TOLEDO BAR ASSOCIATION v. GREGORY.
No. 2011-2036
Supreme Court of Ohio
Submitted January 18, 2012—Decided May 30, 2012.
132 Ohio St.3d 110, 2012-Ohio-2365
Jonathan E. Coughlan, Disciplinary Counsel, and Robert R. Berger, Assistant Disciplinary Counsel, for relator.
Crabbe, Brown, and James, L.L.P., Larry H. James, and Christina Curl, for respondent.
Per Curiam.
{¶ 1} Respondent, Michele L. Gregory, formerly of Toledo, Ohio, Attorney Registration No. 0071394, was admitted to the practice of law in Ohio in 1999. On February 14, 2011, relator, Toledo Bar Association, filed a seven-count complaint alleging that Gregory had committed professional misconduct in her handling of seven different client matters. The alleged misconduct included failure to provide competent representation, neglect of client legal matters, failure to act with reasonable diligence, failure to comply with reasonable requests for information from a client, trust-account violations, and failure to disclose a material fact in response to a request by a disciplinary authority.
{¶ 2} The parties submitted a consent-to-discipline agreement pursuant to
{¶ 3} At the hearing on the matter, relator moved the panel of the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline to dismiss counts one through five of its complaint, and the panel granted the motion. Based upon the parties’
{¶ 4} The board adopted the panel‘s findings of fact and misconduct as well as the recommended sanction, and so do we.
Misconduct
{¶ 5} The parties stipulated and the panel and board found that Gregory had mishandled the retainers remitted by two separate clients. Count six involved client Brenda Rausch, who gave Gregory an $800 retainer to file an adoption proceeding. Although Gregory maintained a client trust account, she initially failed to deposit the retainer into her trust account, and her records were in such disarray that it was impossible to determine when the money was finally deposited into that account. Rausch discharged Gregory and requested a refund because Gregory had failed to initiate the adoption proceeding. Gregory refunded the retainer with a check from her client trust account.
{¶ 6} Count seven involved divorce client Kimberly Stockard. Gregory received a retainer of $3,999.94—a $2,999.94 check, which she deposited with six cents of her own money into her client trust account, and a $1,000 check, which she deposited into her business account—on behalf of Stockard in January 2007. Stockard discharged Gregory on November 8, 2007, and Gregory submitted a $2,820 bill for the 28.2 hours of work she had performed on Stockard‘s behalf. On November 27, 2007, Gregory issued Stockard a $1,180 refund check from her client trust account, though she later stipulated that from February 2, 2007, through November 27, 2007, the balance in her client trust account was always less than $1,180, which shows that she had withdrawn some of the unearned portion of the retainer.
{¶ 7} With respect to both counts, Gregory admitted that she had failed to promptly deposit and hold the clients’ entire retainer in her client trust account. She also admitted that she had failed to maintain an accurate record of the funds held for each client; had failed to maintain records regarding her client trust account, including all bank statements, deposit slips, and canceled checks; and had failed to perform and retain monthly reconciliations.
{¶ 8} Based upon these facts, the parties stipulated and the panel and board found that Gregory had violated
{¶ 9} The board dismissed the charges alleging violations of
{¶ 10} We adopt these findings of fact and misconduct and also dismiss the charge alleging a violation of
Sanction
{¶ 11} In recommending a sanction, the panel and board considered the aggravating and mitigating factors listed in
{¶ 12} Relator suggests that a one-year stayed suspension is the appropriate sanction for Gregory‘s misconduct, citing Disciplinary Counsel v. Croushore, 108 Ohio St.3d 156, 2006-Ohio-412, 841 N.E.2d 781 (imposing a one-year stayed suspension and two years of monitored probation upon an attorney for commingling personal and client funds in his client trust account and failing to maintain adequate records of client funds held in that account) and Allen Cty. Bar Assn. v. Schramski, 124 Ohio St.3d 465, 2010-Ohio-630, 923 N.E.2d 603 (imposing a one-year suspension stayed on conditions, including the completion of a two-year term of monitored probation, for an attorney who failed to maintain adequate records of funds held in her client trust account, commingled personal and client funds in her client trust account, and used that account to pay personal expenses).
{¶ 13} The panel and board rejected relator‘s recommended sanction, however, finding that Gregory‘s misconduct was not as egregious as Croushore‘s or Schramski‘s. Instead, they found our decisions in Disciplinary Counsel v. Fletcher, 122 Ohio St.3d 390, 2009-Ohio-3480, 911 N.E.2d 897, and Disciplinary Counsel v. Vivyan, 125 Ohio St.3d 12, 2010-Ohio-650, 925 N.E.2d 947, to be more instructive.
{¶ 14} In Fletcher, the attorney had failed to maintain required records to document the identity of funds in his client trust account, used his client trust account as his operating account, and provided impermissible financial assistance to a client. Fletcher at ¶ 4-6, 11. We found that his failure to follow adequate accounting practices, however, was the result of his “complete lack of understanding and appreciation of his duty to safeguard client funds.” Id. at ¶ 16. And although he had commingled personal and client funds, the amounts involved were small, no one had accused him of misappropriation, and no clients were harmed as a result of his misconduct. Id. at ¶ 15-16. Consequently, we found that the appropriate sanction for Fletcher‘s misconduct was a six-month suspension, stayed on the conditions that Fletcher complete one year of monitored probation and that he commit no further misconduct. Id. at ¶ 17. And in Vivyan, we imposed a six-month stayed suspension for an attorney who withdrew $1,535 in unearned fees from his client trust account. Vivyan had practiced law for 40 years without misconduct and had made timely restitution in that he replenished his trust account when he learned that it was overdrawn. Id. at ¶ 13.
{¶ 16} Accordingly, we suspend Michele L. Gregory from the practice of law in Ohio for six months, all stayed on the conditions that she complete a one-year term of monitored probation in accordance with
Judgment accordingly.
O‘CONNOR, C.J., and PFEIFER, LUNDBERG STRATTON, O‘DONNELL, LANZINGER, CUPP, and MCGEE BROWN, JJ., concur.
Michael A. Bonfiglio, Bar Counsel; MacMillan, Sobanski & Todd, L.L.C., and Richard S. MacMillan; and Handwork & Kerscher, L.L.P., and Jeffrey M. Kerscher, for relator.
Michele L. Gregory, pro se.