“You’re The Investigator, You Figure It Out”
The Maryland Court of Appeals has disbarred an attorney.
The case involved a number of complaints
Rule 8.4(c) provides that it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation. We agree with the trial judge’s findings that Respondent repeatedly violated this rule. In the Curtis matter Respondent dishonestly and deceitfully took possession of, and retained, the money judgment owed to her client and misrepresented to the defendant in that action (Mr. White) that Respondent had filed a notice of satisfaction in the case. In the Dixon matter, Respondent represented to her client that she had drafted an affidavit when she had not done so. In the Bradley-Topping matter, Respondent told her client that she would file an amended divorce complaint to include grounds of desertion, but she did not do so. She also falsely told Ms. Bradley-Topping that she had prepared a draft settlement. In regards to the Alsobrooks complaint, during her hearing on charges of driving under the influence, Respondent misrepresented to the court that she had no prior convictions.
The last listed violation involved a 2004 DUI conviction
On March 31, 2013, Maryland State Police found Respondent in her vehicle, crashed into a roadside ditch. Respondent failed a field sobriety test and was charged with
DUI, reckless driving, and driving on a suspended license. On March 20, 2014, Respondent appeared in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County on those charges, and, when asked by the court whether she had any prior criminal convictions, she lied, replying “no” despite her previous DUI conviction. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to unsupervised probation before judgment.
The State’s Attorney’s Office for Prince George’s County, upon discovering the falsehood, filed a motion to strike the judgment; the motion was granted. The State’s
Attorney also notified Bar Counsel of this matter, who docketed a complaint against Respondent and sent a letter to her home and office notifying her and seeking information. Respondent requested a ten-day extension of time to respond, which was granted. Respondent failed to respond before the extended deadline.
The court found a failure to cooperate with the disciplinary process
The hearing judge concluded, and we agree, that Respondent violated Rule 8.1(b) as to all seven complaints constituting this case. Respondent failed to provide any substantive response to Bar Counsel’s reasonable requests for information in all seven matters. In addition, Respondent directly refused to provide her banking institution’s name to Bar Counsel’s investigator when she stated “[y]ou’re the investigator, you figure it out.”
And concluded
Respondent violated numerous rules repeatedly and seemingly without remorse. She failed utterly to cooperate with Bar Counsel in the disciplinary process. And, she exhibited a disturbing pattern of dishonesty, individual instances of which could warrant disbarment on their own. See, e.g., Attorney Grievance Comm’n v. Peters-Hamlin, 447 Md. 520, 547-49 (2016) (restating the proposition that disbarment ordinarily is the sanction for an intentional violation of MLRPC 8.4(c) (dishonesty)). Accompanied, however, by so many violations of the MLRPC, the sanction here is abundantly clear—disbarment is the only appropriate outcome.
(Mike Frisch)