Loans From The Dead

An attorney who had practiced for over fifty years without prior discipline was suspended for a year and a day by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

The attorney represented the Fern Knoll Cemetery Association, a non-profit corporation that “owns and operates a cemetery in Dallas, Pennsylvania.”

The attorney took “regular, substantial” loans from the cemetery association over a nine year period without obtaining written consent for the transactions.

He did not advise the client to consult counsel, document the transactions, agree to pay interest or make arrangements for repayment.

The Disciplinary Board found him unremorseful. He claimed the violations were “unintentional mistakes” and that his client was “cash rich.”

The attorney explained that the loans were a desperate act “arising in connection with his wife’s multiple sclerosis and stroke, the complications of which led to her death in 2001.”

The misconduct involved violations of Rule 1.8(a) and 8.4(c), not misappropriation.  (Mike Frisch)