Opinion ID: 1578886
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: counts one through five

Text: ¶ 6. The OLR complaint alleged, and Jaconi now stipulates, that on August 18, 2001, M.N. hired Jaconi to represent her on a felony matter in Brown County Circuit Court; she agreed to pay him a flat fee of $1250 and paid $600 of that amount on September 11, 2001. At Jaconi's request, M.N. Signed an Authorization to Appear so that Jaconi could appear in court on her behalf without her being present. However, an Authorization to Appear does not apply in felony matters in Wisconsin; defendants charged with a felony must appear personally. Jaconi erroneously informed M.N. that she did not need to personally appear at her adjourned initial appearance. When neither Jaconi nor M.N. appeared at that adjourned hearing, a bench warrant for M.N.'s arrest was issued; an additional complaint was then filed against her for felony bail jumping. ¶ 7. After M.N. was informed about the bench warrant, she repeatedly called Jaconi but he did not return her calls. She then personally scheduled a hearing in the circuit court seeking to quash the warrant. Although Jaconi had not returned any of her calls he appeared at that hearing. The circuit court subsequently cancelled the bench warrant but informed M.N. and Jaconi that additional paperwork would be needed to fully resolve the bail jumping issue. Jaconi stated the would take care of that paperwork but failed to do so ¶ 8. Later when M.N. was arrested on the felony bail jumping charge, she repeatedly called Jaconi but received no response from him. She then retained substitute counsel. ¶ 9. M.N. sent Jaconi a certified letter terminating his services and requesting that the return her file and the $600 fee she had paid. Jaconi failed to respond to that letter. However, he subsequently appeared at M.N.'s pretrial conference and gave her file back and gave her a check dated December 7, 2001, written on his law office account in the amount of $600. M.N., however, was unable to cash that $600 check because there were insufficient funds in Jaconi's office account to cover it. Subsequently, on January 2, 2002, that account was closed. Although she telephoned him many times about that dishonored check, Jaconi never responded. M.N. made over 25 calls to Jaconi but he never telephoned or wrote to her although ultimately she did receive a $600 refund from him. ¶ 10. Based on this admitted course of conduct the OLR complaint charged Jaconi with five counts of misconduct, to which he now stipulates: COUNT ONE: By incorrectly advising M.N. that she did not need to appear at the adjourned initial appearance in a felony criminal matter, resulting in M.N.'s failure to appear and in a criminal charge against her for felony bail jumping, for which she was arrested, Jaconi failed to provide competent representation to M.N., in violation of SCR 20:1.1. COUNT TWO: By failing to take appropriate steps after September 12, 2002, to fully resolve the bail jumping issue, such that a felony bail jumping complaint and arrest warrant were subsequently issued in the matter, Jaconi failed to act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing a client, in violation of SCR 20:1.3. COUNT THREE: By failing to keep M.N. Informed about the status of her matter and by failing to promptly respond to her requests for information, Jaconi failed to respond to reasonable requests for information, in violation of SCR 20:1.4(a). COUNT FOUR: By failing to promptly refund an unearned retainer, Jaconi failed to take steps to the extent reasonably practicable to protect a client's interest, in violation of SCR 20:1.16(d). COUNT FIVE: By writing and providing to M.N. his $600 check on his law firm account that Jaconi knew could not be cashed, Jaconi engaged in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation, in violation of SCR 20:8.4(c).