Converted To Disbarred

The Georgia Supreme Court has disbarred an attorney

The facts, as deemed admitted by Snipes’s default, are as follows. A client retained Snipes to represent him in connection with an automobile accident on a contingency fee basis. In March 2016, without the client’s authorization or knowledge, Snipes settled the case with the other driver’s insurance company for $300,000. The insurance company sent the settlement checks (one for $250,000 and the other for $50,000), which were made payable to the client and Snipes, directly to the client, who did not know that Snipes had settled the case. The client contacted Snipes, who admitted that he had settled the case. Snipes reminded the client that Snipes was owed attorney fees and needed to pay the client’s outstanding medical bills. At Snipes’s direction, the client endorsed the settlement checks and surrendered them to Snipes. Snipes gave the client a check for $170,000 from his attorney trust account and, in a letter dated March 11, 2016, promised to pay the client’s outstanding medical bills and his attorney fees from the remaining $130,000 of the settlement funds. Snipes never paid any of the $130,000 to medical providers on the client’s behalf, nor did he otherwise account to the client for the funds. Instead, he converted the funds to his own personal use.

(Mike Frisch)