Opinion ID: 2204353
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 21

Heading: Respondent Violated Colo. RPC 1.1 as Alleged in Claim I (a lawyer shall provide competent representation to a client)

Text: The comments to Colo. RPC 1.1 state that competence includes thoroughness and preparation, inquiry and analysis of the factual and legal elements of a legal matter, and preparation commensurate with the complexity of the legal issue at hand. [34] The more complex an issue, the greater the preparation required of the lawyer. The Hearing Board finds that the filing of a RICO lawsuit is a complex legal undertaking, which requires a heightened analysis of both factual and legal issues. While Respondent's pleadings in 03-M-1183 recite some of the elements of a RICO claim, there is little or no factual specificity to support her allegation that the SCR HOA, the adjacent landowner, and the lawyers representing them engaged in a continuing criminal enterprise. These pleadings were conclusory. Judge Matsch told Respondent during a status conference in 03-M-1183, it's a pretty serious matter to accuse the defendants of crime. [35] We agree. Here, Respondent alleged that the SCR HOA, the adjacent landowner, and lawyers representing them had engaged in a scheme to defraud her clients out of property lawfully belonging to them. Respondent admits that she drafted her complaint without a thorough investigation. [36] Even though she had a right to amend the complaint before the defendants answered it pursuant to F.R.C.P. 15(a), this rule did not relieve Respondent of her ethical responsibilities under Colo. RPC 1.1 in filing the RICO suit. On May 1, 2003, just before filing the COCCA suit, Respondent sent a letter via e-mail to one of her clients stating that she would file a case on their behalf, but that it would be very slapdash. She stated that the purpose of the new case was [j]ust have to have a case number to put in the notice of lis pendens.  [37] The pleading that followed this missive was the COCCA complaint, which was largely the template for the subsequent RICO case. We find Respondent drafted both in haste and without the elementary analysis of law and fact necessary for bringing such a complex undertaking. Respondent never amended her RICO complaint, and Judge Matsch ultimately dismissed the case. With this dismissal, defendants did not have an opportunity to file an answer and their motion for summary judgment was not resolved. Had Respondent filed an amended complaint, Judge Matsch would have undoubtedly been in a position to rule on defendant's motion for summary judgment. Respondent's primary defense to the charge of lack of competence is that although not reflected in the complaint filed in federal court, she in fact had done the necessary factual and legal research to justify filing the RICO case and was intending, when she filed it, to amend the complaint to expand on the factual grounds for the claim based on information in her possession at the time of the initial filing. When Respondent filed her federal court action in 2003, her experience in the federal court had generally been quite limited (she testified that she had tried one case there several years earlier). She had never filed or participated in a RICO case, although she had performed some legal research on RICO in 1996. During her disciplinary hearing, Respondent introduced the file of legal research materials she had reviewed before filing her RICO case in 2003. [38] As to the factual basis for her RICO claim, Respondent contended that she was aware of the facts supporting her charges when she filed the federal case, because they were the same facts presented at a three-day preliminary injunction hearing conducted in the refiled state court case during November and December 2003. [39] Respondent further contended that her awareness of these supporting facts is the relevant issue, and not the strength of her case. As to the factual predicate, Respondent offered hundreds of pages of facts in the form of trial transcripts. However, Respondent never answered the question of whether this simply represented a large pile of unrelated facts or whether the facts revealed in the hearing provided all of the specific facts necessary to support a RICO claim. What is clear is that Respondent wholly failed to plead sufficient facts in her complaint to establish the necessary factual predicate for a RICO claim. More telling as to her lack of competence to bring a RICO claim is the lack of meaningful legal research. Respondent had been practicing law for 16 years when she filed her RICO suit, yet none of her research included cases decided between 1996 and June 2003. Respondent acknowledged her familiarity with the requirements of F.R.C.P. 9(b), which requires pleading fraud with particularity. Nevertheless, her ten-claim federal case also included a common law fraud claim, which she failed to plead with particularity. Respondent's research file reflects little investigation of RICO cases from the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. Merely as two examples, there is no indication that she reviewed the Tenth Circuit's long-standing decision in Cayman Exploration Corp. v. United Gas Pipe Line Co., 873 F.2d 1357, 1362 (10th Cir.1989), which held that because of the need to give defendants adequate notice, the existence of treble damages and the threat to the defendants' reputations by virtue of allegations that they are racketeers, the predicate acts supporting a RICO case must be pleaded with particularity, especially where the RICO claim is the only basis for federal jurisdiction, as it was in Respondent's complaint. Likewise, Respondent did not find or note Farlow v. Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co., 956 F.2d 982, 989 (10th Cir.1992), which held that plaintiffs must sufficiently allege each element of a RICO violation and its predicate acts of racketeering with particularity; and a plaintiff alleging fraud must know what the claim is when the plaintiff files it. [40] Respondent also ignored perhaps the most important case she had found in her 1996 research and included in her research file. [41] In Brooks v. Bank of Boulder, 891 F.Supp. 1469 (D.Colo.1995), Judge Kane carefully reviewed and summarized the pleading standards for RICO cases in the Tenth Circuit and the District of Colorado, by noting that RICO claims include eight separate critical elements each of which must be pled with particularity under Rule 9(b). Judge Kane held: In accordance with Rule 9(b), Plaintiffs must set forth the time, place and contents of the false representation, the identity of the party making the false statement and the consequences thereof. The purpose of Rule 9(b) is to inhibit the filing of complaints as a pretext to discover unknown wrongs, to protect the defendant's reputation, and to give notice to the defendant regarding the complained of conduct. A plaintiff alleging fraud must know what the claim is at the time the complaint is filed. Id. at 1476-1477 (emphasis added). Finally, Judge Kane noted that: A charge of racketeering, with its implications of links to organized crime [and attendant consequences to a person's reputation and goodwill], should not be easier to make than accusations of fraud. RICO should not be construed to give a pleader license to bully and intimidate nor to fire salvos from a loose cannon. Irresponsible or inadequately considered allegations should be met with severe sanctions pursuant to Rule 11, F.R.Civ.P. In filing such serious allegations one may not shoot first and aim later. Id. at 1477 (first set of brackets in original; numerous citations omitted; emphasis added). Notwithstanding Respondent's possession of this opinion and its clear warnings, Respondent ignored it and proceeded to file the RICO case in violation of almost every pleading standard revealed by her research. Respondent seems to have been much more intent on preserving her lis pendens than learning about or following applicable law in filing her federal case. Such action violates Colo. RPC 1.1.