, and that Ms. Sutherland was to make two more payments of $100 each before she went into court on her behalf, but that the remainder of the fee could be paid out of the settlement of the case. Respondent says that she earned the $100 by doing three or four hours of legal research, but never did anything further in the case because she was not paid the additional $200. She claims she copied a case on point and gave it to Ms. Sutherland between June and July of 1987. She was not certain but she believed she sent her the opinion through the mail. She also claims that the dates she gave to Ms. Sutherland were not court dates, but dates that they were supposed to meet in order for Ms. Sutherland to make the remaining payments. After being questioned by members of the Committee, respondent changed her testimony to say that her fee was to be $40 per hour, rather than $60. Respondent claimed to have time logs documenting the legal research she had done in the case, but that she had not brought them to the hearing; the Committee gave her until 5:00 p.m. that day to provide them, but she failed to do so; nor did respondent submit any document to prove the fee arrangement. We believe that Ms. Sutherland's testimony, when compared to respondent's inconsistent and unsubstantiated version, establishes clearly and convincingly that she was led to believe that respondent would file suit on her behalf, and later that respondent had filed such a suit, when in fact she had not. Respondent's conduct was a tacit admission that she had neglected to perform the services that she had led the client to expect. Thus, we find respondent violated 6-101(A)(3) by neglecting a client matter.