Opinion ID: 2640579
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: counts i and iithe mrs. w. and ms. muscari matters

Text: ¶ 3 About February 18, 2003, Mrs. W. retained Respondent to represent her in a divorce proceeding. Through church activities, Mrs. W. had known Respondent about seven years before hiring him to represent her. Mrs. W. graduated from law school in 1988 but is not licensed to practice law in Oklahoma or any other jurisdiction. On February 19, 2003, Respondent filed a divorce petition on behalf of Mrs. W. ¶ 4 On March 16, 2003, Respondent and Mrs. W. met for dinner at which time they began a romantic relationship. Thereafter, Respondent began a sexual relationship with Mrs. W. which continued during his representation of her. Often Respondent and Mrs. W. conducted their personal relationship, but without physical contact, in front of her minor children who are the subject matter of a custody dispute in the W.'s divorce. ¶ 5 On April 14, 2003, Ms. Muscari, attorney for Mr. W., sent Respondent a second request for admission of facts. Included in this document were requests that Mrs. W. admit that she had an ongoing romantic relationship with Respondent and that she and Respondent were having sexual relations. There were requests for admission of specific encounters between Mrs. W. and Respondent. In the letter accompanying the request for admissions, Ms. Muscari advised she had evidence to substantiate all of the allegations in the request, demanded Respondent withdraw from the case, and demanded substituted counsel conduct Mr. W.'s deposition. Ms. Muscari continued: I am personally appalled and as you know ethically I am under a duty to report. The OBA and TCBA [Tulsa County Bar Association] have been contacted. ¶ 6 In an April 16, 2003, letter to Ms. Muscari, Respondent refused to withdraw and threatened her with legal action for filing a grievance against him. He wrote: I caution you that your false reporting of professional misconduct is tantamount to tortious interference with contract and will not be tolerated.... I await receipt of communication from the [OBA] and/or the [TCBA] regarding a report so that I may commence the appropriate civil action against you, your law firm, and if appropriate, Mr. [W.]. During Respondent's representation of Mrs. W., neither of them responded to the request for admissions. ¶ 7 By a letter dated April 23, 2003, Ms. Muscari informed Respondent that she had asked for an in camera status conference to address Respondent's relationship with his client and his continued representation of Mrs. W. In response, Respondent sent Ms. Muscari another letter dated April 25th in which he accused her of making false statements and continuing to interfere with the contract between him and Mrs. W. He also suggested Ms. Muscari had a conflict of interest. In an April 28th letter, Ms. Muscari informed Respondent that he was a witness in the divorce proceeding in as much as he acknowledged in his April 16th letter that he had personal knowledge of the incidents addressed in the request for admissions. The status conference was scheduled for May 5, 2003. Four days before the scheduled conference, Respondent filed a motion to withdraw as counsel and a motion to withdraw the status conference. Both motions were unopposed, and both motions were granted. ¶ 8 The stipulations show that Respondent would testify that in his response letter of April 16th, he was merely trying to caution Ms. Muscari against making false statements to the OBA. He testified at the hearing before the PRT that he was trying only to rein in Ms. Muscari's misstatement of the facts. ¶ 9 On September 30, 2003, the OBA notified Respondent that Ms. Muscari had filed a grievance against him. In his response dated October 27, 2003, Respondent alleged that Ms. Muscari had herself possibly violated Rule 1.7 of the ORPC, asserted that his behavior was appropriate and timely, disagreed that he had violated Rule 1.7, and denied the alleged facts in the request for admission. He admitted that he withdrew because parading his and Mrs. W.'s personal lives before the trial court might have prejudiced it against his client. He also stated that after receiving Ms. Muscari's letter, he discussed the matter with Mrs. W., reviewed Rule 1.7, and consulted three practicing attorneys. He later testified that the consensus of the attorneys was that Ms. Muscari did not have standing to raise the conflict of interest issue. At the hearing, Respondent admitted he had not contacted the OBA General Counsel's office for advice or asked for an ethics opinion.