Lawyer, Serve Thyself

The California State Bar Court Review Department has recommended disbarment of an attorney for fee-collection misconduct.

 The gravamen of the misconduct in this matter involves Felger’s dishonest acts in obtaining a fraudulent default judgment against his former client, Central Green Mutual Water Company (Central Green). He accomplished this by serving a lawsuit for his legal fees on himself on behalf of his former client, but without the client’s knowledge or consent.

The court

 Although Felger concedes he is culpable, he argues in his opening brief that his misconduct was just a “petty stunt meant to get Larry Freels’ attention, not an attempt to collect a surreptitious judgment.” His argument is not persuasive. If Felger wished merely to get Freels’s attention, he could have served the lawsuit for his legal fees on Freels in the first instance. Instead, we find that Felger’s trial testimony exposed his true motive. When asked why he concealed the lawsuit from Freels, Felger testified: “I wanted to fix and — liquidate the amount [of attorney fees] as promptly and with as little effort as possible. And I knew that [Freels] would not receive notice of it, and I knew that if he did want to fight me, that he would not then have that opportunity.” Further, when asked why he did not remove himself as agent for service of process, he replied: “It was certainly the most expeditious way to obtain that judgment.” Felger’s attempt to minimize his misconduct reveals he does not comprehend his ethical duty to be honest.

The State Bar Court found misappropriation in an unrelated matter and proposed disbarment despite the attorney’s 25 years of discipline-free practice. Mike Frisch)