What Love Had To Do With It
A North Carolina attorney was sanctioned as recounted on the State Bar web page
The DHC suspended Wallace Respess of Lenoir for two years. Respess had sex with a client, loaned money to the client, and communicated with an opposing party who was represented by counsel. After serving six months of the suspension, Respess may apply for a stay of the balance.
The Hickory Record had the story of the disciplinary charges in April 2014
Lawyers are allowed to have sex with a lot of people. Current clients are not among them.
Lenoir attorney William Wallace Respess Jr. is alleged to have had sex with a client and lied while under oath, according to a complaint filed by the Disciplinary Hearing Commission of the North Carolina State Bar.
» L.B in 1999.
» M.C. in 1988.
» P.H. from 1982-83.
At a deposition Nov. 20, 2013, during his representation of Mrs. E.S., Respess testified under oath that the only clients with whom he had had sexual relations were Mrs. E.S. and L.B., the complaint states.
While Respess represented Mrs. E.S., the complaint states he made a down payment and financed the purchase of a car for her, and a made a loan of $5,000 to her for a payment due on her condominium. The loans were not reduced to writing, he did not advise her to seek independent legal counsel, and she did not consent in writing to the loans, the complaint states.
Respess also spoke over the phone with Mrs. E.S.’s husband about the still-pending visitation schedule involving the couple’s two children, knowing Mrs. E.S.’ husband was being represented by a lawyer, the complaint states.
The N.C. State Bar alleges grounds for discipline against Respess include:
» He had a sexual relationship with Mrs. E.S. while she was his client.
» His false testimony under oath at the deposition was dishonest, fraudulent, deceitful or misrepresentative.
» He made loans to Mrs. E.S. while she was his client that involved a concurrent conflict of interest.
» He entered into business transactions with Mrs. E.S. while she was a client without her informed written consent.
» He knowingly engaged in communication with a person represented by counsel when he spoke with Mrs. E.S.’ husband.
Respess referred the Hickory Daily Record to his lawyer, Winston-Salem attorney Dudley Witt, for comment. Witt declined to comment about specific allegations in the complaint, but said he is working on an answer to the complaint.
Witt said he will file the answer by Thursday.
A hearing before the Disciplinary Hearing Commission is scheduled for Aug. 21-22. A three-member panel composed of two lawyers and one layperson will determine whether Respess violated the Rules of Professional Conduct, and if so, whether discipline is warranted.
News Topic.net had the rest of the story
Lawyer William Wallace Respess Jr. admits he violated several rules of professional conduct in a divorce case he was handling, but it was because he fell in love with his client, according to a document submitted last week to the N.C. State Bar.
And while it is true that Respess had sex with two clients in the 1980s, at the time that did not violate the rules governing lawyers’ behavior, so he was not lying under oath when he denied previous “inappropriate” relationships, the document said.
Evette Lynn Setzler (now Rockett) filed a complaint against Respess in March saying that he violated the Bar’s rules of professional conduct by having sex with her, loaning her money and once talking directly with her estranged husband about the divorce case instead of talking to his lawyer. The Bar is the state agency responsible for regulating the practice of law in North Carolina, and it may discipline lawyers for violating the rules.
Setzler hired Respess in a divorce proceeding brought by her then-husband, John Bryan Setzler, shortly after her release from a drug rehabilitation facility on May 14, 2012.
The official complaint against Respess and his response refer to Setzler only by the initials E.S., but one of the documents from her divorce was filed as an exhibit in support of Respess’ request for most of the complaint to be dismissed.
“It is admitted that during the course of his representation with Mrs. E.S., defendant (Respess) fell in love with her and before he withdrew from representing her, they engaged in a consensual sexual relationship,” Respess’ response says, admitting that violated professional rules and may merit discipline by the Bar.
Respess withdrew as Setzler’s lawyer in June 2013.
Respess’ response says of the money he loaned Setzler, which the complaint alleges constituted an inappropriate business relationship with a client, that they were made “under the mistaken impression that he was merely helping an individual with whom he had developed a close personal and emotional relationship and as of September 3, 2013, was his fiancee.”
And the response says that when Respess spoke on the phone with John Setzler, he already had withdrawn as Evette Setzler’s lawyer.
The response has a more nuanced dismissal of the portion of Setzler’s complaint alleging that Respess lied under oath at a deposition in November 2013 when asked whether he ever had sex with other clients before Setzler. Respess’ response says that what Respess actually was asked at the deposition was whether there were “any other clients you may have engaged in an inappropriate relationship with.”
But at the time that he had sex with two clients — one in 1982-83 and the other in 1988 — the rules of professional conduct did not prohibit it, Respess’ response says. The rule prohibiting lawyers from having consensual sex with clients was not adopted until 1997.
Respess was married from June 7, 2003, to April 21, 2014, when a divorce was granted in Alexander County. A phone call to Respess was not returned Monday.
(Mike Frisch)