Opinion ID: 1171519
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: The Nichols Matter

Text: On August 5, 1986, Larry Nichols fell in a hole in the parking lot near his condominium and injured his knee. Nichols and his wife retained the respondent to represent them in a personal injury action against the owners of the condominium. The respondent prepared several drafts of a proposed complaint. The evidence was conflicting on whether the clients ever received a copy of the complaint for their approval. The evidence is clear, however, that the respondent failed to file any complaint over a period of two years and that the Nichols claim is now time-barred. The respondent represented to the clients that a complaint had been filed and in May 1988 told them that the case was close to being settled. Based on these representations, the clients signed a purchase agreement for a van with Century Auto Brokers. On April 26, 1988, the respondent wrote to Century Auto Brokers and stated that one of two personal injury cases he was handling for Nichols should culminate in a settlement within the next two to three weeks. Mr. Nichols has requested that out of his settlement, your company will be protected to the extent of $3,000.00 and I will abide by his request. The respondent testified that the settlement he was referring to in the letter pertained to a previous injury that Nichols had sustained and not the claim against the condominium. The transcript of the hearing indicates that, although the respondent did not settle either of the personal injury claims for Nichols, he did send a check for $2,000 or $3,000 to Century Auto Brokers for payment on Nichols's van. The clients discovered that the respondent had not filed a complaint when an attorney for Century Auto Brokers attempted to verify that settlement monies were forthcoming and learned that no complaint had been filed. The hearing board concluded, and we agree, that the respondent's conduct violated DR 1-102(A)(4) (a lawyer shall not engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation), DR 6-101(A)(3) (a lawyer shall not neglect a legal matter entrusted to the lawyer), DR 7-101(A)(1) (a lawyer shall not intentionally fail to seek the lawful objectives of the lawyer's client through reasonably available means), and DR 7-101(A)(3) (a lawyer shall not intentionally prejudice or damage the lawyer's client during the course of the professional relationship).