In re Disciplinary Proceedings Against Sandy

561 N.W.2d 327, 208 Wis. 2d 375, 1997 Wisc. LEXIS 34
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedApril 16, 1997
DocketNo. 97-0623-D
StatusPublished

This text of 561 N.W.2d 327 (In re Disciplinary Proceedings Against Sandy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin 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 Disciplinary Proceedings Against Sandy, 561 N.W.2d 327, 208 Wis. 2d 375, 1997 Wisc. LEXIS 34 (Wis. 1997).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

¶ 1. We review the stipulation filed by the Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility (Board) pursuant to SCR 2l.09(3m)1 in which Attorney Michael B. Sandy stipulated to facts establishing his professional misconduct in several matters. The parties also stipulated to the violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Attorneys caused by that conduct and to a two-year license suspension, consecutive to the license suspension to which Attorney Sandy's license is currently subject, as discipline. The misconduct concerns Attorney Sandy's neglect of several client matters to which he was appointed by the State Public Defender (SPD), his neglect of other client matters, his failure to deposit into a trust account funds to which an investigator he had hired was entitled and to notify the investigator of his receipt of those funds and promptly deliver them to her, misrepresentation and dishonesty in statements to the SPD regarding the investigator's bill for services, making a false statement to a court and to his client regarding action he had taken on his client's behalf, failing to send client files to successor counsel, and not cooperat[377]*377ing with the Board's investigation of these and other matters.

¶ 2. We adopt the parties' stipulation of facts establishing that misconduct and the conclusions of law in respect to the rules it violated. We determine that the two-year license suspension to which the parties stipulated is appropriate discipline to impose for Attorney Sandy's numerous acts of professional misconduct in the course of his representation of clients, his handling of funds belonging to another, and his lack of cooperation with the court's disciplinary process.

¶ 3. Attorney Sandy was admitted to the practice of law in Wisconsin in 1989 and practiced in Milwaukee. The court suspended his license for one year, commencing June 3, 1996, as discipline for attempting to represent a person in a matter adverse to a client he was representing in a criminal matter, gaining access to a minor's confidential children's court file without court authorization by misrepresenting that he was the minor's attorney, misrepresenting to the court the source of his information regarding the minor's prior sexual assault allegations, failing to keep a client reasonably informed of the status of his case and refusing to take delivery of the client's certified letter, and using cocaine with a client. In addition, the court imposed conditions requiring Attorney Sandy to submit to random drug testing for two years. In re Disciplinary Proceedings Against Sandy, 200 Wis. 2d 529, 546 N.W.2d 876.

¶ 4. The misconduct to which the parties stipulated is the following. In March, 1995, when Attorney Sandy's client was released on bond on a criminal charge with the condition that he be monitored by electronic bracelet, the client told him he could not pay the cost of that monitoring and asked him to prepare the [378]*378necessary form to have that cost waived. Attorney Sandy told the client he would do so but never did, with the result that the client was assessed that cost. When he failed to return any of the client's numerous phone calls, the client sought new counsel. Attorney Sandy's failure to act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing this client violated SCR 20:1.3.2

¶ 5. A second matter concerned Attorney Sandy's representation of a client in an appeal from a criminal conviction, for which he was appointed by the SPD in February, 1991. Without consulting the client, Attorney Sandy notified the SPD that no court action was taken because there was no merit to any postconviction proceeding and the client agreed to have the case closed. Soon thereafter, the client wrote Attorney Sandy that, although success seemed unlikely, he wanted to pursue a sentence modification. The client then filed a motion pro se for an extension of time to file a notice of appeal, asserting that Attorney Sandy had not responded to his attempts to contact him.

¶ 6. The Court of Appeals held the client's motion in abeyance and ordered Attorney Sandy to file a response. In that response, Attorney Sandy stated that he understood the client had agreed to his closing the file. The client responded to a subsequent Court of Appeals order that he wanted Attorney Sandy to assist him in filing a sentence modification motion. The Court of Appeals ordered Attorney Sandy to remain counsel of record and take appropriate steps to pursue a post-conviction motion for sentence modification. The SPD wrote Attorney Sandy that he should file any motion he [379]*379believed had arguable merit or, if he found none, he should file a no merit report. Attorney Sandy took no action and did not respond to numerous letters from the client over the next five years.

¶ 7. The client ultimately wrote the SPD in March, 1996 concerning Attorney Sandy's failure to act, and other counsel was assigned to represent him. The Court of Appeals then dismissed Attorney Sandy as appellate counsel, imposed a $500 penalty on him for failing to comply with its orders, and extended the time for the client's new counsel to file a notice of appeal or a no merit report. When Attorney Sandy failed to pay the penalty timely, the Court of Appeals found him in contempt, and Attorney Sandy paid the penalty within the time provided for purging the contempt. Attorney Sandy's failure to pursue or file a request for sentence modification or a no merit report and his failure to take timely action in accordance with the Court of Appeals orders violated SCR 20:1.3.

¶ 8. In a third matter, Attorney Sandy sent to the SPD for payment a bill for services of a private investigator he had hired in the spring of 1995 in a client's criminal matter. The SPD remitted payment to Attorney Sandy of his attorney fees and the $1107 investigator fee September 21, 1995, and Attorney Sandy deposited the entire payment into his personal bank account, not into a trust account. Attorney Sandy told the investigator he had received payment of her bill and would send her a check immediately, but when the investigator received no payment, she began telephoning him, leaving numerous messages on his answering machine. Attorney Sandy did not respond to any of her calls.

¶ 9. On October 16, 1995, the Internal Revenue Service levied against Attorney Sandy's personal bank [380]*380account, which included the funds belonging to the investigator. When the investigator again asked him for payment, Attorney Sandy sent her a check for $100, informed her of the IRS levy, and promised to pay her the remaining amount in full as soon as he was able. Attorney Sandy did not respond to the investigator's subsequent requests over the next six weeks that he make regular payments on the amount owing and that he verify the tax levy.

10. In January, 1996, Attorney Sandy sent the SPD a check for the remaining amount to which the investigator was entitled, asking it to make that payment to her because he "in good conscience" could not do so because he believed her bill was inflated and exceeded the amount the SPD had authorized. Prior to that letter, Attorney Sandy never had questioned any of the amounts specified in the investigator's bills during his conversations, correspondence, and dealings with her, nor had he indicated that she had not earned payment in full of the services she asserted.

¶ 11.

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Related

In the Matter of Disciplinary Proceedings Against Sandy
546 N.W.2d 876 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1996)

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Bluebook (online)
561 N.W.2d 327, 208 Wis. 2d 375, 1997 Wisc. LEXIS 34, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-disciplinary-proceedings-against-sandy-wis-1997.