Bad Son And Brother

A recent Hearing Board report and recommendation from Illinois

Respondent acted as trustee of a trust his mother  established, to provide for her care during her lifetime and for distribution of  any remaining trust assets equally between Respondent and his siblings after her  death. Over a five-year period, which began while his mother was alive and  continued after she died, Respondent took more than $360,000 from the trust,  without authority. Respondent had not repaid any of this money, even though two  of his siblings filed a lawsuit, to which Respondent initially did not respond,  and obtained a judgment against Respondent.

In the other matter, Respondent allegedly failed to  properly communicate with a client he represented in a civil lawsuit and pursue  that case after trial. In his response to the ARDC’s initial inquiry into that  matter and in his sworn statement to the ARDC, Respondent made false statements.

The Hearing Board found Respondent acted  dishonestly in taking the funds from the trust, conduct which warranted  professional discipline. In relation to the lawsuit against Respondent, the  Hearing Board found the Administrator did not prove misconduct, as the evidence  did not show Respondent’s behavior actually prejudiced the administration of  justice and Respondent was acting solely as a party to the lawsuit.

The client Respondent represented in the civil  lawsuit did not testify. Consequently, the Hearing Board did not find sufficient  evidence to support any findings of misconduct as to that matter. The Hearing  Board found, however, that Respondent’s statements to the ARDC about that case  were false and Respondent knew they were false.

The Hearing Board recommended that Respondent be  suspended for two years and until he satisfied the judgment against him in the  civil case brought by his siblings.

The board rejected a sanction imposed of suspension until further court order

From our perspective, the evidence presented as to  Respondent’s mental health condition did not warrant a suspension until further  order. The personal losses Respondent experienced, while significant, occurred  in 2010 to 2011. No mental health symptoms were reported before fall 2010. By  that time, Respondent had been misappropriating funds from the Moran trust for  well over three years. The evidence did not indicate any genuine causal  relationship between Respondent’s mental health condition and his misconduct;  the evidence of any link at all was inconclusive, at best. Further, the evidence did  not provide real grounds on which to believe Respondent’s mental functioning was  currently impaired. From Dr. Henry’s observations, Respondent’s memory and  abstract reasoning were intact. Respondent reported he had returned to normal  functioning by 2012 or 2013, after receiving treatment.

We recommend Respondent’s suspension also continue  until he makes restitution.

(Mike Frisch)