Opinion ID: 1530578
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Complaint of Tonya L. Steward (Dorsey)

Text: As a preliminary matter before this Court, Petitioner requested that Mr. Milliken stipulate to the submission of the IPT of Ms. Dorsey because she had moved from her last known address, and the Petitioner was unable to locate her. The Respondent refused to stipulate to this witness' testimony and stated that he was interested in conducting a cross-examination of Ms. Dorsey on certain matters. The Respondent had an opportunity to cross-examine Ms. Dorsey at the IPH on March 21,1994. The Respondent also stated that he wished to see if the witness would recant her testimony. The Respondent further suggested that Petitioner's Counsel had not satisfactorily proven Ms. Dorsey's unavailability as defined by Maryland Rule 5-804(a). Finding that Ms. Dorsey was absent from the hearing and that Bar Counsel had made reasonable, albeit unsuccessful, attempts to procure her attendance through the issuance of subpoenas at her last known address, this Court declared Ms. Dorsey to be unavailable in accordance with Maryland Rule 5-804. Due to Mr. Milliken's prior opportunity to cross-examine Ms. Dorsey, this Court held that Ms. Dorsey's former testimony at the IPH was admissible under the standards set forth in Maryland Rule 5-804. At the April 16, 1996 hearing before this Court, the Petitioner introduced evidence and testimony obtained through its investigation of this Complaint and established the following facts. Tonya Dorsey met Respondent in May, 1993, and hired him to represent her in a divorce case. A fee was agreed upon at that time. Although there was a discrepancy between Ms. Dorsey's testimony that the Respondent wanted $700.00 and Respondent's testimony at the Circuit Court hearing that his standard fee in such a matter was $350.00, it is clear from the evidence that Ms. Dorsey wrote a check on May 5, 1993, to Herschel D. Milliken payable in the amount of $200.00 as partial payment of his fee for representation. There was no written retainer agreement and she did not receive any correspondence either during, or after the period in which the Respondent was supposed to be representing her. Ms. Dorsey's case had already been filed and a hearing was scheduled for June 4, 1993. The Respondent accepted and kept the $200.00 paid to him by Ms. Dorsey despite the fact that he never performed any work beyond conducting the initial interview. He never reviewed the court file to check the status of Ms. Dorsey's case. He conceded that he had no justification for keeping Ms. Dorsey's $200.00 payment and he did not deposit her check in a trust account. Instead, he cashed it immediately. Curiously, Respondent noted his trust account number on the back of the check. However, this was done to identify him as a person who maintained an account with the bank in order that the bank would cash the check, and not for the purpose of placing it in the trust account. In fact, Mr. Milliken admitted that he tried to liquidate checks as soon as possible. It appears from his testimony that generally checks were either cashed immediately or placed directly in his operating account. Mr. Milliken testified several times over the course of the hearing that it was his policy to be paid in full before appearing in court or performing any work. Indeed, he suggested in this particular instance that he did not show up because he had not been paid the balance. Both the Respondent and Ms. Dorsey agreed that her case already had been filed and a trial was scheduled for June 4, 1993. Although she left several messages on the Respondent's answering machine, Ms. Dorsey was unable to reach him to discuss her divorce and the balance of the fee. After paying Mr. Milliken the $200.00 retainer, she was not contacted by him until June 3, 1993, the day before her hearing. During this phone conversation, the Respondent instructed Ms. Dorsey to meet him in court the next day with the balance of his fee. However, the Respondent failed to appear the next day for Ms. Dorsey's hearing. Ms. Dorsey was forced to proceed without an attorney. The Respondent telephoned Ms. Dorsey on June 5, 1993 to apologize for his behavior and promised to refund the money she had paid. However, no refund was ever made. In light of the clear and convincing evidence as set forth above, this Court finds that the Respondent violated Maryland Rule 1.1 of the Rules of Professional Conduct which provides that a lawyer shall provide competent representation to a client and Maryland Rule 1.3 which requires that an attorney act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing a client. Mr. Milliken's failure to contact his client, to review her file and prepare her case, and to appear in court are clear violations of these rules. Further, the Respondent's lack of communication with Ms. Dorsey, which was evidenced by his neglecting to send her correspondence, failing to respond to her phone messages and/or failing to contact her by telephonic or other means of communication to inform and prepare her for trial violates Maryland Rule 1.4(a) which obligates a lawyer to keep a client reasonably informed about the status of the matter and promptly comply with reasonable requests for information. Finally, according to Maryland Rule 1.16(d), Mr. Milliken had a duty to take steps to the extent reasonably practicable to protect a client's interests, such as giving reasonable notice to the client, ... surrendering papers and property to which the client is entitled and refunding any advance payment of the fee that has not been earned. In dereliction of this duty Milliken never formally terminated his representation, nor did he surrender all documents and property to this client or refund the $200 of Ms. Dorsey's money that he admitted he did not earn. Although the Respondent stated, presumably by way of defense or mitigation, that this and other client files were destroyed in office fires, he failed to produce any evidence to show that such fires ever occurred. Throughout the proceedings before this Court, the Respondent referred to fires allegedly taking place at his offices at 2901 Druid Park Drive. In response to inquiries concerning his lack of documentation and inability to produce files, Mr. Milliken asserted that his paperwork and files were destroyed in these fires. However, Mr. Milliken was unable to produce even a scintilla of evidence that these fires actually occurred despite the fact that he had ample opportunity to do so for several years during the investigation process and again over the course of the hearings before this Court. In fact, the Respondent could not provide this Court with even dates certain as to when the fires took place. To the contrary, John Reburn an investigator for the AGC contacted Mr. Milliken at his home on October 10, 1993 and requested Ms. Dorsey's files and records. Mr. Milliken's law office had closed sometime in August or September, 1993. Originally, Mr. Milliken shared space in Suite 110A at 2901 Druid Park Drive with a cleaning service. He later moved to Suite 302 with George Davis and another attorney. Mr. Milliken told Reburn that his records and files were still at the Druid Park complex. Reburn advised him to retrieve them. Mr. Milliken never did so. Another AGC investigator wrote to Morris lies, the CEO for the Druid Park office complex regarding Mr. Milliken's files. Iles's written response of May 13, 1994 advised that Mr. Milliken left five (5) boxes of papers and two (2) to four (4) file cabinets when he defaulted on his lease and vacated Suite 302. An additional sixteen (16) boxes of papers were removed from the offices and stored by the landlord. Mr. Milliken's files and papers were among those stored by the landlord in its general purpose storage. If fires had occurred there surely would be verification available from the City police, and/or fire departments or the landlord. This Court gave Milliken the opportunity to obtain and provide verification. Whether he chose not to, or could not do so because there is no such verification, the result is the same. This Court finds his assertions utterly without support or credibility.