Opinion ID: 1197887
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Supplemental Evidentiary Proceedings

Text: On December 15, 1993, the disciplinary panel conducted the supplemental hearing. Hall testified at this hearing that he has been extremely close to appellant and to appellant's entire family for thirty years. Hall has worked many jobs, but, he indicated, his training has been primarily in the area of credit and collections. He testified that his father was a vice-president in a credit company and his father encouraged and assisted Hall in learning the credit collections business. His father taught him how to perform skip tracing, asset checks, and other aspects of credit collections business. Hall, however, has often been unemployed over the years. During such periods appellant would help him out by letting Hall do various odd jobs, including janitorial or gardening work. In the 1980's Hall went to work for the Reno Orthopedic Clinic in the collections department. He was hired because the clinic had a very high accounts receivable problem. His job simply entailed the collection of debts that had not been paid to the clinic. Hall denied that he used his job at the clinic to methodically refer patients at the clinic to appellant. Rather, Hall stated that he has long referred friends, acquaintances, anybody to appellant because appellant and Hall are friends and because appellant is a good attorney. Hall flatly denied that he has ever had any type of arrangement with appellant where he would receive a standard ten percent of the fee generated by appellant in cases that he had referred to appellant. Further, he admitted that he never submitted any bills or reports to appellant. He just telephoned in and told a secretary the results of any investigation he had conducted. When asked how his fee was determined, Hall testified: Sir, the procedure I go through with everybody that I collect for on the side is that I ask thirty percent. I ask thirty percent for everything that I do... . Well, [appellant] would usually tell me that's too much. He would say, You're too high. And I would say, Come on, you're an affluent attorney and I'm just nobody. I'm just a collector, I said. So we would barter back and forth like a used car dealer, you know, back and forth, and [appellant] would say, How about this? And I would say, Okay. When Hall was asked to explain what he wanted thirty percent of, he could not explain whether he wanted thirty percent of the settlement, of the client's recovery, or of appellant's fee. He just knew that he received thirty percent in collections cases. Hall only knew that appellant would not cheat him. He does not have an hourly fee; he simply figured that because he received thirty percent for collecting a bad debt, he would ask for thirty percent for the other work he performed. Hall then testified about each of the specific cases that the bar was concerned about. Regarding the Neff matter, Hall knew Neff through a neighbor. They became close and Neff even helped Hall move. When Neff was injured in a car accident, Neff came to Hall, and Hall tried to get him an appointment to be treated at the clinic. Hall also gave appellant's name to Neff. After Neff consulted with appellant, appellant asked Hall to run a DMV check and an asset check on the other driver. With respect to the Griffey/Sabatini matter, Hall testified that he knew the Griffeys because they worked at or knew people who worked at the clinic. They were not patients at the clinic. Hall learned that they were hit by a drunk driver and referred them to appellant. Thereafter, the Griffeys moved to California, appellant lost touch with them, and appellant used Hall to track them down. Hall also did normal investigative work on the case. He admitted that he and appellant negotiated that he would receive payment for his services amounting to ten percent of appellant's fee. Hall said that he had never before been paid exactly ten percent. Regarding the Colfer matter, Hall testified that Colfer is the stepson of Hall's sister. Hall learned that Colfer was involved in a fight with bouncers at a nightclub and referred him to appellant. Colfer was not a patient of the clinic. Again, appellant used Hall to investigate the bouncers and the club. Hall was not paid ten percent. Hall further testified that there were many cases that he had referred to appellant for which he never received any money because he did not do any work on those cases. He added that he did not get paid on cases in which there was no recovery because he did not feel that he should. Appellant also called Terry Rusk, Chief of Investigations for the Washoe County District Attorney's Office, to testify in the supplemental proceedings. Rusk used to have a private investigation and polygraph firm, and he shared office space with appellant. Rusk testified that he would see Hall at the office and Hall would say that he was doing work for appellant. Hall would ask if Rusk had any work that he could do, such as skip tracing or asset searches. Finally, Rusk testified that the amount of money Hall received for allegedly doing asset checks was appropriate for doing such a check. Appellant also called Roy Allen Grayson, owner of Business and Professional Collection Service, the collection agency that Skelly said appellant always used. Grayson said that his firm is a client of appellant's, but that in the eleven-year period his firm has been in existence, he has never been asked by appellant or any member of appellant's staff to perform an asset check on any defendant in one of appellant's cases, nor has his firm ever performed an asset check for appellant. Grayson was specifically asked the following question by a panel member: What the secretary testified to was Al over at Business and Professional Collection Service would do any credit checks that she needed because they are a client of [appellant's]. If she testified that way, would she be mistaken? Grayson responded: She would be mistaken. On March 2, 1993, the panel filed in this court its supplemental report. The panel unanimously concluded that its original findings, conclusions, and recommendation were correct. The panel specifically found that Hall's testimony was not particularly credible or at all exculpatory.