Court Opinion

ID: 9639828
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 16:49:33.97818+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:22.212305
License: Public Domain

Heher, J.
(concurring in part). I am not persuaded that in the charges made for services the respondent was guilty of moral delinquency meriting disciplinary action.
There is no clear indication of willful fraud or oppression. Resort was had to the real property to liquidate the estate; and, as pointed out by counsel, if the reasonable value of the property, set at $1,500, be considered corpus receipts for the purpose of fixing corpus commissions, the allowance claimed would not exceed 9% of the quantum of the estate. See N. J. S. 3A:10-3; also N. J. S. 3A:10-3.1; 3A:10-3.2. No formal accounting was had; and the absence of prior judicial approval does not preclude the award of reasonable *217compensation for the service. There is no occasion now to determine the full extent of the right to compensation, and the reasonableness of the charges made. The controversy is cognizable and the grievance remediable by civil process. See Bolte v. Rainville, 138 N. J. Eq. 508 (E. & A. 1946). The issue is not one for summary disposition in a disciplinary proceeding. It suffices now to say that in the particular circumstances the service charges are not so clearly unreasonable and disproportionate as to suggest oppression or bad faith. See In re Frakel, 20 N. J. 588 (1956).
And I find no violation of section 6 of the Canons of Ethics, forbidding professional representation of conflicting interests, save by the “express consent” of “all concerned,” given after a “full disclosure” of the facts. The complainant knew the respondent was providing the money to finance the transfer of the real estate; and there is no evidence of hardship, oppression, or abuse of the confidential relationship. She makes no complaint on this score.
But there was an admitted transgression of section 11 of the Canons of Ethics, barring the lawyer’s commingling of trust funds with his own; yet it is not shown that this was done for respondent’s own use, or that the trust funds were in fact so used. There was no loss to the estate.
It would seem that a suspension of six months would be adequate in the circumstances, if necessary at all in view of the prior suspension from practice. The transactions here under review antedated the proceeding resulting in the suspension.
Oliphant, J., joins in this opinion.
For suspension for one year — Chief Justice Vanderbilt, and Justices Wacheneeld, Burling, Jacobs and Brennan —5.
For suspension for six months — Justices Heher and Oliphant — 2.