Opinion ID: 2060466
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Facts Underlying the Disciplinary Violations.[1]

Text: Respondent was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar in May 1975. At all times relevant to this case, he was a solo practitioner working out of a home office. He had no record of professional discipline for over twenty years, until the complaint was filed in the case sub judice.
This case arose from a hit-and-run auto accident that occurred in Virginia in September 1987. Respondent had agreed to represent Kathryn Wheaton and the man who was then her fiance, John Smith, in connection with their claims resulting from the accident. [2] In July 1989, Wheaton and Smith accepted a settlement of approximately $52,000 from Nationwide Insurance Company, whose insured was criminally charged in the accident and pled guilty. Of this $52,000, respondent received one-third as his fee.
In addition to their claim against Nationwide, Wheaton and Smith hoped to collect $5000 each under Wheaton's own auto insurance policy, which provided coverage up to that amount for medical expenses. Wheaton's insurer, State Farm, had paid over $2000 to her and $637 to Smith, but the company refused to reimburse for further medical expenses because they did not appear to have been incurred as a result of the accident. Wheaton asked respondent to assist them in this regard. Respondent contacted State Farm as early as October 1987. A series of telephone calls between respondent and a State Farm representative culminated in a July 1988 threat to sue if further medical payments were not made to Wheaton and Smith. Respondent testified that he did not pursue the matter further, however, because State Farm had raised legitimate questions about his clients' pre-existing conditions and whether the accident caused the injuries for which they sought treatment, questions that might have compromised the more valuable claim against Nationwide. Yet even after the 1989 settlement with Nationwide, respondent took no further action to pursue the State Farm matter for over three years, until September 1992. [3] He did not contact any representative of State Farm during that time. Without informing Wheaton or Smith, however, respondent filed a complaint on their behalf against State Farm in a West Virginia court on September 3, 1992. Respondent was not admitted to practice law in West Virginia, but he accompanied his complaint with a motion for admission pro hac vice. State Farm filed a motion to dismiss for improper venue, insufficiency of process, and insufficient service of process, and a motions hearing was scheduled for December 16, 1992. State Farm requested a continuance to allow the parties to pursue informal discovery and attempt to negotiate a settlement. That month, December 1992, State Farm's counsel made a written offer to pay Wheaton and Smith the full amount prayed for. Respondent did not respond to the settlement offer and did not return telephone calls from State Farm's counsel.
The timing of the settlement offer was inopportune for respondent. In late November 1992, respondent's wife endured a difficult childbirth, which left her bedridden for several months. Respondent offered testimony that from December 1992 until February 1993, his full attention was devoted to caring for his wife and newborn daughter. He was unable to attend to his work and, as a solo practitioner, had not made arrangements for others to cover for his professional duties. His personal problems were compounded by the deterioration of his marriage, which terminated in a divorce and joint custody decree in May 1995. In a letter dated March 11, 1993, the attorney for State Farm notified respondent that the settlement offer would be withdrawn if respondent did not respond within three days. Having received no response during that time, State Farm withdrew the offer.
Wheaton tried to reach respondent during the summer and fall of 1993 to discuss the status of the State Farm case, but respondent did not return her calls. Wheaton testified that she spoke with respondent once by telephone during the fall of 1993, and he told her of his continuing marital problems. [4] They did not discuss the State Farm case during that call. Wheaton heard nothing further from respondent and, in April 1994, sent him a letter discharging him as her counsel and requesting her file. Respondent then informed Wheaton for the first time that he had filed a lawsuit on her behalf some eighteen months earlier. He told Wheaton that he could not pursue the case because he was not authorized to litigate in West Virginia, but that he would not surrender her file unless she signed a release. In June 1994, Wheaton complained to Bar Counsel of respondent's refusal to return her file and his failure to prosecute the State Farm case. State Farm filed a motion to dismiss the West Virginia case for lack of prosecution in August 1994. Respondent did not file a responsive pleading, but instead filed a motion to withdraw as counsel; his motion for admission pro hac vice had never been granted. The West Virginia court granted State Farm's motion to dismiss, without prejudice to Wheaton's right to refile within one year. Respondent took no further steps in the State Farm matter.