In re Complaint as to the Conduct of Bevans

695 P.2d 41, 298 Or. 583, 1985 Ore. LEXIS 1003
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 29, 1985
DocketOSB 82-86; SC S30851
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 695 P.2d 41 (In re Complaint as to the Conduct of Bevans) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Complaint as to the Conduct of Bevans, 695 P.2d 41, 298 Or. 583, 1985 Ore. LEXIS 1003 (Or. 1985).

Opinion

PER CURIAM

This is a disciplinary case in which the accused, Russell D. Bevans, is charged by the Oregon State Bar with violations of DR 5-101(A), DR 5-105(A) and DR 5-105(B) of the Code of Professional Responsibility.1 The Bar’s complaint contained three causes arising from the accused’s participation in a series of three loan transactions between Douglas Bowen (Bowen) of All-Risk Management, Inc. (All-Risk), the lender, and John M. Wendel (Wendel), the borrower, both of whom the accused had represented previously. Also involved in the loan transactions were George and Marjorielee Renfro (the Renfros), Wendel’s grandparents-in-law, who provided the security for the loans.

The violations alleged in the Bar’s complaint are in relevant part as follows:

“For the FIRST CAUSE OF COMPLAINT * * *
“VI.
“On or about March 30, 1981, the Accused prepared, and the parties signed, a promissory note and trust deed securing a loan of $20,000 made by All-Risk to Wendel. The obligors/ grantors in this transaction were George and Marjorielee Renfro (‘Renfros’), Wendel’s in-laws, whose real property was being used to secure the loan.
[586]*586“VIL
“The Accused failed to clarify who he represented in the transaction described in paragraph VI above, attempting to act as scrivener in preparing the loan documents. By virtue of his status as a creditor of Wendel and because participants in the transaction were clients of the Accused, the Accused’s involvement in the transaction constituted a conflict of interest. Disclosures of the conflict of interest, if any, made by the Accused to his clients were insufficient for the clients to give an informed consent to the conflict. The Accused could not adequately represent the interests of multiple clients in this transaction.
“VIII.
“The aforesaid conduct of the Accused was and is unethical and in violation of the standards of professional conduct established by law and by the Oregon State Bar, to wit:
“(1) DR5-10KA);
“(2) DR 5-105 (A).
“AND, for its SECOND CAUSE OF COMPLAINT against the accused, the Oregon State Bar alleges:
<£* * * * *
“X.
“On or about May 28,1981, the Accused prepared, and the parties signed, additional loan documents including a promissory note, trust deed and security agreement securing a further loan of approximately $32,500 made by All-Risk to Wendel. Wendel, the Renfros and one of Wendel’s corporations were obligors in this transaction and a mobile home owned by the Renfros was utilized as additional security.
“XI.
“The accused failed to clarify who he represented in the transaction described in paragraph X above, attempting to act as scrivener in preparing the loan documents. By virtue of his status as a creditor of Wendel and because participants in the transaction were clients of the Accused, the Accused’s involvement in the transaction constituted a conflict of interest. Disclosures of the conflict of interest, if any, made by the Accused to his clients were insufficient for the clients to give an informed consent to the conflict. The Accused could not adequately represent the interests of multiple clients in this transaction.
[587]*587“XII.
“The aforesaid conduct of the Accused was and is unethical and in violation of the standards of professional conduct established by law and by the Oregon State Bar, to wit:
“(1) DR5-101(A);
“(2) DR 5-105(A) and (B).
“AND, for its THIRD CAUSE OF COMPLAINT against the Accused, the Oregon State Bar alleges:
«* * * * *
“On or about July 10,1981, the Accused prepared, and the parties signed, a loan agreement between All-Risk as creditor and Wendel, the Renfros and one of Wendel’s corporations as debtors, wherein the total amount owed by the debtors to All-Risk was increased to $95,387.80, and all obligations, covenants and security of the previous loan transactions were affirmed and incorporated into the agreement for this higher loan balance.
“XV.
“The loan agreement signed on July 10, 1981 contained a disclaimer that the Accused’s firm was only representing All-Risk in the transaction and a disclosure of a possible conflict of interest because of the Accused’s status as a creditor of Wendel and as attorney for some of the parties in other matters. However, the disclaimer and disclosure were insufficient for the parties to know of the limitation of the Accused’s representation in the transaction or for the parties to give an informed consent to these conflicts or to the conflict between the parties’ respective interests. The Accused could not adequately represent the interests of multiple clients in this transaction.
“XVI.
“The aforesaid conduct of the Accused was and is unethical and in violation of the standards of professional conduct established by law and by the Oregon State Bar, to wit:
“(1) DR 5-101(A);
“(2) DR 5-105(A) and (B).”

From our review of the record we find that in early 1981, the accused was engaged by Wendel to form two Oregon [588]*588corporations, International Diamond Exchange Corp. (International Diamond) and National Forestry Services, Inc. The accused did the legal work to form both corporations and, in doing so, was appointed registered agent for service of process for International Diamond. In March 1981, after the legal work was done to form these corporations, Wendel approached the accused seeking a loan of $5,000. The funds purportedly were to be used by Wendel to enter a very profitable diamond transaction. The accused agreed to loan Wendel the $5,000 for six weeks. The accused informed Wendel that, because of the personal loan, he would be unable to represent Wendel until the loan was repaid.2 On March 19, 1981, the accused loaned Wendel $5,000 evidenced by a promissory note which remained unpaid at the time of the disciplinary hearings in this case. A few days later, Wendel again approached the accused, this time seeking $20,000 for a similar “diamond deal.” After conferring with other members of the law firm of which he was then a member, the accused decided not to loan Wendel the additional funds, but referred him to a number of persons whom he knew to have made such loans in the past.

One of the persons suggested to Wendel as a possible loan source was Bowen, a client of the accused for some time before the accused met Wendel.3 Wendel applied to Bowen’s corporation, All-Risk, for the $20,000 loan. While All-Risk initially tried to broker the loan to other lenders, that process proved too slow for Wendel. After negotiations, Wendel and Bowen agreed that All-Risk would loan the money to Wendel. At this point Bowen and Wendel agreed that the accused should draw up the loan paperwork.

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Bluebook (online)
695 P.2d 41, 298 Or. 583, 1985 Ore. LEXIS 1003, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-complaint-as-to-the-conduct-of-bevans-or-1985.