Opinion ID: 2777288
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Count 5 – The Vogtman Complaint

Text: Roxanne Coburn Vogtman filed a complaint on behalf of her father, Jennings B. Coburn, Sr., with the ODC on August 8, 2012, alleging that Mr. Rossi had failed to communicate with her father and had failed to take any action in his case. Ms. Vogtman stated that Mr. Coburn sustained a brain injury after slipping and falling on ice in front of a grocery store in February 2010. After her father retained Mr. Rossi to file a lawsuit on his behalf, Ms. Vogtman alleged that Mr. Rossi performed sparse work on the case and that he did not respond to Mr. Coburn’s attempts to communicate with him. Upon learning that Mr. Rossi was not communicating with her father and was not 9 returning his phone calls, Ms. Vogtman placed a call to Mr. Rossi’s office and left a voicemail message under the guise of being a new client. Mr. Rossi returned Ms. Vogtman’s phone call within five minutes. After informing him that she was Mr. Coburn’s daughter, Ms. Vogtman asked Mr. Rossi why he was not communicating with her father about his case. Ms. Vogtman alleges that Mr. Rossi responded by telling her that he had been busy and had been on vacation. Ms. Vogtman also asked Mr. Rossi if he had filed the lawsuit on behalf of her father and he told her that he had not. Mr. Coburn subsequently fired Mr. Rossi in June 2012, and requested that Mr. Rossi return his client file. The ODC forwarded Ms. Vogtman’s complaint to Mr. Rossi by letter dated August 10, 2012, requesting a response to her allegations. Mr. Rossi did not respond. The ODC sent a second letter requesting a response on September 24, 2012. Mr. Rossi responded to this letter, stating that he had performed work on the case and had communicated with Mr. Coburn. The ODC sent Mr. Rossi letters in January and February of 2013, requesting that he explain what actions he had taken on Mr. Coburn’s behalf over the two years that he allegedly worked on his case. Mr. Rossi did not respond to either of these requests. The Board determined that Mr. Rossi failed to work on Mr. Coburn’s case and failed to communicate with Mr. Coburn about his case, in violation of Rules 1.3, 1.4(a) and 1.4(b) of the Rules of Professional Conduct (see footnotes 3 and 4, supra). Further, the Board found that Mr. Rossi violated Rule 1.16(d) by failing to promptly 10 return Mr. Williams’s client file (see footnote 5, supra). Finally, the Board found that Mr. Rossi violated Rule 8.1(b) by failing to respond to requests for information from the ODC (see footnote 6, supra).