Opinion ID: 1152575
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Commitment Matter

Text: In connection with the commitment matter, the bar association notified respondent of the charges as follows: In July of 1981, you were retained by Mrs. Ernesia D. Stuart, to perform legal work involving the judicial commitment of her son. You were paid a fee of $400.00 and received all necessary documents from Mrs. Stuart. Despite payment of said fee and repeated requests from your client, you performed little or no work for the fee paid and refused to return said fee or the documents brought to you by Mrs. Stuart. You, further, failed to communicate with your client; all in violation of Disciplinary Rule 1-102 and 6-101(A)(3) of the Canons of Professional Responsibility for the Louisiana State Bar Association. In disciplinary proceedings, the bar association has the burden of (1) pleading the lawyer's violation of a disciplinary rule, (2) producing evidence of that violation, and (3) persuading this court as the trier of fact of existence of the violation by clear and convincing evidence. La.Const. 1974, Art. 5, Section 5(B); Louisiana State Bar Association Articles of Incorporation, Art. 5 § 16; LSBA v. Edwins, 329 So.2d 437 (La.1976); LSBA v. Brown, 291 So.2d 385 (La.1974). See also LSBA v. Levy, 292 So.2d 492 (La. 1974); LSBA v. Brown, 291 So.2d 385 (La. 1974); In re Novo, 200 La. 833, 9 So.2d 201 (1942); Annotation, Attorneys' MisconductDegree of Proof, 105 A.L.R. 984 (1936); and McCormick on Evidence, Section 337 (2d ed. 1972). From the evidence of record we find clear and convincing proof of the following: On July 1, 1981, Mrs. Ernesia D. Stuart retained McGovern to assist in returning her adult son to the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Gulfport from which he had departed without permission. The son had a long history of mental illness and violence. Mrs. Stuart had been informed by the hospital that her son could not be readmitted without a judicial commitment. McGovern requested and received $400 in advance as a retainer. He gave Mrs. Stuart a receipt marked Retainer only, on legal problems, James E. Stuart, Jr., re VA commitment, etc. During much of the next three months McGovern was ill with diabetes and absent from his office. He did not file any commitment pleadings or write any letters to the Veteran's Administration. In September, 1981, her son became so sick that Mrs. Stuart called the police who took him to the New Orleans VA hospital. Two weeks later the son was readmitted by the Gulfport VA hospital. McGovern has not returned any part of the $400 fee. McGovern testified that the $400 advance fee was intended as a retainer in connection with an attempt to have Mrs. Stuart's son readmitted to the hospital without an expensive judicial commitment. He testified that the day after he was retained he engaged a social worker at the Gulfport VA hospital in a 38 minute phone conversation, during which the worker ultimately agreed that the hospital would readmit Mrs. Stuart's son if he returned voluntarily. Immediately thereafter, McGovern said he received a call from his client and reported to her the results of his discussion with the social worker. McGovern introduced handwritten notes as evidence that he researched commitment procedures on August 3, 1981. Subsequently, he stated, he checked the records at the Civil District Court to determine whether Mrs. Stuart was still authorized to serve as curatrix for her son. During this period, McGovern contended, his contacts with his client were hampered by his illness and her instructions not to call her at home because she was fearful of alerting her son to the plans to recommit him. Nevertheless, McGovern testified he saw Mrs. Stuart on at least two occasions after her initial visit and had several telephone conversations with her. McGovern also claims that at some point he furnished his client with a copy of a June 1, 1981 New Yorker article on problems encountered by families of institutionalized mental patients. McGovern testified that he ceased work on the matter when Mrs. Stuart visited his office on September 18, 1981 and left a message that her son had been readmitted to the hospital. He conceded that he was incapacitated for substantial periods but stated that he took no steps to have another attorney assist him with Mrs. Stuart's case because the problem was simple if the son could be returned to the hospital without a judicial commitment. McGovern also admitted that he did not return his client's curatrix papers promptly but testified that he restored them after receiving a letter from the bar association. Mrs. Stuart, on the other hand, testified that McGovern took her money and did nothing. She claimed that she could not get him on the phone or find him at his office during the time she was trying to reinstitutionalize her son. Furthermore, she stated she had tried unsuccessfully to catch him at his office over twenty times during the two year period preceding the hearing. Unfortunately, although McGovern had been given notice, neither McGovern nor his lawyer attended the hearing at which Mrs. Stuart testified. Consequently, she was not cross-examined by McGovern or his attorney on crucial points to which McGovern testified, e.g., that she employed McGovern to assist with a voluntary rather than a judicial commitment, that he informed her of the possibility that the Gulfport VA hospital would readmit her son if he returned voluntarily, that he had done library and courthouse research and supplied her with a New Yorker article, and that he had communicated with her in the office and on the phone on several occasions. The evidence is not clear and convincing that McGovern was employed to obtain a judicial commitment. Mrs. Stuart was not questioned as to the exact nature of the legal services she expected McGovern to perform. Without her rebuttal of McGovern's testimony that he was employed only to assist with a voluntary readmission, we cannot say that the bar association's version is highly probable. Furthermore, we are unable to say that he neglected his employment. He may have performed a valuable service toward the son's ultimate readmission in his telephone call to the Gulfport VA hospital. The bar association does not suggest what else McGovern should have done regarding a voluntary commitment. On the other hand, except for the phone call and the initial interview, none of the other work described by McGovern appears to be related to facilitating the son's voluntary readmission. McGovern only vaguely described his efforts on behalf of Mrs. Stuart and he failed to testify as to the immediate purpose of his legal research. Although the research described might have been compatible with plans for a judicial commitment, McGovern insisted that his employment and his retainer were solely for the purpose of a voluntary readmission. Consequently, we conclude that McGovern did not earn more than one-half of the $400 retainer and should have refunded the balance when his client informed him that she no longer required his services. McGovern was also derelict in his failure to return his client's documents promptly. He has now done so, however, and she does not appear to have been prejudiced by his tardiness.