Opinion ID: 2072414
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: client t.w.counts iv and v

Text: ¶ 31. Reitz does not now challenge the referee's findings and conclusions of law that he engaged in misconduct as alleged in Counts IV and V of OLR's complaint. The facts supporting those counts as established by clear, satisfactory, and convincing evidence are these: On October 7, 1999, T.W. retained Reitz to represent her on a workers compensation claim. Reitz, however, did little or nothing on that claim until a hearing application was filed with the Department of Workforce Development (DWFD) on March 17, 2001. T.W. testified that after she retained Reitz, she had tried to contact him by telephone numerous times. On June 26, 2001, T.W. wrote to Reitz complaining that he never returned her telephone calls and stating I've had enough. I've waited 2 years for nothing. I will find a lawyer who wants to help me. ¶ 32. T.W.'s claim was dismissed by DWFD on July 12, 2001 because the required medical reports had not been filed with the claim. It is not clear from the record if Reitz informed T.W. of that dismissal at that time. After T.W. filed a grievance with OLR, Reitz contacted T.W. and then informed OLR that T.W. had agreed to allow him to continue to represent her. Reitz did not tell OLR, however, that T.W.'s claim had been dismissed by DWFD. ¶ 33. OLR subsequently dismissed T.W.'s grievance against Reitz relying on his report that he was communicating with T.W. and working on her claim; at the time OLR dismissed T.W.'s grievance, it was unaware that T.W.'s claim had been dismissed by DWFD. From August 13, 2001 to April 8, 2002, Reitz did not communicate with T.W. or perform any work on her workers compensation claim. ¶ 34. T.W. called Reitz's partner, Mandelman, and complained that Reitz was not responding to her phone calls; she informed Mandelman that she did not want Reitz to handle her case any longer. T.W. then again contacted OLR complaining that Reitz was failing to respond to her telephone calls and letters; and she reported that her workers compensation claim had been dismissed. In response, OLR reopened its investigation of that grievance against Reitz. ¶ 35. This course of conduct, which Reitz does not now challenge, led to the following two counts of misconduct as alleged by OLR in its complaint and as found by the referee in her report:  Count IVBy failing to pursue [T.W.'s] workers compensation claim in a timely manner, Reitz failed to act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing [T.W.], in violation of SCR 20:1.3.  Count VBy failing to respond to [T.W.'s] telephone calls seeking information about her case and by failing to inform [T.W.] that her case had been dismissed, Reitz failed to keep a client reasonably informed about the status of a matter and promptly comply with reasonable requests for information, in violation of SCR 20:1.4(a). [9]