In re Davisson

969 P.2d 892, 266 Kan. 395, 1998 Kan. LEXIS 822
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedDecember 11, 1998
DocketNo. 81,427
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 969 P.2d 892 (In re Davisson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Davisson, 969 P.2d 892, 266 Kan. 395, 1998 Kan. LEXIS 822 (kan 1998).

Opinion

Per Curiam:

This is an original proceeding in discipline filed by the office of the Disciplinary Administrator against Russell W. Davisson, of Wichita, an attorney admitted to the practice of law in the state of Kansas.

The formal complaint filed against respondent contained six counts, alleging violations of MRPC 1.1 (1998 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 279); MRPC 1.3 (1998 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 288); MRPC 1.4(a) and (b) (1998 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 296); MRPC 3.4(c) (1998 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 357); and MRPC 8.4(c) (1998 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 386). Respondent filed an answer.

A hearing before the panel of the Kansas Board for Discipline of Attorneys was held on February 24, 1998, in Topeka, Kansas. Respondent appeared in person and by his counsel, Daniel J. Sevart.

The present complaint arises out of respondent’s being retained to represent Rowana Willrich, now Rowana Gulley, in several matters evolving out of an automobile accident. The panel made the following findings of fact:

“3. On August 15, 1992, Gulley had an automobile accident at Joe’s Car Wash, 206 North Seneca, Wichita, Kansas. She made a left turn across traffic into the car wash driveway and collided with a concrete abutment located on the property of Joe’s Car Wash. Gulley was hurt, the Blazer was damaged and property at Joe’s Car Wash was damaged, as well. The Blazer was towed by Arrow Wrecking Service and left at their storage facility. [Gulley] made a claim with her own insurance company, Farm Bureau, to pay for property damage. When Farm Bureau learned [396]*396there was a discrepancy in the vehicle identification numbers on the insurance application and on the actual vehicle, it denied coverage and refused to pay for the property damage, although it did pay PIP benefits and some costs of a rental vehicle. Gulley retained Davisson to represent her in all matters concerning her vehicle and the personal injury she suffered as a result of the accident.
“4. When Gulley did not make any more payments on the promissory note due on the Blazer, that note was recoursed back to Scholfield Brothers, Inc., the automobile dealer which sold the car to Gulley. In 1993, Scholfield Brothers, Inc. sued Gulley in a civil action entitled Scholfield Brothers, Inc. v. Rowana W. Willrich, Case No. 93 C 311, filed in the District Court of the Eighteenth Judicial District of Kansas (the Scholfield lawsuit). Davisson entered his appearance on behalf of Gulley and filed a counterclaim against Scholfield, contending that the Blazer was defective due to acceleration problems and that this defect caused the accident.
“5. On October 21, 1993, Scholfield Brothers, Inc. filed its Pretrial Questionnaire. The questionnaire alleges that all of the defendant’s claims and defenses should be barred as a result of the defendant’s failure to cooperate in discovery. Pages 3 and 4 of the Pretrial Questionnaire contain the following allegations:
‘On or about August 12, 1993, Scholfield filed a motion for extension of time to conduct discovery or in the alternative [for] dismissal of defendant’s claims. The motion came on for hearing before the Honorable Ron Rogg on August 20, 1993. At the hearing of said motion, the Court entered orders which required the defendant to submit her response to Scholfield’s Statement of Monetary Damages, interrogatories, and production of documents by August 23,1993. The Court further ordered that defendant submit an automotive expert witness report on or before September 15, 1993, or no expert would be allowed to testify, the second time which this date has been extended. In addition, the jury trial scheduled in this case was continued to December 7, 1993. To date, defendant has not responded to Scholfield’s discovery requests despite being ordered to do so, nor has defendant submitted an automotive expert witness report.’
“6. The Scholfield lawsuit proceeded to bench trial on December 21, 1993. Because there was no evidence to support the claim that there was a defect in the Blazer which caused the accident, the judge rejected the counterclaim and entered judgment against Ms. Gulley in the amount of $13,360.64.
“7. Following the trial, Davisson promised Gulley that he would file a lawsuit against Farm Bureau to secure payment for the property damage to the Blazer (the Farm Bureau lawsuit). That lawsuit was not filed until November 3, 1995.
“8. During the time from December 27, 1993, to November 3, 1995, Gulley and her husband, Ed Gulley, continued to ask about the status of the lawsuit against Farm Bureau. Davisson repeatedly told them the lawsuit was on file, told Mr. Gulley that he would send out copies of the lawsuit to him in July 1995, reported that the copies must have been lost in the mail, stated to Mr. Gulley that [397]*397Farm Bureau was cutting a check, that he did not know the amount, and that he would call Mr. Gulley when it had arrived, and then told Mr. Gulley that perhaps the check was lost in the mail and that he wold follow up on it immediately.
“9. In truth, the Farm Bureau adjuster had made his last contact with Davisson on February 28,1995, when he wrote to Davisson and made an offer to settle the property damage claim in the amount of $2982.71. This offer was never communicated to Gulley.
“10. Davisson failed to communicate with Gulley concerning the placement of the Blazer at Arrow Wrecking after the accident. The Blazer remained at that location from the date of the accident with a result of substantial storage charges against the vehicle and the vehicle was eventually disposed of. The Gulleys received a certified letter from Arrow Wrecking regarding the vehicle and they gave that letter to Davisson who told them he would take care of it. He never did.
“11. Davisson failed to communicate with his client or make any attempt to provide for the payment of medical expenses and all of the rental expenses which arose as a result of the accident, with the result that said expenses had never been provided for.
“12. Davisson never caused a summons in the Farm Bureau lawsuit to be issued or service or process to be made.”

Respondent does not take exception to the final hearing report and stipulates to the following violations:

“1. Violations of Model Rule 1.3 regarding lack of due diligence in that he did not exercise due diligence in (a) completing discovery responses in providing a statement of monetary damages in a case brought by Scholfield Brothers, Inc., against Rowana Gulley, and (b) getting a lawsuit on file for Ms. Gulley against Farm Bureau Insurance in a timely manner.
“2. Violation of Model Rule 1.4 regarding communication, in that he did not adequately communicate with his clients in both the suit filed by Scholfield Brothers against Gulley and in the suit by Gulley against Farm Bureau Insurance.
“The panel consequently finds, by clear and convincing evidence, that Respondent committed these violations as stipulated.”

The hearing panel consequently concluded that respondent violated MRPC 1.3 (due diligence) and 1.4 (communication). The panel considered the following aggravating factors:

“Prior disciplinary offenses. Respondent received an informal admonition in 1987 for lack of diligence and, in

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Related

In re Davisson
15 P.3d 1174 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2001)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
969 P.2d 892, 266 Kan. 395, 1998 Kan. LEXIS 822, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-davisson-kan-1998.