The opinion
[This decision has been published in Ohio Official Reports at 96 Ohio St.3d. 458.]
OFFICE OF DISCIPLINARY COUNSEL v. CONESE.
[Cite as Disciplinary Counsel v. Conese, 2002-Ohio-4797.]
Attorneys at law—Misconduct—One-year suspension with six months of the
suspension stayed on condition that attorney commit no further
misconduct—Failing to deposit client funds in an identifiable trust
account—Failing to keep records and appropriately account for client’s
funds—Conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or
misrepresentation—Conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice.
(No. 2002-0313 — Submitted June 26, 2002 — Decided October 2, 2002.)
ON CERTIFIED REPORT by the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and
Discipline of the Supreme Court, No. 00-41.
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Per Curiam.
{¶1} This case requires us to decide the sanction for an attorney who failed
to deposit in a trust account funds earmarked to pay his client’s child support
arrearages and then did not honestly account for these funds. We must also decide
whether procedural delay compromised the attorney’s right to a fair hearing. The
Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline found that respondent,
Michael Conese of Hamilton, Ohio, Attorney Registration No. 0032804, engaged
in this misconduct and thereby violated DR 9-102(A) (failing to deposit client funds
in an identifiable trust account), (B)(3) (failing to keep records and appropriately
account for client’s funds), 1-102(A)(4) (conduct involving dishonesty, fraud,
deceit, or misrepresentation), and (5) (conduct prejudicial to the administration of
justice). The board did not find any prejudicial delay and recommended that
respondent be suspended from the practice of law in Ohio for one year with six
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months of this sanction stayed. We agree with the board’s findings and
recommendation.
{¶2} On February 24, 1997, a client retained respondent to defend him
against a felony charge of failure to pay child support. On that day, respondent and
the client met before his arraignment, and they signed an agreement for a total fee
of $3,500, payable in two installments. The first installment of $2,000 was to be
paid immediately, and $1,500 was to be paid on March 26, 1997. The client gave
respondent a check for $2,000 pursuant to the agreement, but the check was
returned for insufficient funds, and he paid nothing on March 26, 1997. The client
later met respondent on April 23, 1997, the date the client appeared in court to enter
a guilty plea, and gave him a bank check for $4,000 payable to respondent.
Respondent thereafter deposited the entire $4,000 in his office bank account.
{¶3} At least two different explanations exist for what happened between
respondent and his client on the day the client tendered this $4,000 check.
Respondent submits that he and his client changed their initial fee arrangement
because respondent had spent so much time on the case and that both orally agreed
to a revised $4,000 fee. The client, however, recalled that respondent promised to
apply $1,000 to reduce the arrearage in his child support payment, and the client
assumed that respondent would keep the remaining $3,000 as his fee.
{¶4} An assistant prosecutor in charge of enforcing the client’s child
support obligation corroborated the client’s recollection. The prosecutor recalled
discussing with respondent his fee arrangement with his client on two separate
occasions. On the first occasion, which was either on February 24 or April 23,
1997, she recalled respondent’s saying that he had placed $1,000 in his trust account
and intended to apply the amount to the client’s child support arrearage. But at a
sentencing hearing on July 23, 1997, at which the client failed to appear, the
prosecutor recalled respondent’s saying that his client had given him money only
to pay his legal fees.
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January Term, 2002
{¶5} The prosecutor did not suspect until more than a year later that
respondent had kept more of his client’s money than he should have. In the
meantime, the client was charged for his failure to appear on July 23, 1997, and had
retained a new attorney. At a plea hearing in August 1998 on the charge of failure
to appear, the prosecutor learned from the client and his new attorney that the client
had paid respondent $4,000 so that $3,000 would be used for respondent’s legal
fees and $1,000 would be used for owed child support. The prosecutor also learned
that the $1,000 had not been applied to the arrearage.
{¶6} On October 16, 1998, the prosecutor reported to the Butler County Bar
Association the possibility that respondent had retained his client’s money without
authority. A representative of the bar association began to investigate and sent a
letter, dated March 2, 1999, to the client inquiring about his relationship with
respondent. Thereafter, the bar association transferred the cause to relator,
Disciplinary Counsel, to complete the investigation.
{¶7} During the investigation, relator asked respondent to explain what
happened to the $4,000 his client gave him on February 24, 1997. Respondent had
no office accounting records of the transaction, and in his written response, he never
mentioned any agreement to revise the contract for his professional services. He
instead represented that his client had signed the bank check over to him, that they
went to a bank and cashed the check, and that respondent kept $3,000 while his
client, who was there with his parents, kept the balance.
{¶8} Relator filed a complaint on June 5, 2000, charging respondent with
various violations of the Code of Professional Responsibility. After respondent’s
motion to dismiss due to investigative delay was overruled, a panel of the board
found the facts as stated. The panel concluded that respondent violated DR 9-
102(A) and (B)(3) by keeping $1,000 of his client’s money and then failing to
properly account for the client’s funds. The panel also found violations of DR 1-
102(A)(4) and (5).
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{¶9} In recommending a sanction for this misconduct, the panel considered
as mitigating the fact that respondent had “never been in any difficulty with the
law” and had served honorably as municipal court judge in Butler County. In
aggravation, the panel considered that respondent had lied during the investigation
of his misconduct because respondent falsely represented that he had returned the
$1,000 in dispute to his client. The panel then accepted the sanction suggested by
relator and recommended that respondent be suspended from the practice of law for
one year, with six months of this sanction stayed on the condition that he commit
no further misconduct. The board adopted the panel’s findings of fact, conclusions
of law, and recommendation.
{¶10} We concur in the board’s decision. Moreover, while the investigation
in this case took approximately one year and eight months, which is prima facie
evidence of unreasonable delay under Gov.Bar R. V(4)(D)(3) (investigation should
be concluded in one year from date grievance is filed), we see no prejudice to
respondent. Respondent’s only complaint in this regard is that he had difficulty
recalling what had happened to the money his client had given him because those
events happened in 1997. But as relator argues, respondent’s inability to explain
his actions resulted not from the passage of time but from his failure to maintain
the required records of his client’s funds.
{¶11} Accordingly, for his violations of DR 9-102(A) and (B)(3) and 1-
102(A)(4) and (5), respondent is hereby suspended from the practice of law in Ohio
for one year; however, six months of this sanction are stayed on the condition that
he commit no further misconduct. Costs are taxed to respondent.
Judgment accordingly.
MOYER, C.J., F.E. SWEENEY, PFEIFER and LUNDBERG STRATTON, JJ.,
concur.
DOUGLAS, J., concurs in judgment only.
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January Term, 2002
COOK, J., dissents.
RESNICK, J., not participating.
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COOK, J., dissenting.
{¶12} Although the majority opinion does not expressly say so, this case
involves the misappropriation of client funds. In such cases, we must begin our
consideration with the presumptive sanction of disbarment. Cleveland Bar Assn. v.
Dixon, 95 Ohio St.3d 490, 2002-Ohio-2490, 769 N.E.2d 816, at ¶ 15. On some
occasions, however, we have given weight to a board’s recommendation of a lesser
sanction because of mitigating circumstances. See, e.g., Disciplinary Counsel v.
Wise (1999), 85 Ohio St.3d 169, 171, 707 N.E.2d 852.
{¶13} It is true that the record shows some mitigating circumstances in this
case. But the record also reveals a significant aggravating circumstance: the
respondent lied during the relator’s investigation of his misconduct. Given the
respondent’s conduct and the serious aggravating circumstance involved here, I
cannot join the majority’s significant downward departure from the presumptive
sanction of disbarment. The respondent should be indefinitely suspended from the
practice of law in Ohio. See, e.g., Wise, 85 Ohio St.3d at 171, 707 N.E.2d 852. I
therefore respectfully dissent.
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Jonathan Coughlan, Disciplinary Counsel, and Kevin L. Williams, Assistant
Disciplinary Counsel, for relator.
George M. Parker, for respondent.
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