Opinion ID: 2395384
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Alongi Count

Text: Respondent received $7,000.00 in settlement proceeds for a personal injury matter in which he represented Amanda Alongi and deposited the proceeds in his trust account on December 28, 1990. The deposit brought his trust account balance to $54,560.14, of which $47,498.52 belonged to another client, Lamberti. Immediately, respondent disbursed one-half of the Alongi settlement, $3,500.00, to himself. Respondent not only overdisbursed the fee to himself as he had in the Snyder case, but also deposited the overdisbursed fee directly into his personal account; this time, respondent deposited the funds to cover a shortage of $250.97. Although only $3,500.00 remained on the Alongi ledger, respondent drew two checks totaling $4,733.06: check number 1221 to On-Time Court Reporters and check number 1222 to the Clerk of Middlesex County, which resulted in a negative Alongi balance of $1,233.06 and, consequently, an invasion of Lamberti's funds. During this period, respondent had no activity besides the Alongi and Lamberti matters in his trust account. From February 5, 1991 until May 1, 1992, despite the fact that there were simply no funds on deposit for Alongi, respondent issued five checks to himself for a total of $3,800.00 in legal fees for the Alongi case. Respondent, therefore, kept $8,100 in fees against a $7,100 settlement. The DRB summarized respondent's explanation of his handling of the Alongi Account: In his defense, respondent alleged that, during the course of the Alongi litigation, he had advanced monies for costs and expenses on behalf of Alongi and that, on one occasion, Alongi had requested a loan from him against the settlement proceeds. Respondent added that Alongi had authorized him to take one-half of the settlement proceeds as his fee. He claimed that, at the time that he wrote the checks to On Time Court Reporters and Middlesex County Superior Court, he believed that there were sufficient monies on deposit to cover them. He blamed his lack of records for this erroneous belief. In short, respondent contended that he was unaware of the account balance and that, therefore, the invasions of other client funds were not knowing because he at no time harbored the specific intent required to knowingly misappropriate funds. In its decision, the DRB found knowing misappropriation in the Alongi matter: [A]s the special master noted, even if Alongi had given respondent authority to keep the entire proceeds of the settlement for his fees and advanced expenses, there is no explanation for respondent's invasion of other client funds to pay for respondent's fees in Alongi. All in all, respondent kept $8,100 for himself as fees ($3,500, $800, $700, $2,000, $300, $400 and $400). He could not reasonably have expected to be entitled to $8,100 against a $7,000 settlement. The only explanation respondent offered was that he believed that there were enough funds in the Alongi account to cover the withdrawals and that he was unaware of the account balance because of poor records. Such alleged belief was against reason, however. Again, basic arithmetic had to make respondent aware that he was improperly overdisbursing funds for his personal benefit. Here, too, the evidence against respondent is so overwhelming as to support a finding of knowing misappropriation on his part by clear and convincing evidence. Based on our de novo review of the record, we agree and find that respondent violated RPC 1.15 (knowing misappropriation of funds), and RPC 8.4(c) (dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation).