No Second Disbarment
The Maryland Court of Appeals has imposed an indefinite suspension (rather than disbarment sought by Bar Counsel) of an attorney who previously had been disbarred and reinstated
Respondent was admitted to the Maryland Bar in 1974. In 1979, after a five-year stint as an Assistant State’s Attorney, Respondent transitioned to private practice. On June 4, 1990, Respondent was convicted of money laundering and transporting stolen goods…
Since his reinstatement, Respondent has handled exclusively debt collection cases, representing homeowner associations, small businesses, and bail bondsmen. In one such matter, Respondent assisted Kingswood in collecting past due condominium fees from several condominium unit owners.
Misconduct
Those charges arise from misleading complaints Respondent filed with the District Court of Maryland sitting in Baltimore County while representing the Council of Unit Owners of Kingswood Commons, Inc. (“Kingswood”), a homeowners’ association, in several debt collection cases. Specifically, Respondent inflated the damages sought on the complaint form by thirty percent without separately indicating, as the form requires, that this increase constituted his attorney’s fees.
Was uncovered
In 2016, Kingswood terminated Respondent’s representation and replaced him with Brian Fellner, Esq. (“Fellner”). Fellner discovered that Respondent did not timely remit several payments he collected for Kingswood. Fellner then filed a complaint with Petitioner, alleging that Respondent’s delay was unwarranted. Bar Counsel investigated and determined that Respondent was also inflating the amount of damages sought in his court filings, and that he failed to rectify the issue once it was called to his attention. Petitioner concluded that such conduct violated MLRPC 3.3 and 8.4, among other charged violations.
On the bright side
During the hearing on his conduct, Respondent “candidly admitted” that he made a mistake, and he “denied any intent to deceive the court.” He testified that he only sought to collect that which was rightfully owed to him based on his fee agreement with Kingswood.
The hearing judge found, as a matter of fact, that Respondent’s testimony was credible and that Respondent never intended to make a false statement to the District Court. The hearing judge was persuaded by the fact that Respondent did not personally benefit from his conduct. The judge was also swayed by Respondent’s sincere remorse and his implementation of new office procedures to prevent those issues from reoccurring.
Bar Counsel excepted on the law, not the facts
Based on the record and the above-summarized findings of fact, the hearing judge concluded that Petitioner failed to demonstrate, by clear and convincing evidence, that
Respondent violated MLRPC 3.3(a)(1) and 8.4 (a), (c), and (d). As noted at the outset, Petitioner has filed exceptions to the hearing judge’s conclusions of law.
The court sustained the exceptions
Based upon our independent review of the record, we disagree with the hearing judge’s legal conclusions and hold that Respondent violated MLRPC 3.3(a)(1) and 8.4(a), (c), and (d).
Because
Respondent testified that he reviewed each complaint to ensure its accuracy before filing it with the court. He further testified that he “knew what the attorney’s fees were,” that he “knew what the division was going to be subsequent to the payment of the judgment” ($6,912 for the debt and $2,208 for attorney’s fees), and that those figures “should have been separated.” (Emphasis added). Yet, despite this knowledge, Respondent did not separate those figures on the complaint forms he filed with the District Court, and he did not file corrected forms thereafter, even after this issue was called to his attention. It follows that Respondent knowingly submitted false information to the court—that the underlying debt was $9,120, when, in fact, it was only $6,912—which he failed ever to correct. Consequently, clear and convincing evidence demonstrates that Respondent violated MLRPC 3.3(a)(1)…
We have long held that concealment of material facts constitutes an MLRPC 8.4(c) violation.
But a second disbarment was not imposed
Although Respondent may not have acted with a selfish motive or harmed any client, neither negates the fact that he knowingly submitted false information to the court, which any reasonable attorney with his extensive experience handling debt collection matters would have known to avoid. See Attorney Grievance Comm’n v. Hodes, 441 Md. 136, 208 (2014) (highlighting an attorney’s substantial experience in a specific field of law as the basis for a more severe sanction). Furthermore, unlike in Poverman and Robaton, Respondent’s disciplinary record is severely blemished by his previous disbarment. Accordingly, the indefinite suspension we impose here will adequately protect the public by “send[ing] the message to the legal community and the public at large that this Court [will not tolerate] this type of conduct.” Dore, 433 Md. at 727. The suspension will begin thirty days after the filing date of this decision. Respondent will be eligible to apply for reinstatement no sooner than six months after his suspension takes effect.
(Mike Frisch)