Opinion ID: 2194268
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: matter of c.d.

Text: ¶ 25. The referee also exonerated Attorney Backes from the OLR's charges against him in respect to the matter of C.D. The OLR does not appeal that conclusion. Therefore, again these findings and conclusions are not in dispute and are only summarized here for purposes of evaluating whether they were improperly considered in recommending discipline. ¶ 26. In November 1998, C.S. retained Attorney Backes to pursue a sentence modification motion for her fiancé, C.D., who had been incarcerated since 1991 following his conviction for armed robbery and threats to injure. C.S. paid Attorney Backes $1250 and agreed to pay him another $1250 within 30 days. There was no written fee agreement. C.S. duly paid the remaining $1250 on December 31, 1998. The premise of the requested motion was that C.D.'s parents were ailing and needed C.D. to care for them. ¶ 27. On February 24, 1999, Attorney Backes wrote to C.D. advising him that he had spoken to the parents and had questions about whether the requested motion was appropriate. On March 9, 1999, Attorney Backes contacted C.D. to state that C.D.'s parents had informed him that they were not in ill health, and did not need C.D. to come home to care for them. He advised C.D. that there was thus no basis for filing a motion for sentence modification. ¶ 28. Over the following months, a series of correspondence ensued between C.D. and Attorney Backes, with C.D. demanding Attorney Backes either file a motion or refund $2000 of his fee, and Attorney Backes explaining he had earned his fee. ¶ 29. In October 1999, C.D. wrote to Attorney Backes, asking him to pursue whether a potential witness was available and stating that he had been assaulted by another inmate. Attorney Backes did contact C.D.'s former attorney regarding the potential witness, and on December 20, 1999, forwarded C.D. a letter from that attorney stating that the witness was not available. On January 5, 2000, C.D. was attacked by another inmate and seriously injured. In June 2000, another attorney represented C.D. in a sentence modification motion. The motion was denied. ¶ 30. The referee concluded that Attorney Backes had not committed misconduct with respect to his handling of the C.D. matter, noting that there was no evidence that a flat fee was unreasonable. ¶ 31. Attorney Backes agrees with this conclusion, but emphasizes that the injury C.D. sustained in the altercation with another inmate did not establish a basis for a sentence modification. We acknowledge the point, but conclude that the referee included these facts to establish the chronology; it was not the basis for the referee's decision, nor does it appear to have affected the referee's recommendation with respect to discipline.