89 A. 152 | R.I. | 1913
This is a petition asking for summary action against the respondent as an attorney at law. The petition was referred to the committee on complaints against members of the bar. After hearing, said committee reported the matter as one requiring examination by the court. A hearing was had before us at which the parties presented their testimony and arguments.
The petitioner claims that she loaned five hundred dollars to the respondent, and that in the transaction, the respondent committed fraud by reason of a false representation which he made to her as to his ownership of certain real estate upon which he gave the respondent a mortgage as collateral security for said loan.
At the time of making said loan and giving said mortgage the relation of attorney and client did not exist between the parties. The respondent at one time, had acted as attorney for the petitioner in an unimportant matter, but that had been concluded a number of years ago. *87
The respondent admits that he received five hundred dollars from the petitioner, but claims that he received said sum for the purpose of investing it for the petitioner in a venture in which he was interested with others. The respondent, however, is willing that said transaction should be regarded as a loan of money to him, and herein it will be treated in that manner. The respondent admits that he gave the mortgage in question to the petitioner, and at the time of its delivery he did not have the legal title to the land and building which said mortgage purported to convey; but that the legal title to the same was in his mother-in-law, a Mrs. Crittenden. The respondent claims, however, that the mortgage in question was given as collateral security for said loan entirely upon his suggestion; that it was not demanded by the petitioner; that she agreed to loan the money to him before he suggested the giving of said mortgage; and that said mortgage was not the inducement for making said loan. This is admitted by the petitioner in cross-examination.
The respondent further claims that although the legal title to said real estate was in his mother-in-law, the said mortgage in fact constituted a valuable security for said loan; that said lands and building were purchased by him with his own money and that, although the legal title was taken in the name of Mrs. Crittenden, she acknowledges the respondent's ownership of said real estate and will recognize said mortgage as constituting a valid lien upon said real estate. In this claim, the respondent is fully supported by the affidavit of Mrs. Crittenden, which affidavit was admitted in evidence without objection by the petitioner.
The respondent further claims that at the time of giving said mortgage to the petitioner he fully explained these circumstances to her. This latter claim of the respondent is denied by the petitioner.
It appeared at the hearing that the respondent, since the commencement of these proceedings, has offered to repay said loan with interest and is still ready to do so; *88 but that the petitioner has not felt at liberty to accept said payment until the conclusion of these proceedings.
From the circumstances of this matter, it does not appear to us that a summary order against the respondent should be made upon this petition. The transaction in question was entirely unrelated to the professional character of the respondent. The summary jurisdiction of the court invoked by the petitioner arises from the control which the court will exercise over its officers in regard to those relations of trust and confidence existing between such officers and their clients, which relation arises from the special privilege conferred upon such officers and the special credit given to them by the court as persons worthy to assume such relations of trust and confidence. It is the well settled rule in this country that courts will not exercise such jurisdiction to compel an attorney to pay money or to perform any other act in matters unconnected with the professional character of the attorney. 18 Ann. Cas. 115; 27 Ann. Cas. 234. In Windsor v. Brown,
In the matter at bar the court does not find that moral turpitude on the part of the respondent has been established or that under the testimony the court would be justified in the entry of any disciplinary order against the respondent.
It further appears to the court that the order which the petitioner seeks should not be made even if the relation of attorney and client existed between the parties. From the testimony given before us it is by no means established that the respondent was guilty of misrepresentation in obtaining said loan from the petitioner. Upon the establishment of that fact depends the petitioner's right to have the order which she seeks. There is a dispute between the parties as to such alleged misrepresentation; and in that dispute the contention of the respondent is not so unreasonable that it should be disregarded. If a dispute of this nature exists between attorney and client the rule followed in summary proceedings by the courts of the United States is well stated in Strong v. Mundy,
The petition is denied and dismissed.