Court Opinion

ID: 9605163
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 02:31:04.621748+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:26.356857
License: Public Domain

RICHARDSON, J.
I respectfully dissent, believing that petitioner should be disbarred for several reasons. He was and is an attorney at law who owes a fiduciary obligation to his clients. Moreover, as to both the Childs and Short estates he was appointed and qualified as executor, thereby owing an independent fiduciary obligation to the decedents’ estates and to those beneficially interested therein, whether as heirs or creditors. He abused each of these positions of high trust by systematically diverting estate funds to his own personal use and purposes. The amounts of his thefts were unusually large, aggregating $387,200. The misappropriations, commencing in October 1974, continued until April 1979, a period of four and one-half years. He knowingly attempted, and successfully for a time, to conceal his defalcations. He lied to the probate judge by filing a written first account, verified by him under oath, in which he represented that he had acquired United States Treasury bills as investments for the estate. He knew this to be false and thereby actually misled the court. During the initial phases of the State Bar’s investigation, petitioner was less than candid.
I am not unmindful of the mitigating force of petitioner’s domestic and financial troubles and of his commendable community service. These favorable considerations, however, are far outweighed by the magnitude and duration of his criminal misconduct. I am unable to equate his actions with the most minimal standards of professional ethics. Accordingly, I would disbar him.
Bird, C. J., and Reynoso, J., concurred.