Opinion ID: 2448503
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Grievances And Subpoena.

Text: On November 27, 2006, the Alaska Bar Association received a notice from Wells Fargo Bank that attorney John Rice's client trust account had insufficient funds to cover a $1,000 check Rice had written to himself. Wells Fargo subsequently sent the Bar Association two additional non-sufficient-funds (NSF) notices associated with separate instances of overdrafts from Rice's client trust account. Investigations were opened in connection with each NSF notice. Rice responded to the Bar Association regarding the first two of these investigations, but not the third. In February 2007, March 2007, and January 2008, the Bar notified Rice that it had opened discipline investigations in connection with each of the NSF notices. In its first two letters and a subsequent telephone call, the Bar directed Rice to submit his 2006 trust account records. Rice responded by providing 2006 bank statements for his client trust account and copies of some but not all checks for 2006. In December 2007 Bar Counsel sent Rice a letter noting that Rice's accounting practices raised concerns not only about the status of [his] trust account in 2006 but also about [his] compliance with the trust accounting rules during 2007 and to the present. The letter asked Rice to provide specific information, including the source and purpose of each deposit made to the trust account and the circumstances of two bounced $10,000 checks, along with documentation such as individual client ledgers and deposit slips for 2006 and 2007. Rice asked for additional time to comply with the Bar's request. By mid-April, however, Rice had not yet responded to the discovery requests, and on April 14, 2008, the Bar obtained a subpoena commanding Rice to produce, among other items, all paper and electronic records relating to his trust accounts, general office accounts, and individual client ledgers for 2006 and 2007. Rice acknowledged the Bar's subpoena and indicated that he would respond. On July 17 the Bar received from Rice an unpadded manila envelope containing an unlabeled CD, broken in half and unreadable. There were no other documents in the envelope. Bar Counsel believed Rice knew the CD was broken when he sent it, although Rice disputes this. The Bar did not immediately inform Rice that the CD was broken.