Opinion ID: 2375797
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Lanigan Matter

Text: Lanigan was injured in an accident in 1967. He and his wife retained respondent to institute suit. Although respondent told the Lanigans that suit had been instituted in federal court and was proceeding normally, he never filed suit and allowed the statute of limitations to run on the claim. Thereafter, he advised the Lanigans that the defendant's insurance carrier had forwarded a partial settlement of $25,000 to respondent and that he had placed the money in his trust account. This representation by respondent was false, and the purported settlement a complete fiction. However, at the Lanigans' request respondent paid them a total of $6,000, supposedly out of the $25,000, as an advance on the settlement. Actually, the $6,000 payment was made out of trust funds belonging to other clients. To complete the charade, respondent notified the Lanigans that the case had been settled for $85,000 and delivered to them his trust check for $59,250 ostensibly representing their share of the settlement. Aside from the fact that there had never been a settlement, respondent knew that the Lanigan check would be dishonored since there were no funds in his account. The Lanigans have subsequently sued respondent for malpractice.