Lorain Cty. Bar Assn. v. Johnson (Slip Opinion)

2017 Ohio 6869
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 20, 2017
Docket2014-0136 and 2014-1403
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 2017 Ohio 6869 (Lorain Cty. Bar Assn. v. Johnson (Slip Opinion)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lorain Cty. Bar Assn. v. Johnson (Slip Opinion), 2017 Ohio 6869 (Ohio 2017).

Opinion

[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as Lorain Cty. Bar Assn. v. Johnson, Slip Opinion No. 2017-Ohio-6869.]

NOTICE This slip opinion is subject to formal revision before it is published in an advance sheet of the Ohio Official Reports. Readers are requested to promptly notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of Ohio, 65 South Front Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, of any typographical or other formal errors in the opinion, in order that corrections may be made before the opinion is published.

SLIP OPINION NO. 2017-OHIO-6869 LORAIN COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION v. JOHNSON. TRUMBULL COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION v. JOHNSON. [Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as Lorain Cty. Bar Assn. v. Johnson, Slip Opinion No. 2017-Ohio-6869.] Attorneys—Misconduct—Violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct, including failing to act with reasonable diligence in representing a client, failing to cooperate in a disciplinary investigation, and of rules relating to a client trust account and the division of fees with a lawyer not in the same firm—Indefinite suspension. (Nos. 2014-0136 and 2014-1403—Submitted March 1, 2017—Decided July 20, 2017.) ON CERTIFIED REPORT by the Board of Professional Conduct of the Supreme Court, No. 2013-062. __________________ SUPREME COURT OF OHIO

Per Curiam. {¶ 1} Respondent, Robert Lawrence Johnson, of McDonald, Ohio, Attorney Registration No. 0042439, was admitted to the practice of law in Ohio in 1989. We suspended him from the practice of law on an interim basis on March 4, 2014, based on his failure to respond to a disciplinary complaint filed against him by relator Lorain County Bar Association (“LCBA”). Lorain Cty. Bar Assn. v. Johnson, 138 Ohio St.3d 1244, 2014-Ohio-781, 5 N.E.3d 1283; Gov.Bar R. V(14)(B)(1). On the LCBA’s motion, we remanded that case to the Board of Professional Conduct for further proceedings. After Johnson obtained counsel and responded to a default motion in a separate disciplinary case filed by the second relator, Trumbull County Bar Association (“TCBA”), the board consolidated the matters for further proceedings. {¶ 2} Relators amended their complaints to allege additional acts of misconduct involving multiple clients. The parties entered into stipulations of fact and some misconduct, and a panel of the board conducted a hearing in which it heard testimony from Johnson, three of the clients affected by his misconduct, and a bar-association investigator. {¶ 3} The board recommends that we indefinitely suspend Johnson from the practice of law with no credit for the time served under his interim default suspension based, in part, on findings that he neglected 11 separate client matters and that he failed to reasonably communicate with at least one client, maintain records regarding client funds in his possession, refund unearned fees on the termination of his representation, and cooperate in no fewer than 14 disciplinary investigations. No one has objected to the board’s recommendation. {¶ 4} For the reasons that follow, we accept the board’s recommendation and indefinitely suspend Johnson from the practice of law in Ohio with no credit for the time served under his interim default suspension.

2 January Term, 2017

Misconduct I. The Second Amended LCBA Complaint A. The Alice Stevanus Matter— Neglect, Trust-Account, and Fee-Sharing Violations {¶ 5} In April 2012, Chase Bank sent the Office of Disciplinary Counsel two notices that Johnson’s trust account contained insufficient funds to pay a $5,000 check that was presented for payment. Johnson’s responses to disciplinary counsel’s letters of inquiry were in some instances incomplete and in others nonexistent. Johnson disclosed, however, that he had issued the $5,000 check and two other checks, one for $28,500 and the other for $4,000, to attorney Michael J. Godles on April 17, 2012, in connection with their joint representation of Alice Stevanus. Disciplinary counsel referred the matter to the LCBA for further investigation in January 2013 because the bar association was already investigating Godles’s conduct in the Stevanus matter. {¶ 6} Stevanus retained Godles to pursue a personal-injury claim in April 2011 and signed a contingent-fee contract. Godles later asked Johnson, who was not a member of the same law firm, to serve as his co-counsel, but they never obtained Stevanus’s written consent to Johnson’s involvement or to their fee- sharing arrangement. Nor did Johnson advise Stevanus that he did not carry professional-liability insurance. Johnson and Godles ultimately settled Stevanus’s claim for $65,000. {¶ 7} Johnson deposited Stevanus’s settlement check into his client trust account. Although two different settlement/disbursement sheets were prepared, neither Johnson nor Godles signed them. {¶ 8} The first disbursement sheet shows a $65,000 settlement with disbursements of $7,500 to Stevanus and $21,500 for “Professional Fees to Attorneys” and a remaining balance of $36,000. But Johnson actually disbursed a total of $37,500 to Godles in the three checks. And despite Johnson’s

3 SUPREME COURT OF OHIO

representation of a $36,000 balance, a $5,000 check issued to Godles was twice returned due to a bank hold on his client trust account. {¶ 9} The second disbursement sheet reflects a $7,500 disbursement to Stevanus, as well as a “prior disbursement” of $5,000 and a “final disbursement” of $30,281.12. Although Johnson provided copies of the bank statements for his client trust account, he failed to maintain or refused to produce receipts, canceled checks, deposit slips, ledgers, invoices, or file materials documenting his handling of Stevanus’s funds. {¶ 10} Moreover, Johnson testified that Stevanus received $7,500 from the $65,000 settlement of her claim, that he also received $7,500 for his fee, and that he distributed $37,500 to Godles (purportedly to cover his attorney fees and Stevanus’s outstanding medical bills). Although Johnson testified generally that the remaining settlement proceeds went to Godles, he has never accounted for $12,500 of those funds. Nonetheless, the LCBA withdrew its request for restitution in this matter because Johnson’s records were insufficient to establish the amount to which Stevanus was entitled. {¶ 11} The board found that Johnson’s conduct violated Prof.Cond.R. 1.5(c)(2) (requiring a lawyer entitled to compensation under a contingent-fee agreement to prepare a closing statement to be signed by the lawyer and the client that details the calculation of the lawyer’s compensation, any costs and expenses deducted from the judgment or settlement, and any division of fees with a lawyer not in the same firm), 1.5(e) (permitting attorneys who are not in the same firm to divide fees only when certain enumerated factors—including the client’s consent to the arrangement in writing after full disclosure—are present), 1.15(a)(1) (requiring a lawyer to maintain a copy of any fee agreement with each client), 1.15(a)(2) through (5) (requiring a lawyer to maintain certain records regarding funds held in a client trust account and certain bank records as well as to perform and retain a monthly reconciliation of the account), and 1.15(d) (requiring a lawyer

4 January Term, 2017

to promptly deliver funds or other property that the client is entitled to receive). We adopt these findings. B. The Taylor Matter—Neglect, Failure to Communicate, Flat Fee, and Alleged Dishonesty and Misrepresentation {¶ 12} In November 2012, Jennifer J. Taylor retained Johnson to represent her in a pending divorce and paid him a flat fee of $750, but he never had her sign a written fee agreement. Johnson entered an appearance in the proceedings and later requested an additional payment of $250 to conduct a deposition.

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2017 Ohio 6869, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lorain-cty-bar-assn-v-johnson-slip-opinion-ohio-2017.