Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board v. Luke D. Guthrie

901 N.W.2d 493, 2017 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 86, 2017 WL 4077489
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedSeptember 15, 2017
Docket17–0879
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 901 N.W.2d 493 (Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board v. Luke D. Guthrie) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board v. Luke D. Guthrie, 901 N.W.2d 493, 2017 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 86, 2017 WL 4077489 (iowa 2017).

Opinion

ZAGER, Justice.

The Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board (Board) filed a complaint against an attorney alleging multiple violations of our ethical rules including the misappropriation of funds in his representation of three clients. The Board also alleged the attorney violated ethical rules arising from his conviction for domestic abuse assault. The Iowa Supreme Court Grievance Commission (commission) found eight violations of our ethical rules and recommended a three-month suspension. For the reasons outlined below, we revoke the attorney’s license to practice law in the state of Iowa.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

Attorney Luke Guthrie has been licensed to practice law in the state of Iowa since 2006. At the time of the conduct giving rise to this disciplinary action, Guthrie was practicing law at Roberts, Stevens, Prendergast, and Guthrie, PLLC, in Waterloo, Iowa. On November 11, 2015, Guthrie was arrested for domestic abuse assault, first offense, in Grundy County, Iowa. On November 12, Guthrie informed his law partners that he was self-admitting himself into a substance-abuse treatment program and took a leave of absence from the firm. After becoming aware of other potential ethical violations, the firm terminated Guthrie’s partnership on November 24. As part of the termination, the firm informed Guthrie he would need to self-report his potential ethical violations or the firm would do so. Guthrie self-reported the potential ethical misconduct to the Board on December 7. The ethical misconduct arose out of his handling of billings and trust account issues in three separate client matters, in addition to Guthrie’s arrest for domestic abuse assault.

A. Vogel Matter. Guthrie represented Brian Vogel in a modification action which was finalized by decree on July 22, 2015. A notice of appeal was filed by the opposing party on August 21. On September 25, Guthrie and Vogel signed a fee contract and Vogel paid a retainer of $4965.50, which was deposited into the firm’s trust account. On October 16, the appellant voluntarily dismissed the appeal. This voluntary dismissal of appeal was electronically received by Guthrie and his office at 10:35 a.m. that same date. Guthrie was notified by staff of the dismissal, but directed staff not to notify Vogel of the dismissal.

On the same day as the voluntary dismissal, Guthrie billed Vogel for 4.1 hours of work amounting to $717.50. Guthrie claimed that this time was for work on the proof brief and designation. On October 22, Guthrie billed Vogel for two hours-of time, for work on the final brief/reply brief in the amount of $350. On October 23, Guthrie billed Vogel for two hours of work on the final proof brief in the amount of $350. On October 26, Guthrie billed Vogel for two hours of time for receipt and review of appellant’s brief in the amount of $350. Finally, on October 28, Guthrie billed Vogel for 1.8 hours of work on his brief in the amount .of $315. There was also an additional charge for fees of $190 after the voluntary dismissal. Therefore, following the voluntary dismissal, .Guthrie billed Vo-gel an additional 8.6 hours in the amount of $1505 for work that was. never performed.. •

A staff member prepared a preliminary bill for review by Guthrie. At that time, she questioned what would happen if the client requested copies of Guthrie’s work product he had billed for. Guthrie told the staff person that he doubted Vogel would ever ask for copies of the work product he billed him for, but if he did, he would have to figure something out. Guthrie had performed no work on the proof brief, designation of appendix, or reply brief for which he billed Vogel.

On November 6, Guthrie directed staff at the firm to transfer $3797.60 from Vo-gel’s trust subaccount to the firm’s general account. That same day, Guthrie withdrew $600 as a check for fees in the Vogel case, Vogel was.not advised of the dismissal of the appeal until November 15, nine-days after the unearned fees were taken and three days after Guthrie took his leave of absence from the firm. The firm refunded Vogel all funds for the unearned fees.

B.Dizdarevic Matter. Guthrie also represented Muhamed Dizdarevic in a child custody case. On November 6, 2015, Guthrie billed Dizdarevic $262.50 for a 1.5 hour telephone conference with opposing counsel. Guthrie admitted no telephone conference occurred, which was also confirmed by opposing counsel. On the same day, Guthrie directed staff at the firm to transfer $332.50 from Dizdarevic’s trust subac-count to the firm’s general account. He thereafter withdrew $600 as a check for fees in the Dizdarevic case. The firm reim-burséd Dizdarevic for the unearned fees.

C. Petrick Matter. Guthrie represented Christina Petrick in a family law case in 2015. On November 3, 2015, Guthrie billed Petrick for 1.5 hours for discovery review and. a telephone conference totaling $262.50. Op November 4, Guthrie billed Petrick for' two hours of work in the amount of $350 for the receipt and review of a client file allegedly received from her previous attorney. On November 6, Guthrie directed staff at the firm to transfer $743.75 from Petrick’s trust subaccount to the firm’s general account. Guthrie then withdrew $600 as a check for fees. In reviewing this billing, another partner determined that Guthrie could not have received and reviewed the other attorney’s file as she herself received the file on November 12 after Guthrie had left the firm. As the .file could not yet have been received by Guthrie, he did not receive or review Petrick’s client file on November 4 as.billed. Later on, another attorney at the law firm reviewed the file and determined the firm would be unable .to represent Petrick due, to a conflict of interest. The firm refunded Petrick the entire retainer she had paid in trust in the amount of $2500. This included the fees that Guthrie had billed.

D. Domestic Assault. On November 11, 2015, Guthrie was arrested for domestic abuse assault for assaulting his girlfriend. On May 9, 2016, Guthrie pled guilty to domestic abuse assault in violation of Iowa Code section 708.2A(2)(a)(2015). The court entered an order for deferred judgment and probation.

E. Proceedings. On November 10, 2016, the Board filed its complaint against Guthrie. It charged him with two counts: Count I alleged Guthrie violated six ethical rules in his representation of Vogel, Dizdarevic, and Petrick. 1 It alleged he misappropriated client funds in an amount exceeding $500 but not $1000 in value. This was in conjunction with the alleged theft of funds. Count II alleged Guthrie violated one ethical rule due to his guilty- plea to domestic abuse assault. 2 On December 6, Guthrie filed his answer, admitting all of the allegations. In the original complaint, the Board recommended that Guthrie’s license be revoked.

The commission conducted an evidentia-ry hearing on April 12, 2017. Guthrie submitted a stipulation of facts and rule .violations at the time of the hearing. The stipulation was- not timely submitted pursuant to Iowa Court Rule 36.16. However, the commission elected to receive it as an exhibit constituting an admission to the facts and rule violations alleged in the complaint.

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Bluebook (online)
901 N.W.2d 493, 2017 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 86, 2017 WL 4077489, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/iowa-supreme-court-attorney-disciplinary-board-v-luke-d-guthrie-iowa-2017.