Court Opinion

ID: 9710835
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:18:51.098016+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:00.209951
License: Public Domain

*285PER CURIAM.
¶ 1. We review the referee's report and recommendation that Attorney Chris K. Konnor be publicly reprimanded for having committed eight counts of professional misconduct as alleged in the complaint filed by the Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR) in this court on May 1, 2003. In general, the referee determined that Konnor had seriously neglected a probate matter, had failed to keep the beneficiaries advised of the status of the matter, had not appropriately handled the estate assets because he had not deposited them in accounts bearing interest, had not made timely deposits, and had not attempted to collect rents on the estate property.
*286¶ 2. Rejecting the OLR's position that Konnor's license should be suspended for 90 days as a sanction for these eight separate counts of misconduct, the referee recommended a public reprimand and that Konnor be ordered to pay the costs of this proceeding totaling $11,365.06.
¶ 3. Neither party has appealed from the referee's report and recommendation for public reprimand. Kon-nor has, however, filed an objection in this court to the costs as requested by OLR. Konnor seeks a reduction or amelioration of the total costs because he claims that several times prior to the hearing before the referee, he and/or his attorney expressed willingness to resolve the matter by a stipulated private or public reprimand; the OLR, however, declined to accept those offers and instead chose to pursue a 90-day license suspension as a sanction. Konnor maintains that as a matter of equity and reasonableness, this court should view his offers to accept a public reprimand for his misconduct as a reason to now mitigate the costs as requested by OLR — especially those costs which were incurred because of the hearing before the referee. Konnor is willing to pay $6774.91 in costs incurred prior to the referee's hearing, but now asks to be absolved from paying the additional $4590.15 in costs that were incurred as a result of the referee's hearing. According to Konnor, had OLR accepted his offer for a public reprimand instead of demanding a 90-day suspension, this matter would have been resolved without a full eviden-tiary hearing before the referee.
¶ 4. We determine that Attorney Chris K. Konnor's professional misconduct as established by the clear and convincing evidence presented to the referee warrants a public reprimand. We also determine, for *287reasons explained below, that Konnor should pay all the costs of these disciplinary proceedings in the amount specified, $11,365.06.
¶ 5. Respondent, Chris K. Konnor, was admitted to the practice of law in this state in April 1988 and practices in Milwaukee. He has never before been the subject of professional discipline but he has twice been administratively suspended for nonpayment of dues.
¶ 6. The OLR filed a complaint in this court alleging eight violations by Konnor of the rules of professional conduct. Those violations arose from Konnor's handling of the estate of B.B. who died intestate on February 20,1997, survived by five brothers and the children of two brothers who had predeceased her.
¶ 7. Attorney Stanley Hack was appointed to act as referee in this matter, and after a hearing, he filed his report concluding that OLR had established by clear and convincing evidence that Konnor had committed the eight counts of misconduct as alleged.
¶ 8. As noted, neither side has appealed from the referee's report; consequently the facts are not now in dispute. Briefly summarized, the pertinent facts with respect to each of the eight counts are these:
COUNT ONE
¶ 9. Attorney Chris K. Konnor was retained to handle the B.B. estate in March of 1997. After preliminary proceedings to determine heirs, Konnor was appointed as personal representative by the Milwaukee Deputy Register in Probate on October 6, 1997. The next day, Konnor opened a noninterest-bearing estate checking account for which, as the personal representative, Konnor had check writing authority. Konnor, however, did not arrange with the bank to have the *288cancelled checks returned to him, nor did he regularly receive from the bank the cancelled checks for the estate until January 2002, after one of the beneficiaries had complained to OLR about Konnor's handling of the estate. That course of conduct, from 1997 to 2002, where Konnor failed to maintain complete records of the account he held in trust, led to Count One of the OLR complaint which alleged that Konnor had violated SCR 20:1.15(a) and (e).1
COUNT TWO
¶ 10. At the time of her death, B.B. owned a rooming house with multiple rental units. After her death, one or more of her brothers moved into the rooming house and began collecting rent from the other tenants; however, these rental payments were not forwarded to Konnor for deposit in the estate's account. Konnor sent letters to the 12 tenants in the rooming house requesting that their rent be forwarded directly to him as the estate's personal representative. Initially, he received payment from several of the tenants, but after October 6, 1997, Konnor received rent payments from only one of the tenants; the rental payments from the other tenants continued to be received by two of B.B.'s brothers.
*289¶ 11. In a letter sent to a tax accountant in February 2000, Konnor stated that he believed the decedent's two brothers had "stole all the rents after the decedent died." Despite this, Konnor did not inform the probate court about any difficulty in collecting the rents, nor did he notify the police or take any steps to try to evict the tenants from whom he was not receiving rent.
¶ 12. This course of misconduct led to Count Two of the OLR complaint which alleged that instead of collecting rent from all of the tenants, including B.B.'s brothers, Konnor had allowed the brothers to misappropriate the rent from the estate without taking any action to protect the estate assets. By doing nothing to prevent these types of estate misappropriations, it was alleged that Konnor had failed to act with reasonable diligence and promptness, in violation of SCR 20:1.3.2
COUNTS THREE, FOUR, AND FIVE
¶ 13. In July 1998 Konnor deposited several money orders he had received from the one tenant who had been making the rental payments directly to him. The dated money orders contained notations that they represented that tenant's rent for December 1997 and for January, February, March, April, June, and July of 1998. In January 1999 Konnor deposited another money order from that tenant dated August 3, 1998; again in February 2000, Konnor deposited another money order from that same tenant dated May 1,1998. In his testimony before the referee, Konnor offered no explanation for these delayed deposits other than stating that he did not routinely travel to the area where the bank was located.
*290¶ 14. The testimony before the referee also established that in October 1997 Konnor sent a letter to the heirs of the estate advising them that he was in the process of preparing the inventory; however, in April 1998 the inventory had yet to be filed and the probate court ordered Konnor to file it by June 11, 1998. Konnor failed to appear at that scheduled meeting and did not then file the inventory. The matter was rescheduled to July 9, 1998, and Konnor was warned that he could be removed as personal representative if he failed to appear at that hearing. Konnor finally filed the estate inventory on July 8, 1998, listing gross estate assets at $62,948.98. Konnor, however, had failed to provide all interested parties with a copy of that inventory. By letter dated November 13, 1998, the probate court advised Konnor that the estate had then been open for 14 months and that it would have to be closed within the next 4 months but a petition for an extension of time could be filed. At that time, a number of documents still remained to be filed in the estate including the final account and final judgment.
¶ 15. In January 1999 the decedent's rooming house was sold. Konnor, as personal representative, received two checks dated January 15, 1999, representing the proceeds of the sale. Those checks, however, were not deposited into the estate's checking account until May 1999.
¶ 16. On March 12,1999, the probate court issued another order requiring Konnor to appear on May 27, 1999, to show cause why the final judgment had not yet been entered.
¶ 17. Between July 1999 and November 1999, Konnor's brother Stewart — who was homeless and who had a history of substance abuse as well as an extensive criminal history including convictions for theft — had *291been allowed by Konnor's father to live in the building where Konnor's law office was located. Stewart Konnor had access to his brother's law office and stole the checkbook for the B.B. estate and then cashed six checks payable to himself (Stewart) totaling $3500. Chris Konnor had left that checkbook in an estate file on the floor next to his desk; neither the file nor the checkbook had been kept in a secure place.
¶ 18. After discovering the theft, Konnor deposited $3544 he had obtained from his father into the estate's checking account in February 2000. The checks Konnor had received from his father to pay back the money his brother had stolen from the estate, contained misleading notations about the purpose for which the checks from his father were intended. Konnor did not advise the police about the thefts from the estate's account nor did he inform the heirs or the court about the misappropriations. Only after OLR began its investigation into the grievances the heirs had filed, did Konnor disclose that the thefts had occurred; that disclosure was in Konnor's final account filed on May 15, 2004.
¶ 19. Based on this course of conduct, Count Three of OLR's complaint alleged that by not depositing the estate's funds into the trust account in a timely manner, Konnor had failed to keep those funds in trust, in violation of SCR 20:1.15(a).3
*292¶ 20. Similarly, Count Four alleged that by not taking any steps to lock his office or keep the estate checkbook in a secure location, Konnor had failed to safeguard the estate's funds and hold them in trust, in violation of SCR 20:1.15(a).
¶ 21. Count Five alleged that because Konnor had not reported the thefts to the police or the heirs, and had provided misleading notations with respect to where the reimbursement checks had come from and for what purposes they had been received, Konnor had engaged in conduct that was deceitful and conduct that amounted to misrepresentation by omission, in violation of SCR 20:8.4(c).4
*293COUNTS SIX, SEVEN, AND EIGHT
¶ 22. In February 2000 Konnor retained a tax accountant to prepare the estate's tax returns and the decedent's personal income tax returns. In January of 2001 the accountant sent Konnor completed tax forms for 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999. Although penalties and interest had resulted from the late filing of the returns, Konnor failed to advise the heirs about the penalties or interest.
¶ 23. On May 25, 2001, Konnor liquidated the estate's mutual funds and deposited the proceeds in a noninterest-bearing account having a balance of over $61,000. In May 2001 Konnor wrote to the heirs for the first time since October 1997, informing them that all of the tax returns had been filed except for the 2001 returns which Konnor wrote would be filed in the near future.
¶ 24. Konnor later advised the heirs that he would be making distributions and closing the estate. On January 15, 2002, Konnor filed a Department of Revenue form required for a fiduciary closing of an estate; he also asked the accountant to complete the final tax return for the estate. The information he provided revealed that for an extended period of time, more than $58,000 of the estate's funds had remained in a non-interest bearing account.
¶ 25. Subsequently the probate court ordered Konnor to file the final account by April 8, 2003; he did not do so. At an April 15, 2003, hearing, Konnor told the court that he had problems balancing the final account.
*294¶ 26. Konnor finally filed the final account on May 15, 2003, and distributions were made to the various heirs in July 2003.
¶ 27. This course of conduct led to Count Six of the OLR complaint which alleged that by failing to provide the heirs with a copy of the inventory, by failing to notify the heirs of the misappropriation of the estate funds, and by failing to notify the heirs of the penalties the estate had incurred with respect to the late tax filings, Konnor had failed to explain a matter to the extent reasonably necessary to permit the heirs to make informed decisions regarding the representation, in violation of SCR 20:1.4(b).5
¶ 28. Similarly, in Count Seven, OLR alleged that by depositing large sums of the estate's assets into a noninterest-bearing checking account for extended periods of time, Konnor had violated SCR 20:1.15(c)(l)a.6
¶ 29. Finally, in Count Eight, OLR alleged that by failing to close the estate for more than five years, Konnor had failed to act with reasonable diligence and promptness, in violation of SCR 20:1.3.7
¶ 30. After determining that OLR had proven by clear and convincing evidence all eight counts of misconduct as alleged in its complaint, the referee then turned to an appropriate sanction to be recommended *295for Konnor's misconduct. In his report, the referee identified several aggravating factors including the number of rules violations Konnor had committed, his serious neglect of the probate matter, Konnor's lack of concern in keeping the heirs advised of the status of the matter over a number of years, and his lack of proper handling of estate assets. Balanced against those aggravating factors, the referee noted several mitigating factors including Konnor's cooperativeness with OLR, his lack of a history of prior professional discipline, the fact that Konnor had not misappropriated any of the estate's assets for his own use, his good faith effort to restore the assets stolen by his brother, and finally, his remorse. The referee recommended, in light of prior cases with similar facts, that a public reprimand was an appropriate sanction for Konnor's professional misconduct. The referee also recommended that Konnor be required to pay all the costs of the disciplinary proceeding now totaling $11,365.06.
¶ 31. As noted, the only matter in dispute before this court is Konnor's request that he be absolved from paying all of the costs; he maintains that he should only pay those costs incurred before the referee's hearing because Konnor had previously offered to accept a public reprimand which was the same sanction ultimately recommended by the referee. According to Kon-nor, had the OLR agreed to a public reprimand at the time, there would have been no need for the public hearing before the referee.
¶ 32. Although under SCR 22.24(1) this court has discretion to assess all or a portion of the costs of the disciplinary proceeding in which misconduct has been found against the respondent, this court very infrequently reduces the reasonable costs as requested by *296the OLR. There is no claim in the instant case that the costs requested by OLR are excessive or unreasonable. Under these circumstances we decline Konnor's request to reduce the costs.
¶ 33. We note, however, that questions concerning appropriate costs in OLR matters have frequently been before this court. Consequently, we have asked the Board of Administrative Oversight in conjunction with the State Bar, to develop a comprehensive approach regarding the assessment of costs in OLR matters and to present the proposals to this court for our consideration.
¶ 34. We adopt the findings of fact and conclusions of law as set forth in the referee's report because they are supported by clear and convincing evidence. We determine that the seriousness of Attorney Konnor's misconduct as established in this proceeding warrants a public reprimand. And, we direct that Attorney Konnor pay the costs of these disciplinary proceedings now totaling $11,365.06.
¶ 35. IT IS ORDERED that Chris K. Konnor is publicly reprimanded for professional misconduct.
¶ 36. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that within 60 days of the date of this order Chris K. Konnor pay to the Office of Lawyer Regulation all the costs of this proceeding provided that if such costs are not paid within the time specified and absent a showing to this court of his inability to pay the costs within that time, the license of Chris K. Konnor to practice law in Wisconsin shall be suspended until further order of this court.

 Until January 1, 1999, SCR 20:1.15(a) provided that a lawyer shall hold in trust, separate from the lawyer's own property, property of clients or third persons "that is in the lawyer's possession in connection with a representation."
Effective January 1, 1999, SCR 20:1.15(a) was amended to provide that a lawyer shall hold in trust, separate from the lawyer's own property, that property of clients and third persons that is in the lawyer's possession in connection with the representation "or when acting in a fiduciary capacity."

 SCR 20:1.3 provides: "Diligence. A lawyer shall act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing a client."

 SCR 20:1.15(a) (now renumbered as SCR 20:1.15(b)) provides: Safekeeping property.
(a) A lawyer shall hold in trust, separate from the lawyer's own property, that property of clients and third persons that is in the lawyer's possession in connection with a representation or when acting in a fiduciary capacity. Funds held in connection with a representation or in a fiduciary capacity include funds held as trustee, agent, guardian, personal representative of an estate, or *292otherwise. All funds of clients and third persons paid to a lawyer or law firm shall be deposited in one or more identifiable trust accounts as provided in paragraph (c). The trust account shall he maintained in a bank, savings bank, trust company, credit union, savings and loan association or other investment institution authorized to do business and located in Wisconsin. The trust account shall be clearly designated as "Client's Account" or "Trust Account" or words of similar import. No funds belonging to the lawyer or law firm, except funds reasonably sufficient to pay or avoid imposition of account service charges, may be deposited in such an account. Unless the client otherwise directs in writing, securities in bearer form shall be kept by the attorney in a safe deposit box in a bank, savings bank, trust company, credit union, savings and loan association or other investment institution authorized to do business and located in Wisconsin. The safe deposit box shall be clearly designated as "Client's Account" or "Trust Account" or words of similar import. Other property of a client or third person shall be identified as such and appropriately safeguarded. If a lawyer also licensed in another state is entrusted with funds or property in connection with an out-of-state representation, this provision shall not supersede the trust account rules of the other state.

 Specifically, regarding the latter count, it was alleged that Konnor had made misrepresentations by omissions because he failed to advise the heirs that his brother had stolen from the *293estate, and then had further attempted to cover up the thefts by depositing into the estate account four separate checks from Konnor's father with misleading notations.

 SCR 20:1.4(b) provides: "A lawyer shall explain a matter to the extent reasonably necessary to permit the client to make informed decisions regarding the representation."

 SCR 20:1.15(c)(l)a. provides: "IOLTA accounts. A lawyer who receives client funds shall maintain a pooled interest-bearing, demand account for deposit of client or 3rd-party funds that are: a. nominal in amount or expected to be held for a short period of time."

 SCR 20:1.3 provides: "Diligence. A lawyer shall act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing a client."