Opinion ID: 2349405
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Record in the Maryland Proceedings Relating to Misappropriation in Martin v. Lockwood

Text: The charges against Respondent relating to misappropriation occurred in the course of his conduct in Martin v. Lockwood. Respondent, as the attorney for Ms. Martin, had recovered a $4,000 judgment on her behalf and thereafter received a check for that amount payable to himself and Ms. Martin. The check was dated August 14, 1981. In preparing for trial of Ms. Martin's case, Respondent hired a Mr. Hellman as an expert to assist in the preparation and to testify at the trial. Mr. Hellman later presented a bill of over $3,000 for his services, and Respondent claimed he (Respondent) was entitled to a contingent fee of $1,333, or one-third of the total recovery. Payment of these two claimed amounts would have left no money at all for Ms. Martin. At a post-trial meeting Ms. Martin and Respondent were unable to agree on how the amount recovered should be divided, and Ms. Martin did not sign the $4,000 check. However, the check, with her purported signature thereon, cleared the bank on which it was drawn on September 18, 1981. In August or September 1981, Respondent wrote Ms. Martin that he had placed the funds in escrow, when in fact he had not done so. An interrogatory in the disciplinary investigation asked Respondent to state where the $4,000 was from the time it was received in August 1981 until September 17, 1982, and Respondent answered People's Security Bank of Maryland (II Tr. 36). However, the evidence showed that an escrow account in Respondent's name was first opened in the People's Security Bank of Maryland on September 17, 1982, which was thirteen months after Respondent had received the $4,000 and was also the same day as the hearing on the disciplinary charges against Respondent. The check starting the escrow account on September 17, 1982 was not the check Respondent had received in the Martin case. Respondent had no other account in the People's Security Bank. The $4,000 in the escrow account was ultimately distributed to Ms. Martin and Mr. Hellman on April 15, 1983. By that time, Mr. Hellman had obtained a judgment against Respondent and Ms. Martin had brought suit against him. At the Maryland disciplinary hearing, Bar Counsel called Respondent to the stand. At first, Respondent objected and refused to testify on the ground that he had a constitutional right not to testify as part of the case in chief against him. The objection was overruled. (II Tr. 23). Thereafter, in response to numerous specific questions of Bar Counsel, Respondent testified at length concerning his handling of the $4,000 recovery in the Martin case. He said that after he received the $4,000 check, he signed his name on the check and gave it to his father who took care of his business affairs (II Tr. 26, 33, 35). Respondent said he did not know who signed Ms. Martin's name to the check. He explained that he had no bank statements with respect to the $4,000 for the period from August 14, 1981 to September 17, 1982. (II Tr. 34). Respondent said he had discussed with his father the theory that Mr. Hellman's charges were costs and that no money was due to Ms. Martin because these costs plus his own contingent fee aggregated more than the $4,000 recovery. He also discussed a presumed right to deal with costs in any manner he saw fit. (Tr. 33, 35). Respondent further testified in the Maryland disciplinary hearing that he did not write the check by which the escrow account was opened on September 17, 1982 and that he did not personally open the account. (II Tr. 40-41). Respondent was asked whether it had been opened on September 17, 1982 at his direction, and he answered No, I didn't discover it until later that it wasn't escrowed all along. (II Tr. 41) Then, he was asked Until later than what?, whereupon Respondent refused to answer this specific question based on a claimed constitutional right against self-incrimination. The Maryland judge overruled Respondent's objection, stating that the privilege against self-incrimination is not available in a grievance proceeding. Respondent then testified that he learned after September 17, 1982, that the money had not been previously escrowed (Tr. 40 42). Respondent's subsequent testimony with respect to the Martin case related to the final disposition of the $4,000 in 1983 (II Tr. 46 49). The trial judge found that for the period between August 14, 1981 (the date on which he received the $4,000 check) and September 17, 1982 (the date the escrow account was opened), Respondent had misappropriated and converted the $4,000 to his own use.