People v. Schroeder

410 P.3d 854
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedJanuary 9, 2018
DocketCase Number: 17PDJ046
StatusPublished

This text of 410 P.3d 854 (People v. Schroeder) 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. Schroeder, 410 P.3d 854 (Colo. 2018).

Opinion

WILLIAM R. LUCERO, PRESIDING DISCIPLINARY JUDGE

Richard O. Schroeder ("Respondent") was hired to pursue collection matters for another lawyer. Respondent failed to timely deliver funds that the other lawyer was owed in three separate collection matters. In one of those matters, Respondent also made a misrepresentation on his disbursement statement and knowingly converted funds. Respondent's conduct in violation of Colo. RPC 1.3, 1.4(a)(3), 1.15A(a), 1.15A(b), and 8.4(c) warrants disbarment.

I. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Sara Cantrick Van Deusen, Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel ("the People"), filed a complaint with Presiding Disciplinary Judge William R. Lucero ("the Court") on June 21, 2017. The People sent a copy of the complaint to Respondent's registered business address. Respondent failed to file an answer. By order dated September 1, 2017, the Court entered default, thereby deeming admitted the allegations and claims in the complaint.

On November 14, 2017, the Court held a sanctions hearing under C.R.C.P. 251.15(b). Van Deusen represented the People; Respondent did not appear. The People's exhibits 1 and 15 were admitted into evidence, and the Court heard Glenn W. Hagen's testimony by telephone.

II. ESTABLISHED FACTS AND RULE VIOLATIONS

The Court adopts and incorporates by reference the averments in the admitted complaint, presented here in condensed form. Respondent took the oath of admission and was admitted to practice law in Colorado on October 30, 1996, under attorney registration number 27616. He is thus subject to the Court's jurisdiction in this disciplinary proceeding.1

This case arises out of Respondent's representation of Glenn W. Hagen, P.C. Respondent executed a contingent fee agreement with Glenn W. Hagen-the sole shareholder in Glenn W. Hagen, P.C.-for legal services related to collecting delinquent accounts receivable for Hagen. Under the agreement, Respondent was to receive the following fees: 1) 33.3% of all amounts received before preparation of disclosures in a matter; 2) 45% of all amounts received after preparation of disclosures, until sixty days before trial; and 3) 50% of all amounts received within sixty days of trial. Respondent assisted Hagen with a *856number of collection matters, including three such matters addressed below.

In the first matter, Respondent filed a complaint on behalf of Hagen's firm against Elizabeth Bodde in June 2014. The next month, the court entered judgment in favor of Hagen's firm in the principal amount of $3,762.00 with postjudgment interest at the rate of 18% annum. On June 11, 2015, the court ordered Bodde's bank to issue a check to Respondent in the amount of $4,457.49. Respondent's COLTAF records show that a deposit in that amount was made on June 16, 2015.

Because the Bodde case was resolved before disclosures were prepared, the total owed to Hagen after subtracting Respondent's fee was $2,971.66. Although Respondent was in possession of those funds as of June 16, 2015, he did not issue any disbursement statement or check to Hagen until December 1, 2015. As to the delay, Respondent stated that he was frustrated with Hagen's attitude at times, that he perceived Hagen's tone as bullying, and that he believed Hagen might respond more quickly to his requests for information if Hagen knew he was holding the funds.

On December 1, 2015, Respondent sent Hagen a check in the amount of $681.46. In fact, Hagen was owed more than that sum because Respondent's disbursement statement listed expenses that he had not yet incurred. But the parties' fee agreement only permitted Respondent to deduct costs he had actually incurred. Accordingly, Respondent should have disbursed $1,531.46. Respondent learned in April 2016 that Hagen had filed a grievance; in a letter sent to the People that same month, Respondent admitted that the $850.00 in anticipated expenses should be refunded to Hagen. But Respondent did not pay Hagen the $850.00 until March 2017.

In addition, Respondent's COLTAF records show that on three separate occasions during the period he was holding Hagen's funds in the Bodde matter, Respondent's account balance dropped below the amount owed Hagen. During those periods, multiple transfers were made from Respondent's COLTAF accounts to his operating and personal accounts.

In the second collection matter, Respondent filed a complaint against William Jackson on behalf of Hagen's firm in November 2015. Jackson soon agreed to resolve the matter by making six consecutive payments in the amount of $458.33. On June 8, 2016, Respondent received the last of Jackson's payments in the form of a check made out to Hagen. Respondent did not inform Hagen of the check's existence. He only sent the check to Hagen in February 2017, after Respondent's interview with disciplinary authorities. Due to the check's age, Hagen could not negotiate it. Respondent paid Hagen the funds he was owed in the Jackson matter in May 2017.

The third collection matter commenced in June 2014, when Respondent sued Cynthia Long on behalf of Hagen's firm. Judgment entered in favor of Hagen's firm on June 11, 2015, in the amount of $16,117.28. Because the case was resolved following a hearing, Hagen was owed $8,058.64. According to the disbursement statement in the matter, costs totaled $84.56, leaving a balance owed to Hagen of $7,974.08.

It is unknown when Long paid Respondent the funds owed for the judgment. But between April and September 2016 Respondent issued three cashier's checks from his COLTAF account payable to Hagen's firm totaling $7,974.08, the exact amount owed to Hagen in the Long matter. Respondent did not inform Hagen that the checks had been issued, and he did not send Hagen those checks until February 2017, after his interview with disciplinary authorities and after he had notice of Hagen's grievance. The checks all state "VOID AFTER 90 DAYS" on their face, and Hagen was unable to negotiate them. Respondent ultimately sent Hagen the funds owed in this matter in May 2017.

In the Hagen representation, Respondent violated five Rules of Professional Conduct:

• Respondent violated Colo. RPC 1.3, which requires a lawyer to act with reasonable diligence and promptness when representing a client, by failing to timely deliver to Hagen the funds he *857was owed in all three collection matters.
• By making inaccurate statements on the Bodde disbursement statement and failing to inform Hagen that he was holding funds payable to him in the Jackson and Long matters, Respondent transgressed Colo. RPC 1.4(a)(3), which provides that a lawyer shall keep a client reasonably informed about the status of a matter.
• Respondent violated Colo. RPC 1.15A(a), which requires a lawyer to hold client property separate from the lawyer's own property, when he transferred funds owed to Hagen in the Bodde matter into his own operating account.
• By failing to timely deliver to Hagen the funds he was owed in the Jackson and Long matters, Respondent transgressed Colo. RPC 1.15A(b), which provides that upon receiving funds or other property of a client, a lawyer shall promptly deliver to the client any funds or property that person is entitled to receive.
• Respondent violated Colo.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
410 P.3d 854, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-schroeder-colo-2018.