In re Pilgreen

896 P.2d 389, 257 Kan. 949, 1995 Kan. LEXIS 70
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedJune 2, 1995
DocketNo. 73,381
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 896 P.2d 389 (In re Pilgreen) 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 Pilgreen, 896 P.2d 389, 257 Kan. 949, 1995 Kan. LEXIS 70 (kan 1995).

Opinion

Per Curiam:

This is an original proceeding in discipline filed by the office of the Disciplinary Administrator against respondent Terry C. Pilgreen, an attorney admitted to the practice of law in Kansas. The complaint filed in case No. B5823 was heard before a panel of the Kansas Board for Discipline of Attorneys. The essential facts, as determined by the panel, and the panel’s recommended discipline are not in dispute. Pilgreen has stipulated to the violations as alleged in the formal complaint and to the violations of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct as set forth in the complaint. Pilgreen and his counsel admitted and acknowledged the same before the panel.

Case No. B5823

The formal complaint charged:

“2. In July or August of 1991, the complainant, Larry M. Pollock, retained the respondent, Terry C. Pilgreen, to represent the complainant in an oil and gas problem. The complainant owned land in Pratt County, Kansas. He believed that the oil and gas leaseholder on the property was diverting gas from the lease without metering die amount diverted. The complainant requested that the respondent investigate this matter and take whatever action was necessary to cancel the lease if the allegations were true.
“3. In May of 1992, the respondent told the complainant that a case had been filed and that he had applied for a court date to have the matter heard. In October of 1992, the complainant came to Kansas to check on the matter and was told by the respondent that a court date was set for March of 1993. While in Kansas the complainant checked in Pratt County to see if the case was on the docket. No case was on the docket. The complainant called the respondent and was told that [950]*950the action had been filed in Sedgwick County, Kansas. None of these statements made by the respondent to the complainant were true. At the time the statements .were made, no action had been filed on behalf of the complainant by the respondent.
“4. In March of 1993, the complainant called the respondent to ask when he needed to be in Wichita for the court proceedings. The complainant was informed by the respondent that the respondent had filed a Motion for Summary Judgment and that there would be no court appearance until the judge had ruled on the summary judgment motion. These statements made by the respondent to the complainant were also false. No action was filed on behalf of the complainant by the respondent.
“5. In September of 1993, the complainant retained a lawyer in the state of Washington to represent him in a matter involving the complainant’s parents. That lawyer contacted the respondent on three (3) separate occasions on behalf of the complainant requesting information to aid him in handling this matter. The respondent did not reply to these requests for information. In September of 1993, the complainant contacted the respondent requesting an update on the legal matter in Kansas. The respondent never replied to this request for information from the complainant. In November of 1993, the complainant filed this complaint with tire Disciplinary Administrator’s Office. On February 16,1994, an action was filed on behalf of the complainant by an attorney in the firm of Woodard, Blaylock, Hernandez, Pilgreen & Roth. The respondent was a member of that firm at the time of the events alleged in this Formal Complaint.
“6. The respondent never filed an action on behalf of the complainant. The respondent misled the complainant about the status of the complainant’s case and did not properly communicate with the complainant. The respondent was dilatory in handling the complainant’s case.”

The Disciplinary Paners Final Report

The following pertinent findings and recommendations were made by the panel:

“FINDINGS OF FACT
“Due to the fact the parties are all in agreement as to the facts alleged in the complaint and the respondent has stipulated that he violated tire model rules of professional conduct by clear and convincing evidence, the panel, therefore, finds that the respondent has violated the model rules of professional conduct.
“The panel finds that respondent is an attorney at law practicing in Wichita, Kansas. The panel further finds that the facts of this complaint against the respondent are as set out in the formal complaint on file herein and that the panel accepts said facts as set out in tire formal complaint as respondent’s violations of the model rules of professional conduct.
[951]*951“This complaint arose out of respondent being retained to represent the complainant in an oil and gas problem and the complainant requested that respondent investigate the matter and take whatever legal [action] was necessary to cancel an oil and gas lease.
“The respondent informed the complainant that a lawsuit had been filed concerning this lease and respondent further informed complainant that certain court dates had been set concerning this lawsuit. In fact, no lawsuit had been filed by respondent and the statements made concerning the same were untrue and respondent misinformed the complainant about the lawsuit and did not properly handle complainant’s lawsuit.
“Therefore, the panel finds that by clear and convincing evidence respondent has violated the following rules of professional conduct:
“(a) MRPC 1.1 [1994 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 292] [competence] - in that the respondent failed to represent a client with the regular knowledge, skill, thoroughness and preparation reasonably necessary for this legal representation.
“(b) MRPC 1.3 [1994 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 297] [diligence] - in that the respondent failed to act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing a client.
“(c) MRPC 1.4 [1994 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 302] [communication] - in that tire respondent failed to keep a client reasonably informed about the status of a matter and failed to properly comply with reasonable requests for information.
“(d) MRPC 8.4(c) [1994 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 379] [misconduct] - in that the respondent engaged in conduct involving deceit and misrepresentation.
“FINDINGS OF FACT OF AGGRAVATION OR MITIGATION
“The following facts were shown to the panel in aggravation or mitigation and were considered by the panel in its recommendation:
“1. The only fact in aggravation as shown to the panel was a prior disciplinary complaint against the respondent with Docket No. B5522 in which the complaint was to the effect that tire estate of the complainant’s father was still open three years after commencement of estate proceedings. The respondent was given an informal admonition on December 22,1992.
“In mitigation it is shown to the panel the following:
“2. That there was complete absence of any dishonest or selfish motive in this particular incident on the part of the respondent.
“3. That the respondent had some personal and emotional problems which contributed to the violation of the [rules] of professional [conduct],
“4.

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Related

In re Hill
915 P.2d 49 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1996)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
896 P.2d 389, 257 Kan. 949, 1995 Kan. LEXIS 70, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-pilgreen-kan-1995.