Brown v. State Bar

THE COURT. This is a petition to review the recommendation of the board of governors of The State Bar that petitioner be disbarred.

Four separate proceedings were brought against petitioner before the local administrative committee. In the first case, Mrs. Katherine Egan, a former client of petitioner, charged him with misappropriation of funds. Petitioner was retained by her in June, 1931, for the purpose of filing certain actions to rescind contracts of sale of land, and was paid $125. She also paid him $25 on account of- another action. Petitioner claims that he mailed notices of rescission promptly and thereafter negotiated for a settlement. But on a number of occasions, when questioned as to the progress of the actions, he told Mrs. Egan that the calendar was crowded, and the setting of the case for trial was consequently delayed. In August, 1932, more than a year after petitioner was employed and the money given him, Mrs. Egan discovered that he had not even filed the suits. Thereupon petitioner promised to repay the money advanced, and paid $45 in cash, together with an indorsed check for a further sum, which check was not paid. In January, 1933, an order to show cause was issued directing petitioner to appear before the local administrative committee,- and thereafter, a few days prior to the hearing, petitioner repaid the balance of the money.

Petitioner denies that he ever told Mrs. Egan directly that the matters were actually in court. We see no merit [535]in this position. He did represent to his client that her case was delayed because the courts were crowded. That this was no excuse for failing to file the actions is obvious, and that it was a misrepresentation is equally obvious. Petitioner was clearly guilty of misconduct, consisting of misrepresentation and deliberate failure to perform the duties of his engagement after payment of his retainer.

In the second case, petitioner was also charged with misappropriation of funds by George Stiff, a client. In 1927 or 1928 petitioner was representing Stiff in a bankruptcy matter. It became necessary to bring an action to quiet title to land in Seattle, Washington. Stiff had paid at least $155, and according to his testimony, $175, to petitioner for his services in the bankruptcy proceeding and for costs and attorneys’ fees to be incurred in the Washington action. A. H. Wiseman, a member of the Seattle bar, was engaged by petitioner to prosecute the action there, petitioner agreeing to remit the expenses and retainer. Wiseman, in May, 1929, requested that $25 be sent on account. Petitioner claims he sent it but failed to produce either the check or letter of transmittal. Wiseman denies having received it. The record shows repeated requests by Wiseman for the remittance, and repeated excuses by petitioner. The only showing of payment occurs in connection with a letter dated November 4, 1932, but actually mailed January 4, 1933, over three years after the employment and just at the time these disciplinary proceedings were being carried on. The sum of $30 was remitted at this time. During the pendency of these proceedings, petitioner made further payments: $26 on March 31, 1933, and $12 on May 5, 1933. Of the money remitted, $25 was for settlement of the action with the adverse party. Stiff’s testimony was that $75 of the sum paid petitioner was to go to the Washington attorney. Whether we take his or petitioner’s version as to the allocation of the money, it is sufficiently established that petitioner did not, for several years, remit any sum at all for this purpose, and that he was, in consequence, guilty of appropriating the money to his own uses.