Coviello v. State Bar of California

THE COURT.

Petitioner was charged in two counts with violations of his oath and duties as an attorney and counselor at law (Bus.

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Prof. Code, §§ 6103, 6067, 6068), and with the commission of acts involving moral turpitude and dishonesty. (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 6106.)

Count one. The local committee found that petitioner accepted professional employment from Mrs. Wiedmer with respect to a claim before the Industrial Accident Commission. The commission approved a compromise whereby Mrs. Wied-mer agreed to settle her claim for $765. From this amount the commission awarded petitioner a fee of $75. Petitioner received a check for $690, payable to Mrs. Wiedmer, representing the amount due her under the settlement. At petitioner’s request she endorsed this check to him, and pursuant to an agreement with her, petitioner retained $170 as an additional fee over that allowed by the commission. The committee concluded that this conduct constituted a violation of sections 4903 and 4906 of the Labor Code.

Count two. The local committeee found that petitioner made a written agreement with Mrs. Hughes to probate her husband’s estate for $150. He later claimed that the estate was of greater value than Mrs. Hughes had represented to him and that he had been required to perform additional services not contemplated when the agreement was made. He informed Mrs. Hughes that he intended to charge additional fees and prepared and filed a petition for distribution in which he asked for the statutory fee of $550. In the petition he alleged that $150 had been paid on account. He did not inform the probate court of the written agreement, and he made no effort to have it modified or rescinded or cancelled in any respect.

The local committee also found that there were extenuating circumstances, but it did not feel that they excused or justified petitioner’s conduct. It recommended that petitioner be suspended for three months. The Board of Governors of the State Bar corrected a clerical error in one of the findings and deleted the finding with respect to extenuating circumstances. In all other respects it adopted the findings and recommendations of the local committee.

Petitioner contends that it was improper to join two

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