Court Opinion

ID: 9787807
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 00:24:53.268667+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:00.756800
License: Public Domain

COLBERT, J.
¶ 1 Complainant, Oklahoma Bar Association, filed a four-count complaint against Respondent, Christi Ann Chapman. A panel of the Professional Responsibility Tribunal (PRT) considered the complaint on facts and conclusions of law which were stipulated by the parties. The panel unanimously recommended that Respondent be publicly censured and assessed the costs of these proceedings. Also, some additional requirements were recommended. This Court has reviewed this matter de novo and imposes the recommended discipline of public censure along with the assessment of costs.
¶2 Respondent is a sole practitioner in Madill, Oklahoma. She was admitted to the Oklahoma Bar in 2000. She partnered with her uncle until he was suspended for two years and one day in September, 2001. The grievances against Respondent arose from her actions from around that time through 2003. She has received no prior discipline.
MUNOZ GRIEVANCE
¶ 3 Marilyn Munoz paid Respondent $150.00 to file a small claims case arising from a car repair. After several months, Munoz learned the action had not been filed. Respondent told Munoz she needed to pay the remaining $100.00 of Respondent’s fee before Respondent would file the petition she had prepared. Munoz asked Respondent to drop the suit and give her a refund. When Munoz persisted, Respondent agreed to refund $60.00. Respondent was unable, however, to find a current address or telephone number for Munoz.
¶ 4 Munoz filed a grievance with Complainant and a formal investigation was opened. Respondent was served with the grievance by mail and was instructed to answer within twenty days. She failed to respond to that request or to a subsequent request sent by certified mail. As a result, Respondent was deposed. She admitted that she failed to return the Munoz refund and that she failed to respond to Complainant’s inquiries. She attributed her unintentional misconduct to the overwhelming medical and personal circumstances she was experiencing at the time. Neither Respondent nor Complainant have been successful in attempts to locate Munoz.
CARTER GRIEVANCE
¶ 5 Tiffany Carter and her husband hired Respondent to represent them in their “uncontested” divorce. They paid Respondent $250.00 of the agreed fee of $300.00 to formalize the agreement they had reached concerning property division, child support, and visitation arrangements.
¶ 6 When the Carters tried to make contact with Respondent in order to sign the documents, they found that Respondent’s office was closed and the office telephone had been disconnected. When they were able to reach her, Respondent explained that she had been ill. She promised to deliver the documents for their signatures. Respondent delivered incomplete documents with a letter explaining that the Carters were disputing facts from each other regarding child support figures and that she needed a single answer with which to file the divorce petition. The Carters were again unable to make contact with Respondent. They hired another lawyer to complete their divorce and Tiffany Carter filed a grievance.
PRUIT GRIEVANCES
¶ 7 A grievance was received from J.B. Pruit. The substance of the grievance is not the basis of this complaint. Complainant sent a letter to Respondent stating that it was treating the grievance as an informal complaint. Respondent was directed to make contact with Pruit and to send a copy of her correspondence to Complainant. A copy of Complainant’s letter to Respondent was sent to Pruit.
¶ 8 Respondent failed to make contact with Pruit and he submitted a second grievance. *416This time, Complainant gave Respondent five days to make contact with Pruit. When Pruit filed the third grievance, Complainant opened the matter for formal investigation and requested a response. Respondent never responded to the request. She also failed to respond to subsequent requests for information concerning the Pruit grievances.
NEAL GRIEVANCE
¶ 9 This grievance came from the mother of a client of Respondent. The man was convicted of offenses related to his sexual relationship with an eleven-year-old girl. The essence of the mother’s grievance was that the penalty her son received was too severe. As with the Pruit grievance, Respondent is not being disciplined for any conduct leading to the grievance except for Respondent’s failure to respond to Complainant’s inquiries regarding the grievance.
¶ 10 Respondent failed to respond to the letter advising her that Complainant was opening the Neal grievance for formal investigation. When Complainant’s investigator made contact with Respondent, she sought and received additional time to respond. Her response was not complete and Complainant requested a supplemental response within ten days. No supplemental response was ever received and a second letter by certified mail was returned “unclaimed.”
STIPULATED CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
¶ 11 Consistent with the stipulations of the parties, the PRT concluded that Respondent’s actions violated Rule 1.3 (diligence), Rule 1.4 (communication with client), Rule 1.15 (safekeeping property), Rule 1.16(d) (protecting client interests upon termination of representation), Rule 8.1(b) (failing to respond to a lawful demand for information from a disciplinary authority), and Rule 8.4(a) (violating a disciplinary rule) of the Rules of Professional Conduct, Okla. Stat. tit. 5, eh.l, app. 3-A (2001). The PRT further concluded that Respondent’s conduct brought discredit upon the legal profession as described in Rule 1.3 of the Rules Governing Disciplinary Proceedings, Okla. Stat. tit. 5, ch.l, app.l-A (2001)(RGDP), and that Respondent failed to adequately respond to the process for investigation of grievances described in Rule 5.2 RGDP.
¶ 12 This Court has reviewed the proceedings de novo and finds that the tendered stipulations were “made voluntarily and with knowledge of their meaning and legal effect” and are “not inconsistent with any facts otherwise established by the record.” State ex rel. Oklahoma Bar Ass’n v. Schraeder, 2002 OK 51, 51 P.3d 570, 575. The record contains clear and convincing evidence to demonstrate the violations stipulated by the parties and presented in the PRT report.
DISCIPLINE
¶ 13 The PRT has recommended public censure for Respondent’s client neglect and her failure to timely and adequately respond to the disciplinary process. “This Court has imposed varying degrees of discipline on lawyers who neglected client matters. The discipline imposed has ranged from public censure to suspension.” State ex rel. Oklahoma Bar Ass’n v. Vincent, 2002 OK 40, 48 P.3d 797, 802 (citations omitted). “Where ... an attorney is guilty of neglect of a legal matter without affirmative acts of harmful conduct, the appropriate discipline is public censure.” State ex rel. Oklahoma Bar Ass’n v. Borders, 1989 OK 101, 777 P.2d 929, 930.
¶ 14 There is scant evidence of intentional acts of harmful conduct in the record of this proceeding. Further, Respondent’s depression, health problems, and personal circumstances serve to mitigate the severity of discipline to be imposed.
¶ 15 From approximately July 29, 2001, until January, 2004, Respondent had significant situations occur in her life. Her home and its entire contents were destroyed by fire, several family members died, her law partner was suspended from the practice of law, she was married, separated, and divorced, and she suffered repeated bouts of significant physical illness. Her illness included hospitalization for a week as a result of a staph infection in the cartilage of her ear. The infection spread to her jaw causing a large abscess on her face and neck. Respondent’s hospitalization was followed by a *417week of bed rest, half days of work for a number of weeks, and a long recovery period. She remained on antibiotics for several weeks.
¶ 16 As a result of these events, Respondent became depressed and experienced difficulty recognizing that she was ill and needed assistance. In August, 2002, Respondent was diagnosed as suffering from major depression. She was prescribed medication and received counseling.
¶ 17 Today, Respondent’s depression and physical health problems are under control and are monitored by her doctor. She has altered her lifestyle and business practices in order to minimize the amount of work and stress to which she is exposed. Respondent has been cooperative during the disciplinary proceedings and has expressed sincere remorse for her misconduct.
¶ 18 This Court adopts the PRT’s recommendation that a public censure and payment of costs is an appropriate discipline to be imposed for Respondent’s professional misconduct. By way of reminder, this Court repeats the admonition found in State of Oklahoma ex rel. Oklahoma Bar Association v. Southern, 2000 OK 88, 15 P.3d 1. There, a public censure was imposed for a lawyer’s neglect of client matters which resulted from a medical condition accompanied by depression. “It is important that all members of the bar understand that while a disabling medical condition may in some instances mitigate misconduct, the illness may not excuse the attorney’s failure to terminate his services or seek assistance when his legal performance falls below the required standard of competent representation.” Id. at 8.
¶ 19 Respondent is publicly censured and ordered to pay the costs of this proceeding in the amount of $1,246.77 within ninety days of the effective date of this opinion. It is hoped that Respondent will immediately make contact with the Oklahoma Bar Association Mentoring Committee and request that a mentor be assigned to her. She should also make contact with Lawyers Helping Lawyers, request assistance, and should abide by any recommendations made.
RESPONDENT PUBLICLY CENSURED; COSTS ASSESSED.
WINCHESTER, Y.C.J., LAVENDER, OPALA,.EDMONDSON and TAYLOR, JJ., concur.
HARGRAVE, J., concurs in result.
WATT, C.J. and KAUGER, J., concur in part, dissent in part.