Opinion ID: 2582135
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The McDowell Matter

Text: In March 2000, DeRuiz represented Stephen P. McDowell on misdemeanor charges. After the representation, DeRuiz suggested that McDowell file an appeal of the Department of Licensing's (DOL) revocation of his driver's license. DeRuiz also led McDowell to believe that he would know within 30 days whether McDowell could return to work as a commercial truck driver. On November 11, 2000, McDowell hired DeRuiz to appeal the DOL's license revocation, and the parties executed a written fee agreement in which McDowell agreed to pay $2,000 for the appeal. McDowell immediately paid DeRuiz $1,000 in cash. Months passed without DeRuiz contacting McDowell on the status of the case. During this period, McDowell's employer terminated his employment because McDowell did not have any information on the status of his driver's license. Beginning in approximately March 2001, McDowell attempted to contact DeRuiz several times to find out the status of his appeal. He was unable to reach DeRuiz so he left messages when DeRuiz's voice mail would accept them. The messages asked about the status of the matter, for an accounting of the funds, and for the return of any unearned fees. DeRuiz did not respond to McDowell's requests for information about the status of the appeal, did not provide an accounting, and did not return any of the fees. On October 15, 2001, the WSBA received a grievance filed by McDowell against DeRuiz. On October 18, 2001, the WSBA acknowledged receipt of the grievance and encouraged DeRuiz to communicate with McDowell to provide him with a copy of the client file. DeRuiz complied by sending a copy of the driving under the influence and revocation hearing file. The WSBA closed the grievance. On December 20, 2001, McDowell submitted a second grievance against DeRuiz, noting that DeRuiz failed to provide him with the client file relating to the appeal and failed to account for the $1,000 fee. On January 22, 2002, the WSBA sent DeRuiz a request for information with a copy of the two grievances filed by McDowell. DeRuiz never answered the request. On February 26, 2002, disciplinary counsel sent letters by certified mail to DeRuiz's business and home addresses, notifying DeRuiz that he must file a written response to the grievances within 10 days or he would be subpoenaed for a deposition. The letters to DeRuiz's home and business addresses were returned unclaimed. On March 13, 2002, disciplinary counsel issued a subpoena duces tecum for DeRuiz's deposition to be taken on April 2, 2002. The subpoena was personally served on DeRuiz's father on March 19, 2002. On April 2, 2002, DeRuiz sent a letter by facsimile to disciplinary counsel in which he stated that he would not appear at the deposition. On April 26, 2002, DeRuiz was personally served with a copy of the WSBA's petition for interim suspension. On May 7, 2002, DeRuiz was personally served with this court's order to show cause. DeRuiz failed to file a notice of intent to appear for the show cause hearing and failed to respond to the WSBA's petition. On May 22, 2002, we granted the petition for interim suspension. On June 17, 2002, DeRuiz attended a deposition and provided the WSBA with the requested materials and the WSBA and DeRuiz filed a joint motion to withdraw the petition for interim suspension. The joint motion was granted on June 18, 2002. In relation to this consolidated grievance matter, DeRuiz faces the following counts of misconduct: Count IFailing to appear at Frederickson's July 9, 2001 probation review hearing, in violation of the Rules for Professional Conduct (RPC) 1.3 and/or RPC 3.2; Count IIFailing to respond to or accept Frederickson's and/or Lowry's telephone calls and letters, in violation of RPC 1.4; Count IIIFailing to refund unreasonable and/or unearned fees to Frederickson and/or failing to account to Frederickson regarding the $1,500 fee, in violation of RPC 1.5 and/or RPC 1.15(d); Count IVFailing to pursue McDowell's appeal, in violation of RPC 1.3 and/or RPC 3.2; Count VFailing to respond to McDowell's requests for information, in violation of RPC 1.4; Count VIFailing to refund unreasonable and/or unearned fees to McDowell and/or failing to account to McDowell regarding fees paid, in violation of RPC 1.5; Count VIIFailing to cooperate fully and promptly with disciplinary investigations of both the Lowry/Frederickson and/or McDowell grievances, in violation of the former Rules for Lawyer Discipline (RLD) 2.8(a)(1992). WSBA Public No. 02# 00106 (DeRuiz II) Donald Gorman hired DeRuiz to represent him on a charge of driving under the influence (DUI) in Grant County. On October 17, 2001, Gorman executed a fee agreement to pay DeRuiz $2,625 to cover the cost of representation with an additional $500 due if the case went to trial. Gorman paid $1,000 of the fee up front. During the same period, Gorman hired DeRuiz to represent him in a deferred prosecution DUI matter in Kittitas County District Court for $2,375 of which $500 was paid up front. DeRuiz agreed that Gorman could make payments of $100 per month toward the outstanding balance of the fee agreements. Gorman paid DeRuiz $100 on November 27, 2001, December 12, 2001, and January 2, 2002. DeRuiz acknowledged that Gorman was current in his payments through January 2002. On November 13, 2001, DeRuiz filed a notice of appearance and other documents on Gorman's behalf for the Grant County DUI case. On December 18, 2002, DeRuiz appeared with Gorman at a hearing in Grant County District Court. At this hearing, the court scheduled a pretrial and readiness hearing for January 22, 2002. On January 22, 2002, DeRuiz called Grant County District Court twice, first to tell the clerk he would be delayed for the hearing and later to inform the court he was unable to successfully travel over Snoqualmie Pass. However, both Gorman and the judge had successfully navigated the pass to attend the hearing. Due to DeRuiz's absence, the court continued the hearing to February 19, 2002. On February 16, 2002, DeRuiz appeared in court with Gorman for the Kittitas County matter. DeRuiz and Gorman discussed a payment schedule at this time because Gorman had failed to make a payment in February as agreed. DeRuiz warned Gorman that a failure to pay would result in his withdrawal. Gorman responded, The check is in the mail. 2 Clerk's Papers (CP) at 100. [3] On February 19, 2002, DeRuiz failed to appear for the hearing in the Grant County matter and did not contact the court, the prosecutor, or his client regarding his failure to appear. Both Gorman and the prosecutor made several unsuccessful attempts to contact DeRuiz at his office. The prosecutor was unable to leave a message because DeRuiz's voice mail was not accepting messages, and the prosecutor's attempt to send a fax letter to DeRuiz's listed fax number also failed. The prosecutor mailed the letter via the U.S. Postal Service. The letter informed DeRuiz that Gorman's hearing was continued one week and asked DeRuiz to call the prosecutor by February 22, 2002. DeRuiz received the letter but did not respond to it or inform the prosecutor that he would no longer represent Gorman in the case. After February 19, 2002, Gorman attempted on numerous occasions to contact DeRuiz via telephone and by visiting DeRuiz's office to determine why he did not appear for his pretrial hearing. Gorman was not able to contact DeRuiz. On February 20, 2002, Grant County District Court sent notice of case setting to DeRuiz reflecting the rescheduled pretrial and readiness hearing in Gorman's case for February 25, 2002. DeRuiz admits he received the notice, yet he failed to appear for the February 25 hearing and failed to contact the parties or the court regarding his absence. He also failed to file a motion to withdraw. Grant County District Court again rescheduled the pretrial hearing for March 12, 2002, and notified DeRuiz of the court's express understanding that DeRuiz represented Gorman in the matter. DeRuiz did not appear for the March 12 hearing and did not formally withdraw. After DeRuiz's complete failure to reply to the court and after discussion with Gorman, the court assigned Gorman a public defender. On March 18, 2002, Gorman mailed a certified letter to DeRuiz stating he no longer wanted DeRuiz to represent him because DeRuiz failed to attend several court hearings and failed to return his calls. After three failed attempts to serve the letter, the postal service returned it. On March 19, 2002, the WSBA opened another grievance file on DeRuiz, based on the allegation that he failed to appear at hearings for Gorman. In response to the grievance, DeRuiz wrote to the WSBA on May 6, 2002, that he believed he attended three of five scheduled court hearings in the Grant County matter and that he did not make it to two of the hearings because of weather related to Snoqualmie Pass. DeRuiz also stated in the letter that he did not appear on February 19, 2002, and February 25, 2002, because he no longer represented Gorman and that he had informed Gorman in no uncertain terms that he no longer represented him before the February hearings. 2 CP at 103. DeRuiz later testified at the disciplinary hearing that he was mistaken in his May 6 letter. Instead, he claimed he informed Gorman he was withdrawing from representation sometime after February 19 but before February 25, 2002. However, he stated he did not mail any correspondence to Gorman to indicate his withdrawal, took no notes documenting his withdrawal, and relied upon his admittedly poor memory of the events. He again claimed that he attempted to attend the DUI hearings but failed to cross the pass due to weather and that poor cell phone reception prevented him from calling the court or parties. At the WSBA hearing, Mr. Curtis, who was DeRuiz's driver for a year, also gave self-conflicting testimony that he had attempted to drive DeRuiz over the pass for hearings in Eastern Washington. Finally, to explain his failure to cooperate with the grievance proceedings, DeRuiz claimed that he did not understand the nature of the allegations or the nature of the grievance proceedings. Gorman testified that DeRuiz never told him that he was terminating the representation and, if DeRuiz had, he would have hired another attorney. Gorman also stated that he certainly would not have made so many unnecessary and costly trips to Grant County for hearings if he had known that DeRuiz no longer represented him and that the hearings would be continued. Due to the conflicting testimony regarding DeRuiz's attempts to attend the pretrial hearings and his failure to notify the court that he would not be attending the hearings or to explain his absence, the WSBA concluded that he never intended to attend the meetings. 2 CP at 105. Instead, the WSBA found that DeRuiz declined to attend the pretrial hearings on Gorman's behalf because he believed he had no further obligation to Gorman due to Gorman's failure to timely pay fees. 2 CP at 106. DeRuiz does not acknowledge the wrongful nature of his dealings with Gorman and believes he acted appropriately. In relation to this grievance matter, DeRuiz faces the following counts of misconduct: Count VIIIFailing to appear at Gorman's hearings on February 19, 2002, February 25, 2002, and March 12, 2002, in violation of RPC 1.3 and/or RPC 3.2; Count IXFailing to return Gorman's telephone calls and/or otherwise adequately communicate with Gorman in violation of RPC 1.4(a); Count XFailing to take reasonable steps to protect Gorman's interests upon withdrawal in violation of RPC 1.15(d); and Count XIMaking one or more false statements at the June 17, 2002 deposition and/or in his May 6, 2002 response to Gorman's grievance in violation of RPC 8.4(c) and/or former RLD 2.8(a). DeRuiz challenges the findings of fact and recommended sanctions for both matters.