In re Disciplinary Proceedings Against Weber

446 N.W.2d 281, 151 Wis. 2d 788, 1989 Wisc. LEXIS 530
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 10, 1989
DocketNo. 89-0800-D
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 446 N.W.2d 281 (In re Disciplinary Proceedings Against Weber) 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 Weber, 446 N.W.2d 281, 151 Wis. 2d 788, 1989 Wisc. LEXIS 530 (Wis. 1989).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Attorney disciplinary proceeding; attorney's license suspended.

We review the report of the referee recommending that the license of Curt Weber to practice law in Wisconsin be suspended for 90 days as discipline for neglect of three client matters, dishonesty and misrepresentation in one of them and failure to cooperate in the investigation of the Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility (Board) into these matters. We determine that the recommended 90-day license suspension is appropriate discipline for Attorney Weber's professional misconduct.

[789]*789Attorney Weber was admitted to practice law in Wisconsin in 1982 and practices in Milwaukee. In 1985 he received a private reprimand from the Board for neglect of a client's legal matter and misrepresentation to the client. Attorney Weber and the Board entered into a stipulation of facts on the basis of which the referee, Attorney Robert P. Harland, made the following findings and conclusions.

In 1987, Attorney Weber represented a man found guilty of three felonies and sentenced on February 20, 1987, to 27 years' imprisonment. The client contended that Attorney Weber had agreed to pursue an appeal on his behalf and, in May, 1987, the client wrote the trial judge that he had not communicated with Attorney Weber and inquired into the status of his appeal. The judge then wrote to Attorney Weber, suggesting he contact the client. The client also wrote to the Milwaukee Bar Association concerning his difficulty in reaching his attorney. A member of the association's staff then contacted Attorney Weber, who stated that he was representing the man and had filed an appeal.

On December 7, 1987, the client wrote to Attorney Weber about the status of the appeal and asked whether he had actually filed it, as the client had contacted the appellate court and been told there was no information that the appeal had been filed. Attorney Weber did not respond to the client's letter. On the same day the client wrote to the appellate court, in response to which the appellate court wrote that it had no record of the appeal.

On February 9, 1988, the client again wrote to the trial court inquiring into the status of his appeal. Two weeks later the court clerk's office contacted Attorney Weber and was told that he and the client were working on an appeal and had "new evidence." In subsequent communications, Attorney Weber told the client that he [790]*790had filed an appeal but did not know why the court had told the client there was no record of it.

Ultimately, Attorney Weber told the client that he had not filed an appeal but instead filed a motion for new trial on the basis of newly discovered evidence. He did not, however, respond to the client's request that he send him a copy of that motion. On June 9, 1988, the client filed a pro se motion in the trial court for an extension of time to file an appeal, which was denied for lack of jurisdiction.

After the client filed a grievance with the Board, Attorney Weber told Board staff that it had always been his intention to file a post-conviction motion rather than an appeal. He also stated that his client had given him names of witnesses to an exculpatory conversation among several jail inmates, including the client's two co-defendants. Although the client said that he had given Attorney Weber the names of these witnesses before the criminal trial began, more than 16 months earlier, Attorney Weber told Board staff that he had not yet contacted the witnesses, although he had located some of them in the correctional system and was making arrangements to meet with them.

During the course of the Board's investigation of this matter, Attorney Weber did not respond to two letters of inquiry, but he did appear at the Board's office in October, 1988 in response to a Notice to Appear served on him. He offered no explanation or excuse for his failure to respond to the Board's inquiries and failed to bring with him the necessary client files specified in the Notice to Appear. At the conclusion of that appearance, the Board directed Attorney Weber to deliver additional client files within five days. When he failed to do so, Board staff sent him a reminder to deliver the additional files and subsequently sent a confirming letter to [791]*791that effect. Attorney Weber never produced the requested files.

On the basis of these facts, the referee concluded that Attorney Weber's failure to pursue an appeal or pursue post-conviction remedies for his client from February, 1987 to October, 1988 constituted neglect of the client's legal matter, in violation of SCR 20.32(3),1 and that his statements to his client and others that the appeal had been filed, when he knew the facts to be otherwise, constituted conduct involving dishonesty and misrepresentation, in violation of SCR 20.04(4).2 The referee also concluded that Attorney Weber's failure to respond to Board inquiries and provide documents requested during the investigation constituted failure to cooperate with the Board, in violation of SCR 22.07(2) and 21.03(4).3

[792]*792In another matter, Attorney Weber represented a woman in a divorce action that resulted in a judgment of divorce being granted on April 21, 1986. Three months later the client contacted Attorney Weber concerning the findings of fact, conclusions of law and judgment, as she had not received a copy of them and was aware that they were to be filed within 30 days of the granting of the divorce. Attorney Weber told her he would make inquiry to the court.

The client again contacted Attorney Weber in October concerning the matter and he told her he had looked into it and that she should be receiving the documents within two weeks. Thereafter, the client made several attempts to contact Attorney Weber but failed to reach him until late December, when he told her that delays in receiving copies of the documents were not unusual and that he would contact her within the next week, but he did not do so.

In February, 1987, the client went to the courthouse to check the files and was told there was no record of findings or a judgment having been filed in the case. The client thereafter attempted to reach Attorney Weber several times, but he did not return her telephone calls.

In response to the client's grievance, Attorney Weber told the Board that after the client had contacted him in July, he was told by the clerk of court that the original judgment could not be located. He stated that in late January or early February of 1987 he prepared additional copies of the judgment and had the judgment signed by the court and delivered to the clerk for filing. The judgment was ultimately filed on February 20,1987.

[793]*793During the Board's investigation of this client's grievance, Attorney Weber failed to respond to a written request for information and his response to a second request did not address all of the matters raised. When he failed to respond to three written requests for additional information, the Board notified him that he would receive a Notice to Appear unless he responded. Attorney Weber then delivered his response in person and, in a subsequent meeting with the Board, stated that he had no excuse for failing to respond to the Board's written requests for information.

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Related

In the Matter of Disciplinary Proceedings Against Weber
579 N.W.2d 229 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1998)
In re Disciplinary Proceedings Against Weber
468 N.W.2d 12 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1991)

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Bluebook (online)
446 N.W.2d 281, 151 Wis. 2d 788, 1989 Wisc. LEXIS 530, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-disciplinary-proceedings-against-weber-wis-1989.