Idaho State Bar v. Tway

919 P.2d 323, 128 Idaho 794, 1996 Ida. LEXIS 76
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedJune 18, 1996
DocketNo. 21691
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 919 P.2d 323 (Idaho State Bar v. Tway) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Idaho State Bar v. Tway, 919 P.2d 323, 128 Idaho 794, 1996 Ida. LEXIS 76 (Idaho 1996).

Opinion

SCHROEDER, Justice.

This is an attorney discipline ease. A hearing committee of the Professional Conduct Board (Hearing Committee) has recommended that William J. Tway be disbarred for professional misconduct. Tway objects to the Hearing Committee’s Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Recommendation for Discipline. This Court reviews the matter pursuant to Rule 511(o) of the Idaho Bar Commission Rules (I.B.C.R.).

I.

BACKGROUND AND PRIOR PROCEEDINGS

The charges of professional misconduct stem from Tway’s representation of Leland Shipley who contacted Tway to represent him in a possible police brutality action against the Boise Police Department in August of 1989. Tway informed Shipley that he would be interested in taking the case if a police brutality expert determined that the case was valid. Tway then told Shipley he would have to pay a $2,500.00 cost advance, which would include the funds necessary to retain the expert.

Shipley’s $2,500.00 cost advance was deposited on August 10,1989, into a client trust account managed by Tway and his former partner. On August 11 and August 15,1989, Tway wrote two checks from the trust account which brought the balance below the amount which should have been in trust for Shipley. Neither of the checks pertained to Shipley’s case. In late August of 1989 Tway’s partner contacted a police brutality expert on Shipley’s behalf and subsequently paid the expert a $500.00 retainer fee. The fee was not paid from the client trust account.

Tway and his former partner dissolved their partnership as of January 1, 1990. Although Tway’s former partner was present during Shipley’s initial meeting with Tway and contacted the expert on Shipley’s behalf, Shipley considered Tway to be his lawyer. When the partnership dissolved, Shipley’s case was retained by Tway. After the dissolution of the partnership, the balance of Tway’s client trust account was consistently below the amount which should have been in trust for Shipley alone. In the spring of 1991 Tway asked Shipley for permission to transfer the balance of his funds to Nevada where they would make more interest. Shipley agreed, provided the funds would be safe.

On August 29,1989, Tway filed a Notice of Tort Claim with the City of Boise on Ship-ley’s behalf, and on September 13, 1989, he forwarded copies of Shipley’s medical reports to the City’s insurance carrier. Tway took no other action in furtherance of Shipley’s [796]*796claim until March of 1992, although Shipley made telephone calls and visits to Tway inquiring about the status of the case during this time. Representatives of St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, which had an agreement for payment of its medical bills from Shipley and Tway, also, made numerous telephone calls to Tway regarding the status of Shipley’s case. The Hearing Committee found that in the interim between August 29, 1989 and March of 1992, Tway repeatedly assured Shipley that the case was “progressing,” despite the fact that Tway had not taken further steps to advance Shipley’s claim.

On March 25, 1992, Tway filed a claim in district court on behalf of Shipley. Counsel for the city sent Tway a letter stating that it was her belief that the claim was governed by a two year statute of limitations and was barred. The letter enclosed a copy of Henderson v. State, 110 Idaho 308, 715 P.2d 978, cert. denied, 477 U.S. 907, 106 S.Ct. 3282, 91 L.Ed.2d 571 (1986), in which this Court held that the two-year statute of limitations contained in section 5-219(4) of the Idaho Code applied to claims filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983. Henderson, 110 Idaho at 311, 715 P.2d at 981. Tway agreed to dismiss the complaint if the legal authority was correct.

Other than reviewing the annotations under section 5-218 of the Idaho Code, Tway had not consulted any of the Section 1983 treatises which he had in his office and had not Shepardized the cases he relied on regarding the statute of limitations before filing the claim. After learning from opposing counsel that the claim was governed by a two-year rather than a three-year statute of limitations, the record does not reveal whether Tway conducted any further research regarding the issue. The case was dismissed for inaction in January of 1993.

In late June or early July of 1992, prior to dismissal of the action, Shipley and his wife went to Tway’s office to confront him regarding the status of the case. The Shipleys were concerned because another attorney had indicated to Shipley that the statute of limitations may have expired. Tway told the Shipleys not to worry, because there was a three-year statute of limitations. Shipley also inquired as to where his trust deposit was located. Tway declined to tell Shipley where his money was, stating that he (Ship-ley) didn’t want to know where it was, because he would not approve of what was being done with it.

On or about August 20, 1992, Tway contacted Shipley and asked him to meet him so that he could return the trust account funds. Tway gave Shipley a check refunding the $2,500.00 deposit, minus the $500.00 fee for the expert, $53.00 for a filing fee, and $45.00 for process service, plus $289.00 in interest. The check was drawn on an unidentified woman’s account, not Tway’s trust account.

On July 20, 1993, the Idaho State Bar (Bar) filed a complaint with the Board of Professional Conduct alleging that Tway committed three (3) counts of professional misconduct and requesting that Tway be disbarred. Count I alleges that Tway violated I.R.P.C. 1.31 by failing to file a claim on his client’s behalf until nearly one year past the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations. Count II alleges that Tway violated I.R.P.C. 1.42 and I.R.P.C. 8.4(c)3 by repeatedly reassuring his client regarding the status of his case despite the fact that no claim had been formally filed, which reassurance allegedly continued past the time when Tway learned that the applicable statute of limitations had expired. Count III alleges [797]*797that Tway also violated I.R.P.C. 1.154 and I.R.P.C. 8.4(c) when the balance of Tway’s client trust account fell below the minimum necessary to cover the unused balance of his client’s $2,500 trust deposit six days after the fee was deposited in the account.

Tway denied the material allegations of the complaint and requested that the complaint be dismissed.

The Hearing Committee heard the evidence and concluded that Tway: (1) violated I.R.P.C. 1.3 in that he failed to act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing his client by failing to timely file the complaint; he failed to move the case forward with reasonable promptness; and, he faded to undertake minimal research which would have disclosed the applicable statute of limitations based on then-existing Idaho and federal case law; (2) violated I.R.P.C. 1.4 by failing to keep his client reasonably informed regarding the status of his case and failing to promptly comply with reasonable requests for information; (3) violated I.R.P.C. 8.4(c) by misrepresenting the status of his client’s case to' his client; (4) violated I.R.P.C.

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Bluebook (online)
919 P.2d 323, 128 Idaho 794, 1996 Ida. LEXIS 76, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/idaho-state-bar-v-tway-idaho-1996.