Attorney Grievance Commission v. Woolery

175 A.3d 129, 456 Md. 483
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedDecember 15, 2017
Docket15ag/16
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 175 A.3d 129 (Attorney Grievance Commission v. Woolery) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Attorney Grievance Commission v. Woolery, 175 A.3d 129, 456 Md. 483 (Md. 2017).

Opinion

McDonald, J.

No one who has practiced law for any appreciable time can claim to have never made a mistake in that practice. A mistake in the practice of law is not necessarily professional misconduct. However, once aware of a mistake that harms another and given the opportunity to mitigate it, a lawyer who decides to do nothing may be guilty of misconduct.

Respondent Benjamin Woolery was appointed as personal representative for an estate that had a single asset—real property that had served as the decedent’s home. There were five heirs—adult children of the decedent—with different ideas as to how to dispose of that property. In handling this difficult estate, Mr. Woolery made a mistake. In preparing the property for sale, he came upon a tractor that had been stored there by one of the adult children. Without determining the tractor’s ownership or value, he impulsively sold it to an individual who happened to be present for what turned out to be a small fraction of the tractor’s actual value.

Shortly thereafter, Mr. Woolery became aware of his mistake. Mr. Woolery was promptly informed of the ownership and value of the tractor. Given the opportunity to remedy the situation, Mr. Woolery chose not to do so, apparently out of personal animus toward its owner. We hold that the choice that Mr. Woolery made was misconduct that merits a reprimand.

I

Background

A. Procedural Context

On June 24, 2016, the Attorney Grievance Commission (“Commission”) through Bar Counsel filed a Petition for Disciplinary or Remedial Action with this Court against Mr. Wool-ery. The Commission charged Mr. Woolery with violations of the following Maryland Lawyers’ Rules of Professional Conduct (“MLRPC”): 1.1 (Competence); 1.3 (Diligence); 1.7 (Conflict of Interest); 3.3 (Candor toward the Tribunal); and 8.4(a)-(d) (Misconduct). 1 On August 10, 2016, Mr. Woolery filed an answer to the petition in which he admitted most of the factual allegations, qualified his agreement with a few of them, and denied the conclusion of the petition that those facts constituted professional misconduct.

In accordance with Maryland Rule 19—722(a), we designated Judge Hassan A. El-Amin of the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County to conduct a hearing concerning the alleged violations and to provide findings of fact and recommended conclusions of law. 2 The hearing took place over three days on December 7-8, 2016 and January 13, 2017. At the hearing, the parties submitted a detailed stipulation of facts and introduced in evidence various documentary exhibits, including much of the record of Orphans’ Court and District Court proceedings related to the charges against Mr. Woolery. Several witnesses, including Mr. Woolery, testified.

On March 20, 2017, the hearing judge issued a memorandum opinion in which he made detailed findings of fact and recommended conclusions of law. In his recommended conclusions of law, the hearing judge concluded that Mr. Woolery violated MLRPC 8.4(d). The hearing judge found that the Commission failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that Mr. Woolery violated MLRPC 1.7, 3.3, and 8.4(a), (b), and (c). He also found in Mr. Woolery’s favor for the most part with respect to the alleged violations of MLRPC 1.1 and 1.3.

Neither party filed exceptions to the hearing judge’s findings of fact. Mr. Woolery filed exceptions to the hearing judge’s conclusions of law to the extent that the hearing judge found violations of the MLRPC. This Court held oral argument on September 6, 2017.

B. Facts

Neither party contests the hearing judge’s findings of fact and, accordingly, we treat those findings as established. Maryland Rule 19-741(b)(2)(A). We summarize those findings, along with the parties’ stipulations and admissions, and other matters uncontested in the record.

Mr. Woolery ⅛ Law Practice

Mr. Woolery has been a member of the Maryland Bar since December 1988. During the period pertinent to this case, Mr. Woolery was a junior partner in the firm of McGill and Woolery in Upper Marlboro. Mr. Woolery has had substantial experience in the field of estates and trusts law.

The Roy Chambers Estate

On July 3, 2006, Roy L. Chambers, Jr., a resident of Prince George’s County, passed away. His wife having predeceased him, Mr. Chambers was survived by five adult children: Carolyn Bowman, Mary Nicodemus, David Lee Chambers, Kenneth J. Chambers, and Thomas Chambers. Mr. Chambers had executed a will on January 23, 1986. According to Mr. Chambers’ will, his five surviving children were to receive equal shares of his residuary estate. A few days after Mr. Chambers’ death, the Register of Wills for Prince George’s County opened the Estate of Roy L. Chambers, Jr., Estate No. 00000007907.

Mr. Woolery becomes Personal Representative of the Estate

The estate had a succession of personal representatives, including two stints by Mr. Woolery. Initially, one of Mr. Chambers’ daughters—Carolyn Bowman—was appointed personal representative of the estate pursuant to the terms of the will. Mr. Woolery was appointed as a successor personal representative on December 13, 2007, until he was replaced by another attorney on April 28, 2008. 3 He was later reappointed as personal representative of the estate on March 18, 2010, and served until his final accounting in late 2016.

The Property of the Estate

When Mr. Woolery became personal representative of the estate for the second time, it had one asset—a parcel of real property that Mr. Chambers had owned free of any encumbrances at the time of his death. The property was located at 7301 Webster Lane, Fort Washington, Maryland 20744 (“the Webster Lane property”). The Webster Lane property consisted of 1.95 acres which was improved by a house, a garage with a residential apartment, and a large shed, Mr. Chambers and his wife had once resided in the house. Other than the Webster Lane property, the estate had no other assets. 4

The Family Dispute

A rift among the surviving children hindered the efforts of Mr. Woolery and the prior personal representatives to dispose of the Webster Lane property and close the estate. The heirs had split into two groups. One group, which the hearing judge referred to as the “Bowman Camp,” included Carolyn Bowman, Kenneth J. Chambers (who both lived in Michigan), and David Lee Chambers (who lived in Virginia). The Bowman Camp wanted to sell the property and split the proceeds of the property among all five children.

The other group, referred to as the “Nicodemus Camp,” included Mary Nicodemus and Thomas Chambers, who lived in Prince George’s County and Charles County, respectively.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
175 A.3d 129, 456 Md. 483, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/attorney-grievance-commission-v-woolery-md-2017.