Opinion ID: 1377729
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Count IJohnny Ward

Text: The complainant, Johnny Ward, desired to bring a medical malpractice action against a physician, and he retained an attorney to represent him in the matter. Five days before the expiration of the statute of limitations, the attorney retained by Mr. Ward decided not to handle the case and informed Mr. Ward of his decision. Mr. Ward then contacted Keenan. Keenan advised Mr. Ward that he did not normally handle medical malpractice cases, and that he (Keenan) would need to contact a more experienced attorney to assist in the case, but that he would timely file a complaint. Keenan filed the complaint in the Circuit Court of Fayette County on March 23, 1995. After the filing of the complaint, Mr. Ward called Keenan several times to discuss his case, but his calls were never returned. Apparently sometime in the fall of 1995, Mr. Ward grew dissatisfied with Keenan and left a message at Keenan's office that he was terminating Keenan's representation. During this communication with Keenan's office, Mr. Ward was informed that his case had been dismissed in October of 1995 for failure to perfect service of process within the 180 days as required by Rule 4(k) of the West Virginia Rules of Civil Procedure. [1] In January of 1996, Mr. Ward filed an ethics complaint against Keenan. A copy of the complaint was sent to Keenan by the ODC on January 29, 1996, in which Keenan was instructed to reply to the complaint within 10 days. Keenan never responded. On March 25, 1996, Keenan was sent a second request by the ODC to respond to the ethics complaint. Keenan responded to the complaint by letter dated April 5, 1996. The Board charged Keenan with violating: (1) Rule 1.3 [2] of the Rules of Professional Conduct for failing to act with reasonable diligence; (2) Rule 1.4(a) [3] for failing to keep his client reasonably informed; (3) Rule 1.16(d) [4] for failing to properly terminate his representation of Mr. Ward; and (4) Rule 8.1(b) [5] for failing to respond to a demand for information from the OCD. Keenan stipulated to the charges made by the Board.