Opinion ID: 1427434
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Duty of Zealous Representation

Text: The majority notes that Brooks and the bank premise their contentions upon precedent from other jurisdictions. That is a curious notation while we watch the majority itself reach out for precedent from other jurisdictions to justify this remarkable decision. Whatever else may be said, the result in this case cannot be said to be driven by Wyoming precedent. It is driven by something else. The majority looks to Friedman v. Dozorc, 412 Mich. 1, 312 N.W.2d 585 (1981) as the flagship case for its rationale. I agree with both the holding and rationale in Friedman, but I am perplexed how either the holding or rationale applies here. The plaintiff in Friedman argued an attorney has a duty to conduct a reasonable investigation and re-examination of the facts and law before initiating a civil suit. Id. 312 N.W.2d at 589. Even the Friedman defendants said they would have allowed liability in the presence of fraud or collusion. Id. at 590. The suit here would not chill the vigor necessary to the adversarial system since Patricia Brooks and the bank are not suing because of actions by an opposing attorney in a civil suit. Reliance on Friedman is misplaced. It should be recognized that no case as egregious as this has been found where civil immunity has been provided for misconduct under the mantle of zealous advocacy. [5] See Annotation, Attorney's Liability, To One Other Than Immediate Client, For Negligence in Connection With Legal Duties, 61 A.L.R.4th 615 (1988); Annotation, What Constitutes Negligence Sufficient to Render Attorney Liable to Person Other Than Immediate Client, 61 A.L.R.4th 464 (1988); Annotation, Attorney's Liability, To One Other Than His Immediate Client, For Consequences of Negligence in Carrying Out Legal Duties, 45 A.L.R.3d 1181 (1972). Zebre used his legal license to commit a fraud not only on a recently widowed, unsophisticated individual, but on the court system and the minor heirs who had a direct interest. This fraud was accomplished by excluding the estate attorney who could have provided some usable information. The estate attorney described his consternation and anger in detail at trial as he described his initial interviews with the defrauded widow: Q. Now, in your meetings on August 15th with Mrs. Brooks and August 19th, I think you said on direct examination that you expressed to her what you thought the contract, the present value of that contract, was worth? A. Yes. Q. Could you tell us what you told her? A. I told her that I thought it was worth  that I couldn't tell her exactly how much `cause, you know, there were some calculations that had to be done, but I thought it was worth considerably less [than] a million dollars. Q. And at that time, of course, there wasn't an appraisal in the estate; but did you have any idea what the property was worth, what the ranch was worth? A. Yes. Q. Could you tell us what that was? A. What I was afraid it was worth was about five million dollars. Q. At that time? A. Yes. Q. Did you tell her that? A. Oh, yes. Q. So you said, You're selling a five-million-dollar ranch for a million-dollar contract. A. Right. The majority allows the notion of privity to drive this result and ignores a pre-eminence of Wyoming's ethical standards for legal conduct. We could and should do better if the public respect we seek for the legal profession is to be achieved. [T]o the extent that disciplinary violations go unpunished, the application of codified ethical standards in legal malpractice proceedings may be an additional deterrent against unethical conduct. In fact, in some cases, a monetary penalty in civil litigation may be a more meaningful sanction than a private admonition or reprimand in the disciplinary system. Hoover, The Model Rules of Professional Conduct and Lawyer Malpractice Actions: The Gap Between Code and Common Law Narrows, 22 New Eng.L.Rev. 595, 616 (1988). The basis for defining this case is the admitted and accepted violation of one of the fundamental tenants of legal practice: You do not negotiate ex parte with another lawyer's client. [6] Hoffman's Resolution XLIII was: `I will never enter into any conversation with my opponent's client relative to his claim or defense, except with the consent and in the presence of his counsel.' H. Drinker, Legal Ethics 201 (1953) (emphasis added). A further meeting was held the next morning at 7:00 a.m. attended by the Arambels and Zebre with their accountant in order, apparently, to again discuss the advice that had been furnished to Patricia Brooks regarding imputed interest. The information obtained was never revealed to her nor the fact that the meeting had ever been held until developed in litigative discovery many months later. Zebre claimed that as he left the accountant's office on August 12, 1983, he called the law office of the estate attorney, Galen West, who was not in, and then went to the house of West's client, the widow Patricia Brooks, and picked up a copy of the will and returned to his office to prepare the sales agreement to be signed at 4:00 p.m. that afternoon. The confused and befuddled widow was called back into a meeting at 4:00 p.m. that afternoon without contact having been made by Zebre with the estate attorney or advice provided that negotiations were underway. The sales agreement was signed and before the transaction got unscrambled twenty-six months later, the estate and the heirs had sustained losses and damages of at least $1.83 million from costs, losses and delay and litigative expenses. The acquisition of the Brooks Ranch by the Arambels was treated for tax purposes, as it was, as a purchase on partnership tax returns. Contrasted with the listed $3.5 million value shown on the transaction agreement document, the Arambels provided a realistic valuation for tax purposes on the partnership income tax return. For the 1984 tax return, as the first annual period, prepared but not filed after acquisition, including livestock sales of $116,369 with a cost of $55,440, the purchasers capitalized the ranch acquisition as: machinery $25,070.14; trucks $16,475.47; breeding herd cattle $305,664.29; breeding herd sheep $169,295.82; household furniture $1,617.51 and land $346,221.37. Incredibly, they took depreciation on the acquired property for that first full year of $110,636 to help accumulate an intended partnership tax loss write-off totaling $214,190. The 1983 tax return for the few months of operation was similarly tax loaded to show a loss of $61,834 with no beginning capital and no capital contributed so that each of the two participants took a $30,917 tax loss without capital investment for credit against other income. The December 31, 1984 ledger shows at a booked out payable for the purchase, Mortgage Payable-Patricia Brooks, $676,250.18; Notes Payable-Brooks-Cattle, $327,105.83; and loan obtained from the PCA secured by the assets purchased from the PCA of $247,895.68. The Brooks Ranch consisted of 14,038 acres deeded grazing land; 5,054 acres irrigated land; 10,563 leased land state; 520 acres leased land Union Pacific; 12,297 AUM BLM lands; and 4 3/4 shares of the Rock Springs Grazing Association stock which permitted grazing on the alternative sections owned by the Union Pacific and the stock for agricultural purposes in the area at a very significant value. When the property was recaptured from the Arambels, the personal property and livestock which had been appraised at $946,803 was sold for $737,481. The real estate which the Arambels listed as a purchase of $346,221.37 was sold by the estate for $1 million. Consequently, what the Arambels listed as a purchase in 1983 totalling $346,221.37 was sold by the estate in 1986, after a severe drop in ranch land values for $1 million payable in cash and not over fifty-two years. Unfortunately, the sale price was impacted by the $440,000 Arambel management settlement and something more than $86,000 in legal fees. However proximately caused, this estate sustained a very severe loss and decrease in value between the date of death of Brooks in 1983, compared to what is available in this record showing the actual receipts after the Arambel transaction was unraveled, and final liquidation in 1986. [7] For this appeal, as a summary judgment absolution of the conduct portrayed, we are required to examine whether Zebre incurred any enforceable economic responsibility for that million dollar loss. The majority declines to enforce a responsibility, and I dissent. First, the majority eschews assessing responsibility for the conspiring attorney on the providence of zealous performance of duties for the client. The entire conjecture provided to sustain their holding misses the point. Zebre orchestrated negotiations and sale of the estate property in the absence of the estate's attorney. As such, he assumed the fiduciary responsibility or he was deliberately participating in conspiratorial fraud. Averill, Attorney's Liability to Third Persons for Negligent Malpractice, II Land & Water L.Rev. 379 (1967). [T]here is an aspect of this problem which goes to the heart of the legal profession. The attorney holds a responsible position in the community. In a sense he has been given a monopoly. Only a select few who qualify may represent that they can perform the specialized tasks. Because of the attorney's status he must always maintain a high standard of conduct toward the court and the community. One of the more recurring cries today is the need to improve the general reputation of and respect for the legal profession. Unfortunately many laymen feel that there is one rule of law when they are the defendant and another when the attorney is. This is particularly true when the attorney is sued for negligence. An injured client in such litigation rather than having one attorney advocating his side of the case, one against him and one neutral seeking justice, in fact might feel that he is not only faced with one against him but also with two subconsciously hostile. This kind of attitude toward the bar must be changed. Id. at 402-03 (emphasis in original and footnotes omitted). See Note, The Rules of Professional Conduct: Basis for Civil Liability of Attorneys, 39 U.Fla.L.Rev. 777 (1987). Cf. Faure and Strong, The Model Rules of Professional Conduct: No Standard for Malpractice, 47 Mont.L.Rev. 363 (1986). I will discuss in detail other circumstances which must be assumed to be true under summary judgment review and the appropriate legal application to the status of the attorney as he assisted the buyer and advised the seller in violation of legal ethics. ABA, Opinions of the Committee on Professional Ethics 43 (1967); ABA, Model Code of Professional Responsibility and Code of Judicial Conduct, DR 7-104 at 37 (1982). The majority seems indifferent to breaches in Wyoming's canons of professional responsibility and disciplinary code by an attorney negotiating directly with a represented person without notification or approval of the by-passed attorney. Again, the majority draws too tightly the absolution against misfeasance responsibility under these circumstances. The majority also ignores the more modern approach when it allows no civil remedy for damages for intentionally caused harm in violation of basic canons of legal practice and responsibility which, although it may not create a cause of action, defines a duty of due care. [8] The majority casually inferred fraud by stating: Brooks and the Bank are not able to establish on the record any actual misrepresentations or statements allegedly made by Zebre with knowledge that they were false and with the intent that Brooks should rely upon them.       Brooks and the Bank [successor trustee] have failed to assert any facts necessary to establish the elements justifying a cause of action for fraud. The entire transaction in text and tenor was patently fraudulent in a fashion not significantly less obnoxious than any sale of the Brooklyn Bridge. It is the majority who determines that an attorney in violation of the canons of professional responsibility assumes no economic responsibility when he advises the person he is defrauding not to consult that person's attorney. I will address the three rationale offered by the majority. These issues are (1) absolution of the conspiring attorney by excuse of zealous representation; (2) disregard of violated professional responsibility as an officer of this court by direct negotiation with a represented individual; and (3) fraudulent misrepresentation of the defrauded individual's need for legal assistance in arranging a sales transaction which can best be characterized as cheating a widow and her minor children to steal their inheritance. Comprehensive fraud in the entire transaction occurred by abusing the interests of an individual who, inexperienced as she was, simply had no knowledge of the time value of money.