In re Sylvester

144 P.3d 697, 282 Kan. 391, 2006 Kan. LEXIS 662
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedOctober 27, 2006
DocketNo. 95,963
StatusPublished

This text of 144 P.3d 697 (In re Sylvester) 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 Sylvester, 144 P.3d 697, 282 Kan. 391, 2006 Kan. LEXIS 662 (kan 2006).

Opinion

Per Curiam:

This is a contested proceeding in discipline filed by the office of the Disciplinaiy Administrator against Bradley P. Sylvester, an attorney licensed to practice law in Kansas since 1989. Sylvester practices law in Wichita with the firm of Ney, Adams, & Sylvester, focusing on patent and criminal law.

This disciplinary proceeding arose from a single complaint filed by Mark Laas. Laas retained Sylvester in September 1997, to prepare and prosecute a patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Laas paid Sylvester $4,700. In July 1998, Sylvester sent a letter to Laas, enclosing a copy of the patent application, indicating that the application had been sent to the patent office, and advising Laas that he should be receiving an application number at any time. Laas’ patent application was actually filed by the patent office in January 1999.

In December 1999 and January 2000, the patent examiner contacted Sylvester by phone and requested him to submit drawings that were not included with the application. Sylvester did not send the drawings. In March 2000, the patent examiner sent a letter requesting the drawings again. The patent examiner established May 2000 as a deadline for submitting the drawings, or the application would be considered abandoned. Sylvester sent the drawings in May 2000.

In June 2000, Sylvester received notice of an office action by the patent examiner, requesting drawings and identifying problems with the application. The notice advised Sylvester that he had 3 [392]*392months to correct the deficiencies or the application would become abandoned. In July 2000, Sylvester wrote to Laas to advise him that the application had been rejected. Sylvester suggested that the application be amended and noted that the response should be submitted by September 2000 to avoid an extension fee. Sylvester advised Laas that his services to amend the application would cost $600.

In October 2000, Sylvester sent Laas a copy of a request for an extension of time and a response to the patent examiner’s notice of deficiencies. Within tire documents, Sylvester certified that he had deposited the “correspondence with the U.S. Postal Service as first class mail, in an envelope addressed to: Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, Washington, D.C. 20231, with first class postage prepaid, this October 26,2000.” The documents were filed with the patent office on October 31, 2000. In December 2000, Sylvester sent Laas a bill for $600 for completing the response. Laas sent Sylvester a check for $600, and Sylvester sent Laas a receipt.

On January 23, 2001, the patent office sent Sylvester another notice, indicating that the communication filed in October was nonresponsive to some of the problems with the application and requesting corrections within 30 days. On September 6, 2001, the patent office sent Sylvester another notice stating that Laas’ application had been abandoned because Sylvester had failed to respond to the request for corrections that had been sent in January 2001.

By January or February of 2002, Laas had not heard anything from Sylvester regarding his patent application. Laas attempted to look up his application on the patent office website. Unable to get any information about his patent application online, Laas called the patent office and learned that his application had been abandoned in September 2001 because Sylvester did not respond to the request for information.

Laas then attempted to contact Sylvester by phone and finally received an email from him on March 2,2002. Sylvester stated that he would redraft the language of the application and refile it without charge. On April 7, 2002, Sylvester emailed Laas again, apol[393]*393ogizing for his failure to rewrite the application and promising to finish it in approximately 10 days.

Laas did not hear from Sylvester again until November 25,2002, when Sylvester sent him a letter in response to a certified letter from Laas. In his certified letter, Laas asked Sylvester what he planned to do to revive the patent application. Sylvester responded with another promise to revise Laas’ patent application and send it to him for review by the week of December 9, 2002.

Contrary to his promise, Sylvester failed to provide the revised application. In January 2003, Laas contacted another attorney who referred Laas to Kenneth lies, a patent attorney in Overland Park, Kansas. lies telephoned Sylvester and communicated Laas’ concerns. In response, Sylvester immediately contacted Laas and again promised to amend the application and file it as a new application.

By April 2003, Laas had still not received a revised patent application from Sylvester. Laas sent another certified letter to Sylvester requesting copies of all of the information and correspondence regarding his patent application within 5 working days. Sylvester responded approximately 3 weeks later, asking for a few more days to complete the application.

When Laas had not received anything from Sylvester by July 2003, he contacted Larry Michel to pursue a professional negligence action against Sylvester. Laas filed a complaint with the Disciplinary Administrator in February 2004 and filed a lawsuit against Sylvester in March 2004. The Disciplinary Administrator filed a formal complaint against Sylvester alleging that he violated KRPC 1.1 (2005 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 356) (competence); KRPC 1.2(a) (2005 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 365) (scope of representation); KRPC 1.3 (2005 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 369) (diligence); KRPC 1.4(a) (2005 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 383) (communication); and KRPC 8.4(g) (2005 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 504) (misconduct).

A hearing panel convened and conducted an evidentiary hearing where both Sylvester and Laas testified. The hearing panel concluded that Sylvester violated KRPC 1.1 when “he failed to exercise the thoroughness and preparation necessary to fulfill the representation of Mr. Laas”; KRPC 1.2(a) when “he failed to consult with Mr. Laas as to the means which the Respondent was to pursue the [394]*394representation”; KRPC 1.3 when “he failed to diligently and promptly amend Mr. Laas’ patent application”; KRPC 1.4(a) when “he failed to keep Mr. Laas reasonably informed regarding the status of his patent application.” The hearing panel dismissed the allegation that Sylvester violated 8.4(g) because it concluded that he had violated 8.4(c) by deceiving Laas. The hearing panel further concluded that Sylvester knowingly violated his duties and caused potential or actual harm to Laas. After considering the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the hearing panel recommended that we impose a 90-day suspension. In addition, the hearing panel recommended that Sylvester pay Laas $5,800 to reimburse him for the attorney fees paid to both Sylvester and Michel.

The hearing panel’s conclusion that Sylvester violated KRPC 8.4(c) for deceiving Laas is based on Sylvester’s testimony at the hearing. Contrary to the previously stated facts, Sylvester told the Disciplinary Administrator’s investigator and later testified at his hearing that he did not mail the amendment for Laas’ patent application to the patent office in October 2000 as he had certified in the copy he sent to Laas. To explain his failure to send the amendment, Sylvester testified:

“So I talked to Mr. Laas before the three-month extension of time to reply and what I told him is that I told him I didn’t think this application was going to be successful in its present form and that a new application needed to be filed.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In Re the Care & Treatment of Hay
953 P.2d 666 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1998)
In Re Rumsey
71 P.3d 1150 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2003)
In Re Watson
121 P.3d 982 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2005)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
144 P.3d 697, 282 Kan. 391, 2006 Kan. LEXIS 662, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-sylvester-kan-2006.