Opinion ID: 1774377
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Original order of disbarment

Text: Alan Carter first received a warning by a Complaint Tribunal, recommending that he maintain better communication with his clients. This warning was issued August 10, 1987. Alan W. Carter had also received a private reprimand on September 20, 1990, for neglecting a matter entrusted to him, and in failing to perform a contract of employment. In this latter matter, Carter represented a client in administering an estate for the client's deceased father, beginning in December 1986. Carter took almost two years to probate this estate, including a twenty-one month period in which Carter did not correspond with his client at all. Carter tendered a check for $2,000 to the Bar payable to his client in addition to the estate's proceeds, consisting of money the client believes he could have earned in interest had Carter administered the estate properly and in a timely fashion. The Complaint Tribunal found Carter's conduct warranted a private reprimand, as a violation of Rule 1.1 concerning competence, Rule 1.3 concerning diligence, Rule 1.4(a), concerning the requirement of reasonable communication between an attorney and his client, and Rule 3.2, requiring an attorney to reasonably expedite litigation. Carter had filed another lawsuit on behalf of a Mr. Bardo in September 1986. Mr. Bardo discovered between January and February 1990 that his lawsuit had been dismissed. Mr. Bardo requested that Carter give to him all of the papers concerning lawsuit. Carter could not produce these papers. On March 1, 1990, Mr. Bardo approached Carter concerning a personal bankruptcy. Mr. Bardo and Carter agreed that any attorneys' fees from the bankruptcy would be paid from another case in which Carter represented that client. Carter did not contact Mr. Bardo again until the Grenada Lake Medical Center entered a judgment against Bardo for unpaid medical bills, on June 1, 1990. Carter still did not contact the client until Mr. Bardo presented Carter with a writ of garnishment on July 5, 1990, issued against the client. Carter did nothing about the garnishment until September 7, 1990, when the client complained that his check had been garnished for one month. Carter then paid Mr. Bardo $150.00 to compensate him for the garnished amount. Carter also did nothing about another creditor, who had asked for an outstanding balance owed by Mr. Bardo. Upon hiring another attorney, the client discovered that Carter had filed no papers with the bankruptcy court. In 1990, Carter was sanctioned by the bankruptcy court for failure to file interrogatories served upon another of his clients. This concern was never made a Bar complaint. After Mr. Bardo complained to the Bar, the Mississippi Bar sent two notices of the pendency of this complaint to Carter. The first notice was delivered by the Leflore County Sheriff's Department, through personal service, on April 29, 1991. Carter acknowledged getting and reading the complaint. Carter failed to respond to the complaint. According to his psychologist, Carter was seriously depressed at this time. However, Carter continued to practice law, actively representing clients, and maintaining his legal business at the time. The Clerk of the Mississippi Supreme Court entered its Docket of Entry of Default on May 30, 1991. The Mississippi Bar then moved for an Entry of Default Judgment against Carter on June 3, 1991. The Mississippi Bar sent a notice of the motion and copy of the notice for the hearing to Carter, by mail, postage prepaid, on August 29, 1991. On September 13, 1991, a Complaint Tribunal considered the Mississippi Bar's Motion for Default Judgment under M.R.C.P. 55(b). The Complaint Tribunal found Carter in default, and took the allegations of the Formal Complaint as true and confessed. On September 30, 1991, that Tribunal found that Carter's actions violated, among other rules, Rule 1.1 requiring competent representation; Rule 1.3 requiring diligence in representation; Rule 1.4 which requires reasonable communication from the attorney to his client concerning a case; Rule 1.15(a) and (b) providing that an attorney keep separate from his own money the client's funds; Rule 3.2, requiring an attorney reasonably expedite litigation consistent with his client's request; Rule 8.4(a), (c), and (d), in that an attorney may not violate a Rule of Professional Conduct or engage in dishonest conduct. For these actions, the Complaint Tribunal disbarred Carter from the practice of law, on September 30, 1991.