Making Matters Worse

The New Jersey Supreme Court imposed a six-month suspension of an associate attorney who had mishandled a claim against the clients’ investment advisor/broker and got his law firm sued for malpractice without advising the firm.

From the Disciplinary Review Board report and recommendation

In January 2016, the court entered a default judgment against respondent and [his firm] PC&W for damages and costs totaling $453,583. Respondent concealed the default judgment from Peluso and the law firm. Thereafter, respondent was served with subpoenas seeking post-judgment discovery, including information about PC&W’s bank accounts, but he concealed the subpoenas from Peluso. Instead, he furnished the Dunphys’ attorney with PC&W’s operating and payroll bank account information, without revealing to Peluso or PC&W that he had done so.

On June 23, 2016, Peluso received a notice in respect of a writ of execution that had been placed on PC&W’s operating and payroll accounts. When Peluso questioned respondent about the levy, he replied that “[i]t was the first [he] heard about it.” When asked whether he had been served with a complaint against PC&W and failed to answer it, respondent replied, “Not that I can recall.”

After Peluso pressed for more information, respondent finally admitted having intentionally concealed the malpractice action and default judgment against PC&W. He also admitted having deposited $3,500 of his own funds into the law firm operating account to cover checks that otherwise would have been returned for insufficient funds due to the levy.

The District Ethics Committee had proposed a reprimand

The DEC noted that, had respondent’s misconduct spanned multiple matters, or, had he forged court documents, a censure might have been warranted.

If it was my associate that did this, I’d think the DEC was – to put it mildly – a tad too understanding.

The DRB on sanction

For respondent’s prolonged, serious, and harmful dishonest and deceitful actions, spanning a period of ten (10) years, we determine that a six-month suspension is warranted.
Vice-Chair Clark and Member Boyer voted for a three-month suspension. Member Gallipoli voted for a one-year suspension.

(Mike Frisch)