Opinion ID: 1436435
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Complaint of Joann Clark

Text: Bar Counsel averred that, in June, 2002, Ms. Clark retained Maignan to pursue an employment discrimination case and that, on June 27, 2002, she paid him, in cash, a fee of $4,000. The retainer agreement stated that the fee would be placed in Maignan's escrow account and that his firm would bill against that amount. Bar Counsel charged that, in contravention of that agreement, Maignan did not deposit the money in his escrow account and that he failed to maintain complete records of that money. On those allegations, he charged Maignan with violating MRPC 1.1 (Competent representation), 1.15 (Safekeeping client property), 8.4(a) (Violating another MRPC), and 8.4(d) (Conduct prejudicial to administration of justice). Maignan claimed that he never received the $4,000. At the hearing before Judge Northrop, Ms. Clark testified that she was an employee of the District of Columbia school system, that she desired to pursue a discrimination claim against her employer, that she was referred to Maignan by her sister's church, that she met with him in May, 2002, that Maignan quoted a fee of about $3,500 to handle her case, and that she then cashed in $4,000 of savings bonds from her grandson's college fund and paid him the proceeds in cash. The payment was made in May at Maignan's office. A few days later, she said, she received a letter from Maignan thanking her for choosing his firm along with a retainer agreement. In March, 2005, she paid an additional $2,000, which Maignan admitted receiving. In support of her testimony regarding the $4,000, Ms. Clark produced redemption statements from Sun Trust showing that, on May 13, 2002, U.S. Savings bonds in the face amount of $2,900 were redeemed for an aggregate amount, including accrued interest, of $4,103. There was produced as well a two-page letter from Maignan, the first page carrying a date of June 27, 2002, and the second page showing a date of March 13, 2006. The letter confirmed that Maignan would commence representation after receipt of the $4,000. Attached to the letter was a retainer agreement, dated March 13, 2006, which also noted that Ms. Clark would pay a $4,000 retainer fee to secure Maignan & Associates' representation, for initial interview, for creating a file and for initial office personnel work. The fee, it continued, would be placed in the Law Firm's escrow account. Ms. Clark said that she paid the $4,000 before receiving the letter and retainer agreement, although those documents, dated at the earliest June 27, 2002, suggest that the fee had not yet been paid and that the representation would not commence until that was done. Yet among Maignan's records was found a copy of a composite statement to Ms. Clark, also dated March 31, 2006, showing a credit to her account of $4,000 as of June 27, 2002. According to that statement, Maignan proceeded in July, 2002, to work on her case. At some point, Maignan filed a lawsuit on Ms. Clark's behalf in the D.C. Superior Court. In March, 2004, the action was removed to the U.S. District Court. By then, over $7,000 had been charged against the $4,000. Maignan continued with the case until his suspension in December, 2005, by which time, even with the payment of the additional $2,000, $20,451 was shown as due. No records from the D.C. Superior Court are in evidence, but docket entries from the District Court show more than modest activity prior to the payment of the $2,000 in March, 2005, including the filing and answering of discovery. If, in fact, the $4,000 had not been paid, not only would the running account kept by Maignan have been largely fictional, but he would have done a great deal of work on Ms. Clark's case in contravention of the assertions in his letter and retainer agreement that representation would not commence until the $4,000 was paid. Maignan testified that, when he terminated his representation in December, 2005, he sent his entire file to Ms. Clark and had nothing left. He claimed that the letter and retainer agreement placed in evidence were not genuine. He said that he recreated those documents electronically in March, 2006, which accounted for the March dates on the letter and retainer agreement. The statement showing the $4,000, he said, was not created until 2003, and was an attempt to recreate what had occurred earlier based on the retainer agreement that called for a $4,000 payment. On this disputed evidence, Judge Northrop credited Ms. Clark's testimony and found as a fact that Maignan had received the $4,000 fee at the outset of the representation. Indeed, he declared that he seriously questions the credibility of the Respondent. The judge referred to the running balance statement and noted that Maignan had not produced any record to contradict Ms. Clark's testimony. He also noted, in response to Maignan's claim that the retainer agreement placed into evidence was not genuine, a letter sent by Maignan's attorney to the D.C. Bar Counsel enclosing a copy of the letter and retainer agreement and attesting that there is no dispute that Mr. Maignan was retained in this matter under the parameters of the retainer agreement. Clearly, the $4,000 was never deposited in Maignan's trust account, and, on that basis, Judge Northrop found violations of MRPC 1.1 (failure to maintain trust funds in a trust account constitutes incompetence), 1.15(a), 8.4(a), and 8.4(d). Maignan's exceptions challenge most of the credibility-based fact-finding by Judge Northrop and his conclusions drawn from that fact-finding. We overrule those exceptions. Judge Northrop was entitled to resolve the disputed evidence in accordance with his assessment of the relative credibility of Ms. Clark and Maignan, which was not favorable to Maignan. As the judge indicated, Maignan's version required him to disavow his own records.