Opinion ID: 2260682
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Short-Term Suspension Is An Appropriate Sanction For Respondent's Misconduct

Text: Although the Board is unanimous that neither disbarment nor public censure would be an appropriate sanction in this case, the Board is divided on the question whether Respondent's misconduct falls within the comparability range of prior precedents for short-term suspension, or whether the precedents for long-term suspension should be regarded as controlling. The Board's majority concludes that a comparative analysis of the controlling authorities places Respondent's misconduct in the short-term suspension category. The leading pertinent precedents are In re Bryant, 425 A.2d 1313 (D.C.1981); In re Harrison, 461 A.2d 1034 (D.C.1983); and In re Hines, 482 A.2d 378 (D.C.1984). The court's en banc opinion in In re Reback, 513 A.2d 226 (D.C.1986) is also significant, along with the Board's Reports in two cases now pending before the court. In re Buckley, Bar Dkt. 488-82 (B.P.R. May 12, 1986); In re Thajauna Miller, Bar Dkt. 175-81 (B.P.R. Sept. 17, 1987). Once again, the focus of the Board's analysis is a comparative evaluation on a relative ethical scale of Respondent's other violations and the other violations in the pertinent precedents. Such an analysis shows, at the very least, that one cannot utter the magic word commingling and inadvertent misappropriation and then leap to the conclusion that the sanction must be long-term suspension. In comparison with O'Bryant, the analysis requires a balancing of Respondent's other violation (consisting of inadvertent misappropriation) against O'Bryant's other violations consisting of misrepresentations and a failure promptly to pay funds belonging to his client. The Board concludes that on a relative scale of unethical conduct, a strong argument could be made that there is only a marginal difference between Respondent's inadvertent misappropriation that never materialized into a bad check or financial loss to his client, on the one hand, and O'Bryant's misrepresentation and failure promptly to pay violations, on the other. Compare In re Reback, 513 A.2d 226 (D.C.1986) ( en banc ) (six months' suspension for deceitful misrepresentation, forgery, and neglect). Indeed, viewed from an ethical standpoint, a lawyer who makes misrepresentations to his client, as in O'Bryant, may require closer scrutiny for resuming the practice of law than one who, through negligence and inadvertence allowed his bank account to drop below the amount owed to his client. On that basis, Respondent's sanction here should be in keeping with suspension for six months, as was imposed in O'Bryant. The Board nonetheless recommends that Respondent herein should be suspended for one year, which is twice the suspension in O'Bryant and Reback. About three years after the O'Bryant opinion, the Court of Appeals announced in In re Hines, 482 A.2d 378 (D.C.1984), a new standard whereby disbarment will ordinarily be the sanction for intentional misappropriation going beyond simple negligence, and the Board interprets this announcement as a signal that commingling resulting in inadvertent misappropriation warrants a stronger sanction than O'Bryant's commingling plus misrepresentation and failure promptly to pay. This is an important point in the Board's legal analysis that contributes to the recommendation of a one-year suspension for the Respondent in this case. The dissenting opinion relies on the decision in Harrison, where the court imposed a long-term suspension of a year and a day. However, the Board's majority agrees with the Hearing Committee that Respondent's misconduct in this case is less egregious than in Harrison, because several distinguishing factors differentiate this case from Harrison and put it squarely in the category of prior precedents calling for short-term suspension of less than a year and a day. In the first place, there is a fundamental difference in terms of the disciplinary violations. The attorney's misconduct in Harrison was more than a mere technical violation of the Code involving commingling and inadvertent misappropriation, because Harrison evaded Hart's [the client's] request for restitution for several weeks by refusing to take calls or respond to his letter, [and when] ... he finally paid, the [initial] check was returned for insufficient funds, causing further delay. 461 A.2d at 1036. These facts in Harrison established a violation of DR 9-103(B) for failure promptly to pay funds owed to the client. In contrast, the Respondent in this case did not commit any such violation of the promptly requirement of Rule 9-103(B)(4). Because this distinction is so important, the dissenting opinion of the Board argues strenuously that Respondent's conduct did violate DR 9-103(B)(4) as a matter of law, [7] despite the Hearing Committee's contrary findings and conclusion. However, without a violation of DR 9-103(B)(4), there is no principled basis on which to conclude that Respondent's conduct here is comparable to that found in Harrison. There are other distinguishing factors, all significant, that place Respondent's misconduct in the category calling for short-term suspension. Unlike Harrison, the Respondent here actually prepared and mailed to his client, in timely fashion, a check for the full amount due to the client. [8] Harrison did not do so. Here, in late December 1984 Ms. Cox explained her renewed complaint to Mr. Smink (the new attorney), and he then relayed it to Respondent a few days later. The main thrust of the complaint continued to be Ms. Cox's insistence upon receiving $1,862 from Respondent, rather than $912 which was the correct amount due to her. Moreover, Respondent offered to satisfy this part of the client's complaint if she would simultaneously pay the amount of the legal fees she owed to Respondent. The delay in Harrison did not occur in the temporizing context of such a fee dispute as here involved. Moreover, as compared to Hines where a long-term suspension was imposed, Respondent's misconduct is clearly less egregious. As the Court noted in Hines, the attorney had acted deceitfully toward two different clients and misappropriated funds from both of them. 482 A.2d at 386. Here, in contrast, Respondent's misconduct involved only one incident related to a single client, and there was no deceit. In a case, now pending before the Court, In re Buckley, Bd.Dkt. 488-82 (B.P.R. May 12, 1986), the Board found that the attorney had commingled and misappropriated his client's funds in violation of DR 9-103(A) and DR 1-102(A)(4), the latter involving dishonesty. In Buckley, the attorney expressly acknowledged that during the two year period of confusion over the disposition of the settlement funds of his client, he deposited those funds in an office bank account and used them for payment of personal and office expenses. The Board has recommended that the attorney in Buckley should be suspended for two years in keeping with the Hines precedent. Respondent in the instant case did not knowingly use his client's funds or commit any dishonesty violation. His misappropriation was not purposeful, but merely negligent and inadvertent. Long-term suspension is not called for.