An Affair To Remember

A three-year suspension by consent was imposed by the South Carolina Supreme Court for an attorney’s conflicts of interest created by a decades long sexual relationship with a married client.

Mr. Doe owned a real estate investment company. Respondent met Mr. Doe in March 1984 when he came to her office to meet a client. At the time respondent met Mr. Doe, he was married to Mrs. Doe who also served as the corporate secretary for the real estate investment company. Mr. and Mrs. Doe had two children. Shortly after they met in 1984, respondent and Mr. Doe began a private, personal relationship. In early 1985, respondent and Mr. Doe began a secret, sexual relationship that continued until after Mrs. Doe’s death in 2001. In 2005, respondent and Mr. Doe lived together and continued their sexual relationship. They remained close companions. Mr. Doe died in February 2011 at the age of 88.

The attorney also represented the client’s wife

 respondent collected in excess of $8,150.00 in legal fees from or on behalf of Mrs. Doe. For several closings on behalf of Mrs. Doe’s joint ventures, respondent also collected in total approximately $1,400.00 in commissions on behalf of respondent’s own real estate company, Kaspar Properties. Throughout this time, respondent was engaged in a sexual relationship with Mr. Doe, her client’s husband. Also during this time, Mr. Doe was providing respondent with personal financial support, including loans, gifts of cash, and payment of some living expenses. Respondent did not disclose the affair, the extent of financial support, or the resulting conflict of interest to Mrs. Doe.

The attorney admitted a course of unethical conduct from 1984 to 2001. The conflict ended with the death of Mrs. Doe.

The State reported on a 2014 jury award in the attorney’s favor.

A Lexington County jury late last week took two hours to deliberate before awarding a woman $1.6 million in actual damages in a civil case in which she claimed she was hounded by the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, strip-searched and tossed in jail on felony charges that were later dismissed.

The case of lawyer Kay Paschal, who won the verdict against Sheriff Leon Lott, involved a dispute over a dead Columbia businessman’s multimillion-dollar estate, issues of sheriff’s department jurisdiction and charges of exploitation of a vulnerable adult. Questions also arose about whether one of Lott’s deputies was too personally close with heirs of the dead man.

A child of the Does (actually Wallace) caused her to be arrested

Paschal was arrested in November 2011 – the same day she was to appear at an estate hearing in probate court to defend herself against allegations by Wallace’s children that she should not be the estate’s personal representative, according to legal papers and testimony in the case. Paschal lost her status as representative, at least in part because she did not appear at the hearing, the documents said.

At the jail, Paschal was stripped and given “nothing but a sheet to wrap herself in,” according to testimony in the case. She was later released on a personal bond.

The criminal charges were dismissed.  

The court imposed the suspension effective as of its interim suspension ordered in January 2012. (Mike Frisch)