People v. Cochrane

296 P.3d 1051, 2013 WL 1139100
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedJanuary 18, 2013
DocketNo. 12PDJ064
StatusPublished

This text of 296 P.3d 1051 (People v. Cochrane) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Cochrane, 296 P.3d 1051, 2013 WL 1139100 (Colo. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION AND DECISION IMPOSING SANCTIONS PURSUANT TO C.R.C.P. 251.19(c)

I. SUMMARY

The People filed a complaint alleging that Respondent violated numerous Rules of Professional Conduct by failing to represent clients diligently, neglecting to safeguard client funds, and converting client funds, among other misconduct. When Respondent did not answer the complaint or otherwise defend, the Court entered default, thereby deeming the alleged misconduct admitted. Respondent appeared at the sanctions hearing, however, and provided evidence of substantial mitigating factors. Balancing the seriousness of her misconduct against the mitigation, the Court concludes the appropriate sanction is suspension of Respondent's law license for three years.

II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The People filed their complaint in this matter on August 21, 2012. Respondent failed to answer the complaint, and the Court granted the People's motion for default on November 26, 2012. Upon the entry of default, the Court deems all facts set forth in the complaint admitted and all rule violations established by clear and convincing evidence.1

At the sanctions hearing on December 18, 2012, Respondent moved for a continuance and to set aside the default. She said she had neglected to participate in the disciplinary process because during that same period [1053]*1053she was laid off from her job, her house was foreclosed upon, she was unable to afford her anti-depressant medication, her father broke his pelvis, and, most important, her fifteen-year-old goddaughter was ill and not expected to live long. Respondent claimed she did not intentionally fail to respond to the People's motion for default, though she acknowledged she was aware of the motion.

The People opposed Respondent's motions. They noted that during a phone call on October 25, 2012, Respondent asked for additional time to answer the motion for default and the People agreed not to oppose a late response. According to the People, Respondent did not mention her goddaughter's illness or her own depression during that call. The People argued that it would be inappropriate to grant Respondent's untimely motions because her failure to cooperate with the disciplinary process mirrors the pattern of neglect underlying the disciplinary charges. The Court agreed with the People and denied both motions.

At the sanctions hearing, neither party called witnesses. The People did not offer any evidence, but Respondent introduced exhibits 1-14.2

Also on the day of the sanctions hearing, the Colorado Supreme Court administratively suspended Respondent from the practice of law pursuant to C.R.C.P. 251.8.6.3

III. ESTABLISHED FACTS AND RULE VIOLATIONS

The Court hereby adopts and incorporates by reference the factual background of this case, as fully detailed in the admitted complaint.4 Respondent took the oath of admission and was admitted to the bar of the Colorado Supreme Court on October 15, 2001, under attorney registration number 33077.5 She is thus subject to this Court's jurisdiction in these disciplinary proceedings.6

Reeves Matter

Greg Reeves, doing business as R & G Construction Company, performed work on a construction project in Fremont County. After contributing about $62,000.00 in labor and materials to the project, he recorded a mechanic's lien with an attorney's assistance. R & G also became a cross-claimant in litigation related to the project in Fremont County District Court His original attorney withdrew from the representation for health reasons in October 2010.

During the week of Thanksgiving 2010, Reeves spoke to Respondent by phone about the litigation. Respondent told him she was experienced in construction/mechanic's lien cases, even though she had not independently handled such a case. During a subsequent meeting at her office, Respondent said she would handle Reeves's matter for $5,000.00, but she did not disclose in writing the basis or rate of her fees and expenses. Reeves informed Respondent that on November 8, 2010, the court had granted his request for thirty days in which to obtain counsel. After calling the court clerk, Respondent told Reeves that the clerk had directed her to file an entry of appearance electronically and that she would do so by day's end.

On December 6, 2010, Respondent notified the court clerk that she would be entering her appearance for R & G. She gave the clerk her name and registration number and said she had not yet filed her appearance due to computer issues. The next day, the cross-claim defendants in the litigation moved to dismiss R & G's cross claims, citing R & C's failure to obtain counsel within thirty days, [1054]*1054as the court had ordered. The court denied the motion, indicating that Respondent had communicated her intent to formally enter an appearance. Yet Respondent still did not do so. She told an attorney for the cross-claim defendants that she filed documents with the court by fax rather than Lexis/Nexis.

Respondent moved her office into her home in or around December 2010 but did not inform Reeves. On December 17, 2010, Reeves's wife paid Respondent $2,500.00 by personal check. The check was deposited in a business account for another business owned by Respondent, Southern Colorado Hood Cleaning and Fire Systems LLC. Reeves's wife paid Respondent another $1,000.00 by personal check on January 13, 2011, and the check was deposited into the same business account.

On December 21, 2010, an attorney for the cross-claim defendants wrote to Respondent, asking her to file an entry of appearance. He received a fax on Respondent's letterhead the next day, stating that Respondent was out of town and would give him a copy of the entry of appearance she had previously filed when she returned. A week later, another attorney for the cross-claim defendants wrote to Respondent, stating that he was awaiting a copy of her entry and asking her to contact him. Both of those attorneys followed up on their attempts to reach Respondent in January 2011, but she did not respond, nor did she further investigate Reeves's claims.

On January 25, 2011, the cross-claim defendants moved for reconsideration of their motion to dismiss the cross claims, citing Respondent's failure to file her entry. When Reeves received the motion, he contacted Respondent and she assured him the issue was a mere formality she would handle. But she still did not file her entry, nor did she respond to the motion.

On February 15, 2011, the cross-claim defendants filed a notice of confession, stating that R & (s response had been due the prior day but had not been filed. The court struck the pleadings and cross claims of R & G filed against each of the cross-claim defendants. On February 25, 2011, Respondent moved to set aside that order, representing that she had filed an entry of appearance-albeit not electronically-and that she had not received the motion to strike until February 28, 2011. In early March, she texted Reeves, saying his case was proceeding satisfactorily. Although the cross-claim defendants responded to her motion to set aside, she did not file a reply.

The court denied Respondent's motion on March 16, 2011.

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Bluebook (online)
296 P.3d 1051, 2013 WL 1139100, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-cochrane-colo-2013.