Opinion ID: 2332947
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Count 1Binns [21]

Text: ¶ 9 Donna Binns (Binns) hired Latimer to represent her in a civil foreclosure proceeding. Judgment was entered against her on September 12, 2007. The attorney appealed. A notice from the Supreme Court Clerk issued in the appeal providing that the record was either improperly filed or not appropriately certified by the Tulsa County Court Clerk. Latimer was given until the 21st of September to perfect the appeal. When the Court Clerk became aware of the order, Latimer was contacted and indicated that he would file a designation of record. The Court Clerk directed the respondent to provide copies of documents intended to be included in the appeal. ¶ 10 Latimer checked out the district court file on September 19, 2007. On the 25th, we issued an order refusing to grant Latimer's second request for an extension for the filing of the record. The following day, Latimer told the Court Clerk that the Records Division did not have the record in the cause. When the Records Division was contacted, they related that Latimer had checked out the record and had not returned it. The Court Clerk informed Latimer of this and the attorney agreed to look for it. ¶ 11 We dismissed the appeal on November 27, 2007. Three days later, Latimer asked the Court Clerk to reconstruct the file and was informed that he would be charged with the costs of doing so. Thereafter, the attorney rescinded his request. On January 29, 2008, the Court Clerk received an order directing a response to Latimer's allegations before this Court that the file was lost or unavailable and that his request for a copy of the missing file had been denied. The Assistant District Attorney responded stating that the file was not missing from the Court Clerk's office for some unknown reason as Latimer had represented but, rather, that Latimer had checked it out, not returned it, and declined to have the file reproduced at his expense. Testimony before the trial panel not only supports these facts but indicates that the attorney represented to the Court Clerk that this Court had ordered the Clerk to reproduce the record when no such order had issued and that Latimer had checked out records in at least eight (8) other cases and not returned them. [22] ¶ 12 Latimer's actions resulted in Binns' appeal being dismissed. He misrepresented facts regarding the state of the record and its location to this Court and to the Court Clerk. The attorney attempted to shift the blame for not having perfected the appeal from himself to the Court Clerk. Latimer failed to respond to all requests of the Bar Association for a response to the allegations of the complaint. We deem admitted [23] that the respondent's actions violated Rules 1.1, 1.3, 3.2, 3.3(a)(1), 3.4(a)(c), and 8.4(a)(c)(d), Rules Governing Professional Conduct, 5 O.S. Supp.2008, Ch. 1, App. 3-A; Rule 1.3 and 5.2, Rules Governing Disciplinary Proceedings, 5 O.S.2001, Ch. 1, App. 1-A; and warrant imposition of professional discipline.