Opinion ID: 1911616
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: 1-year suspension

Text: On March 17, 1994, Scott was retained by Daniel Wheeler to represent him in a claim before the Nebraska Workers' Compensation Court against Wheeler's former employer and the State of Nebraska. Scott filed a petition on behalf of Wheeler in the Workers' Compensation Court. Wheeler's trial was set for July 27, 1994. On July 7, Scott filed a motion for continuance, alleging that the Plaintiff is in the State of Alaska for until [sic] the first week in August and will be unable to attend the hearing. The motion was sustained, and the trial date was continued until August 8. On August 8, neither Scott nor Wheeler attended the trial. Scott was attending a hearing in Kearney, Nebraska. Wheeler claimed he was never notified of the August 8 trial date or that Scott would not be attending. Because Scott could not attend the August 8 trial, Scott sent Watkins instead. Watkins requested that the court continue the trial until October because Wheeler was allegedly in the State of Alaska until the first week of October 1994. The court denied Watkins' request and shortly thereafter entered an order dismissing Wheeler's case with prejudice. In October 1994, Scott received a correspondence from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), informing Scott that it was claiming a subrogation interest in Wheeler's workers' compensation claim. Included with the letter were Wheeler's medical records from the VA hospital. In a letter dated November 7, 1994, Scott informed Wheeler of the subrogation claim and stated that he will try and go forward with your case however, I'm certainly not making any guarantees. In December, Wheeler requested information regarding his workers' compensation ease. Scott responded by letter, explaining that because of the lateness of the information received from the VA, he was having a difficult time with the case. Scott said nothing to Wheeler about the prior dismissal of the case. In January 1995, the VA requested an update on Wheeler's workers' compensation claim. Scott informed the VA that the case had been dismissed but that he was still working on the claim. Scott received another request for an update from the VA in April. In his response, Scott stated that Wheeler's matter has been submitted to the Workers['] Compensation Court. To date, we have not received a result as yet, but will keep you informed as to the status of this claim. At the time of Scott's response, no new evidence had been submitted, nor was anything pending before the court. The VA made another request in October, seeking information regarding Wheeler's workers' compensation claim. In his response, Scott explained that Wheeler's workers' compensation claim is going to be dismissed. On December 26, 1995, Wheeler notified Scott that he was terminating Scott's representation. Wheeler filed a complaint against Scott with the Counsel for Discipline. Scott replied to the complaint in a letter dated January 23, 1996, stating: The Workers' Compensation case was scheduled and continued twice because of [Wheeler's] request. The final time the matter was set, ... Wheeler did not show up, which was in August of 1994 and the matter was dismissed at that time. We would have had a very difficult time of proving our case, since we had no doctor tieing [sic] the injury to a work related accident and without his testimony I felt that there would be no need to go further. This court found that in light of the appointed referee's findings, Scott's response to the complaint was not factually correct or was misleading in the following respects: (1) Wheeler never requested a continuance of his case; (2) Wheeler did not show up at the trial because he was never given notice of the trial date; and (3) the workers' compensation case was dismissed because the judge would not grant the request for continuance made at the time the trial was scheduled to begin, Watkins was not prepared for trial, and Scott failed to provide defendants with the mandatory disclosure statements. [4] We also noted several other findings made by the referee, including: Scott misrepresented that Wheeler would be returning to Lincoln on a certain date, ... Scott had no basis for stating a date upon which Wheeler would return and had a weak basis for concluding that Wheeler was in Alaska, and ... Scott made a series of misrepresentations to representatives of Veterans Affairs with regard to the status of the workers' compensation case. [5] We recognized that there were mitigating factors present. In particular, we noted that Scott's actions were done in an effort to maintain the viability of Wheeler's claim and not to benefit himself, that Scott did not receive a fee for representing Wheeler, and that Wheeler was not injured by Scott's conduct. We concluded, however, that these mitigating factors fail to overcome the fact that Scott deliberately lied to a court and to [the VA]. [6] Accordingly, on June 20, 1997, Scott was suspended from the practice of law for 1 year. [7]