State ex rel. Oklahoma Bar Ass'n v. Allford

2006 OK 85, 152 P.3d 190, 2006 Okla. LEXIS 89, 2006 WL 3291040
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedNovember 14, 2006
DocketSCBD No. 4964
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 2006 OK 85 (State ex rel. Oklahoma Bar Ass'n v. Allford) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Oklahoma Bar Ass'n v. Allford, 2006 OK 85, 152 P.3d 190, 2006 Okla. LEXIS 89, 2006 WL 3291040 (Okla. 2006).

Opinion

COLBERT, J.

{1 The Oklahoma Bar Association filed this disciplinary proceeding against Patricia Ann Allford. The Bar and Allford stipulated to the facts and jointly requested that Allford [191]*191receive a private reprimand. At a hearing before a panel of the Professional Responsibility Tribunal (PRT), Allford contradicted many of the facts to which she had stipulated, demonstrated a failure to comprehend the seriousness of her actions, refused to acknowledge her culpability, and expressed little remorse. The PRT unanimously ree-ommended that she receive a public reprimand. We reject that recommendation and suspend Allford from the practice of law for six months.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

12 This Court has original and exclusive jurisdiction over all matters having to do with the admission or discipline of persons admitted to the practice of law in Oklahoma. Rule 1.1 of the Rules Governing Disciplinary Proceedings, Okla. Stat. tit. 5, ch. 1, app. 1-A (2001). In this Court's de novo review of disciplinary. proceedings, we are not bound by the parties' admissions or stipulations. State ex rel. Okla. Bar Ass'n v. Beasley, 2006 OK 49, ¶ 8, 142 P.3d 410, 418 (citing State ex rel. Okla. Bar Ass'n v. Donnelly, 1992 OK 164, ¶ 11, 848 P.2d 543, 545). The PRT's recommendation is advisory only. State ex rel Okla. Bar Ass'n v. Wilburn, 2006 OK 50, ¶ 4, 142 P.3d 420, 422.

T3 "We have a constitutional, non-delegable responsibility to decide whether misconduct has occurred and what discipline is appropriate." Id. ¶ 3, 142 P.3d at 422. To discharge this responsibility, we must reexamine the record and assess the weight and credibility of the evidence to determine whether the attorney's misconduct is established by clear and convincing evidence. Beasley, 2006 OK 49, ¶ 8, 142 P.3d at 413. If it is, we must impose the appropriate discipline. Id.

DISCUSSION

[ 4 The record contains the complaint filed by the Bar, Allford's response, the PRT's report, and the transcript of the hearing before the PRT with the parties' stipulations and other evidence attached. The Bar formally waived its opportunity to brief the matter and Allford did not file a brief.

T5 This disciplinary proceeding arises from Allford's representation of a single client. Richard Mackey paid Allford $750 on March 30, 1992, to probate his mother's and father's estates.1 The probate was not completed by October 16, 2001, when Mackey terminated Allford's services by a letter in which he stated that she "had failed to keep appointments or return phone calls to review and discuss the completion of the case." All-ford would not return the file and persuaded Mackey to let her attempt to finish the matter.

16 The probate remained incomplete on January 24, 2008, when Mackey sent another letter terminating Allford and asking for the return of the file. Once again, Allford refused to return the file and persuaded Mack-ey to allow her to complete the case.

T7 Mackey filed a written grievance with the Bar on April 9, 2004. The Bar opened a formal investigation and sent a letter to All-ford on April 27, 2004, asking her to respond to Mackey's allegations within twenty days. When she finally responded on June 1, 2004, Allford did not respond to the allegations, but stated only that she had been unable to contact Mackey.

18 The Bar sent Allford a second letter by certified mail on June 9, 2004, and directed her to respond to Mackey's allegations within five days. Although Allford received the letter on July 1, 2004, she did not respond until Tuesday, July 20, 2004. She still did not respond to the allegations, but stated only:

I have met with Mr. Richard Watson Mackey and he desires that I continue with the probate case on his parents. I have completed an inventory of the real property, which contains fifteen legal de-seriptions for mineral and surface interests in four counties. An accounting is being prepared regarding the income produced by these interests.
[192]*192I anticipate this estate will be completed within the next six months. This is satisfactory with Mr. Mackey. I will keep you posted.

9 At this point, the Bar issued a subpoena for Allford's deposition, to take place at the Oklahoma Bar Center on July 29, 2004, at 9:00 a.m. Allford did not appear. Instead, she called the Assistant General Counsel, Mike Speegle, at approximately 9:20 a.m. on the day of her scheduled deposition and stated that she did not appear at the appointed time because Mackey did not want her to.

110 Although Allford eventually did appear by agreement for her deposition, troubling facts surfaced about the events surrounding her receipt of the subpoena. Employees at the Hughes County Sheriffs office called Allford when they received the subpoena. Allford came to the Sheriff's office and accepted personal service on Friday, July 28, 2004, at 8:00 a.m. However, she asked two of the Sheriff's employees to falsify the date of service to show that it was not served until 8:00 a.m. on July 29th (the date of the scheduled deposition). Because she assured them that the "matter would be dropped and that it wasn't a big deal," the employees honored her request. They admitted their role in the deception when the Bar called the Sheriffs office on the morning of the 28th (the day before the scheduled deposition) to confirm that Allford had been served with the subpoena.

111 The Bar filed a formal complaint on September 24, 2004. When Allford filed her response on November 15, 2004, she attached Mackey's affidavit stating that he wished to withdraw his grievance and continue the probate with Allford as his attorney. The disciplinary matter was continued several times and Allford finally completed the probate sometime in 2005.

112 When the hearing before the PRT convened, Allford formally stipulated to the Bar's allegations, admitting that she had repeatedly refused to return Mackey's file and that she had asked the Sheriff's employees to falsify the service date on the subpoena. All-ford's testimony, however, differed materially from her stipulations Although she repeatedly affirmed the truth of the stipulations and stated that "I accept full responsibility," and "I was dilatory," her responses to specific questions by the panel members were less apologetic and full of inconsistencies between her stated desire to accept full responsibility and her efforts to deflect any real culpability by admitting only to "mistakes." She described her "stipulations" as an Alford plea.2

1 13 Allford began by attributing the situation to the complexity of the probate case and her lack of skill: "I no longer practice in that area of the law. It's not something that I enjoy doing or felt very skilled at doing." She then attributed her failure to keep appointments with Mackey to simple mis-com-munication and lack of a full-time secretary. Finally, she implied that she failed to return phone calls because Mackey would "call right back" after she had already explained "things" to him.

14 Allford's testimony contained so many internal inconsistencies that it was apparent she was not willing to admit to any of the facts underlying the stipulations. Allford's testimony upon being confronted is equally troubling.

[Allford]: What happened was, I want to take full responsibility for that.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2006 OK 85, 152 P.3d 190, 2006 Okla. LEXIS 89, 2006 WL 3291040, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-oklahoma-bar-assn-v-allford-okla-2006.