Opinion ID: 1751432
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: The Lensey Matter

Text: In August 2001, Tisha Lensey, a former Shreveport police officer, hired respondent to represent her against the City of Shreveport. In particular, Ms. Lensey wanted respondent to file a wrongful termination action in state court and a civil rights action in federal court. Respondent and Ms. Lensey signed a contingency fee agreement with regard to the federal court action [7] and signed an hourly fee agreement with regard to the state court action. The hourly fee agreement signed in connection with the state court action provided for a $2,000 advance deposit against future hourly billing at $150 per hour, with the client's approval required for expenses beyond the initial $2,000. Ms. Lensey paid respondent $750 towards the $2,000 deposit. Additionally, she performed clerical work for respondent, who deducted $100 to $150 from her bi-weekly paychecks to be applied to the advance deposit. Respondent did not deposit any of the advance fees into his client trust account, nor did he account for or keep records of Ms. Lensey's payments. He also failed to keep track of the hours he worked on the state court matter. The state court action resulted in Ms. Lensey's reinstatement as a police officer and receipt of back pay and interest totaling $73,602.48. Of this amount, $64,496.24 was paid directly to Ms. Lensey. The remaining $9,106.24 was paid in the form of check made payable to both respondent and Ms. Lensey. At this point, a dispute arose between respondent and Ms. Lensey over whether respondent was entitled to a contingency fee in the state court action. As a result, Ms. Lensey refused to endorse the check. Respondent then endorsed Ms. Lensey's signature on the check and deposited the check into his operating accounting instead of his client trust account, despite the existence of the fee dispute. He also failed to account for or refund any of the funds to Ms. Lensey. [8]