Court Opinion

ID: 9845001
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:13:43.232329+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:15:49.650739
License: Public Domain

CARTER, Justice
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent from the opinion of the court.
The court virtually demolishes the several charges against respondent and yet, for reasons inexplicable to me, orders that he be reprimanded. The opinion justifies the reprimand on the ground that respondent misled the Noyes “into passive trust ... to secure an unfair gain for himself.”
I find no act or omission of respondent which served to mislead the Noyes into reasonably believing that he was looking out for their interests. Nor is there anything in this record to establish that respondent wished to or did secure an unfair legal advantage for himself or his wife in regard to his handling of the Noyes’ transaction. If the terms of the transaction were in any way unfair (and I submit that this has not been established), this involves economic rather than legal considerations.
This was a business transaction in which the consideration was bargained for by willing negotiators. In reviewing the ethical responsibility of a lawyer to clients with whom the lawyer is engaging in a joint business transaction, this court has recognized an affirmative duty to avoid a conflict of interest in purely business dealings. Committee on Professional Ethics & Conduct v. Postma, 430 N.W.2d 387, 391-92 (Iowa 1988). But, in the present case, the court has found that no attorney-client relationship existed between respondent and the Noyes. Consequently, I do not believe that his actions violated the Code of Professional Responsibility. I would order dismissal of the complaint in its entirety.