Attorney Grievance Comm'n of Md. v. Green

• Decision Date: 22 December 2014
• Docket Number: No. 46, Sept. Term, 2013,46, Sept. Term, 2013
• Citation: 441 Md. 80,105 A.3d 500
• Parties: ATTORNEY GRIEVANCE COMMISSION OF MARYLAND v. John M. GREEN.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

441 Md. 80

105 A.3d 500

ATTORNEY GRIEVANCE COMMISSION OF MARYLAND

v.John M. GREEN.

No. 46, Sept. Term, 2013

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

Dec. 22, 2014.

Raymond A. Hein, Deputy Bar Counsel (Glenn M. Grossman, Bar Counsel, Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland), for petitioner.

No argument on behalf of Respondent.

Argued before BARBERA, C.J., HARRELL, BATTAGLIA, GREENE, ADKINS, McDONALDS, WATTS, JJ.

Opinion

HARRELL, J.

The Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland (“Petitioner”), acting through Bar Counsel, filed two petitions for disciplinary or remedial action (“PDRA”) against John Melvin Green (“Green” or “Respondent”), pursuant to Maryland Rule 16–751, for alleged violations of the Maryland Lawyers' Rules of Professional Conduct (“MLRPC”). We referred both cases to the Honorable Cynthia Callahan of the Circuit Court for Montgomery County to conduct a consolidated evidentiary hearing and file findings of fact and conclusions of law, according to Md. Rule 16–752.

Neither party filed exceptions to Judge Callahan's findings or conclusions. Moreover, Green did not file any opposition to Petitioner's written recommendation for sanction or take the opportunity to argue before us as to sanction.

I. Judge Callahan's Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law

Judge Callahan made the following factual findings:

Procedural History

Pursuant to an Order of the Court of Appeals dated July 24, 2013, the disciplinary matter docketed in that court as Misc. Docket No. 32, September Term 2013 was transmitted to the Circuit Court for Montgomery County to be heard in accordance with Maryland Rule 16–757. The Clerk of the Circuit Court for Montgomery County docketed the Circuit Court as Case No. 29034–M (hereinafter “the first case”).

On August 28, 2013, John M. Green (hereinafter “Respondent”) was personally served in the first case. Along with the summons, Respondent was served with the Petition for Disciplinary or Remedial Action (“the first Petition”) filed by the Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland (hereinafter “ Petitioner” or “the Commission”).

A Status Hearing and Scheduling Conference were set for September 23, 2013. Petitioner's counsel, Raymond A. Hein, Esq., and Respondent appeared for the September 23rd hearing. By that time, a second disciplinary action had been filed against Respondent in the Court of Appeals (hereinafter “the second case”). Petitioner's counsel and Respondent agreed on the record to consolidate the two disciplinary actions for trial, and a two-day hearing was scheduled for December 16–17, 2013. Pursuant to a Scheduling Order docketed by the Circuit Court on October 10, 2013, the consolidation of the two matters for trial was confirmed.

The joint Scheduling Order pertaining to both cases also included a discovery deadline of November 18, 2013 and set a Settlement Pre–Trial Hearing date of December 2, 2013 at 1:30 p.m. Copies of the Scheduling Order were mailed to Petitioner's counsel and to Respondent. Respondent did not file an Answer with the Circuit Court to either Petition. He also failed to appear for the pretrial hearing on December 2, 2013.

At the Pretrial Hearing, Petitioner's counsel proffered a response from Respondent relating to the first case. The court accepted a copy of that response as an Answer for docketing, which occurred on December 5, 2013. The document accepted is entitled “Defendant's Answer's to Orders.” It was received on September 24, 2013 at the Attorney Grievance Commission, although the Certificate of Service (on the second page) says that a copy was “served on [the] 14th day of January 2013” on Glenn M. Grossman, Esquire (Bar Counsel), more than six months before the first case was docketed.

Respondent did not file an Answer to the second Petition.

When the case was called for trial at approximately 9:55 a.m. on December 16, 2013, Respondent was not present, nor did he appear at any time that morning as the matter proceeded. The court received evidence presented by Petitioner in support of the professional misconduct charges set forth below in both petitions. The hearing was concluded on December 16, 2013.

Upon consideration of the averments of the two petitions, the evidence offered by Petitioner on December 16, 2013 and Petitioner's post-hearing submission of proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law, the court makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law in accordance with Rule 16–757(c).

Findings of Fact

Respondent was admitted to the Maryland Bar on September 7, 1999. His is also licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia. Respondent does not presently maintain a separate law office but practices out of his home in Montgomery County. His home address is 6905 Muncaster Mill Road, Derwood, Maryland 20855 (hereinafter “the Muncaster Mill Road address”).

The First Case (Circuit Court Case No. 29034–M)

The court received Petitioner's Request for Admission of Facts and Genuineness of Documents, to which Respondent failed to respond. Pursuant to Md. Rule 2–424(b), the factual matters set forth therein are deemed admitted, and the eleven (11) documents attached thereto are accepted as genuine. Additionally, the court heard testimony from V'Etta C. Ward, the complainant in the first case, and received several additional documentary exhibits in support of the following factual findings.

V'Etta Ward (“Mrs. Ward”) was married to James S. Ward (“Mr. Ward”) from May, 2006 until Mr. Ward passed away on June 22, 2009. Following her husband's death, Mrs. Ward petitioned to open an estate and obtained letters of administration as personal representative from the Register of Wills for Prince George's County. Mrs. Ward thereafter hired an attorney (Christopher Brown) to assist her with the administration of her husband's estate.

Mrs. Ward testified that owing to problems over personal property between her and Mr. Ward's adult daughter, Angela, she hired Respondent as a second attorney, for the purpose of “keep[ing] the daughter [Angela] from coming in the house and taking things.”

Mrs. Ward testified that she met Respondent in November, 2009 through one of her pastors. By check dated November 7, 2009, she paid Respondent $125.00 as a legal consultation fee. On November 12, 2009, Mrs. Ward and Respondent signed a Retainer Agreement for Respondent to provide legal services in connection with “The Recovery of Assets for the Estate of James S. Ward, The Distribution of Requested Property and All Matters related Thereto.” The agreement provided for payment of an initial retainer in the amount of $3,500, to be applied toward legal services to be billed by Respondent at a rate of $250.00 per hour. The agreement also provided that Respondent would provide Mrs. Ward with monthly interim invoices on a timely basis and that she would be invoiced a replenishing retainer of $1,250.00 once the advanced sum of $3,500.00 was expended.

On February 4, 2010, Mrs. Ward paid Respondent's initial retainer of $3,500.00 by check. Respondent did not deposit Mrs. Ward's $3,500.00 check into an attorney trust or escrow account. The retainer amount had not yet been fully earned as of the date Respondent received Ms. Ward's payment.

Prior to his receipt of Mrs. Ward's retainer payment, Respondent provided assistance in arranging a date for Angela Ward to come and pick up personal property from the home titled in the name of the late James S. Ward, where Mrs. Ward was still residing. Angela Ward came to the house on January 23, 2010 for that purpose. Respondent was also present.

After January 23, 2010, Respondent continued to visit Mrs. Ward at her home, and they occasionally socialized. Meanwhile, Mrs. Ward sought Respondent's additional legal guidance with regard to abandoning the Fort Washington residential property titled in her late husband's name. The property was encumbered by two mortgages which in total exceeded the market value of the home. Mrs. Ward had no legal ownership interest in the property.

Respondent eventually began looking into the possibility of having Mrs. Ward abandon the real property. In December, 2010, Respondent, who was unfamiliar with the subject matter, arranged a meeting with an estates and trusts lawyer. Respondent's billing statements reveal that he also spent substantial time researching Maryland statutes and case law, as well as “case law in DC and Virginia,” before drafting and finalizing a document titled “Petition for Authority to Abandon Real Property Asset.” Petitioner introduced evidence establishing that the petition to abandon was filed on February 1, 2011 with the Register of Wills for Prince George's County in the Estate of James S. Ward. On February 17, 2011, the Orphans' Court for Prince George's County approved an Order granting Mrs. Ward's request to abandon the property.

From the time of Mrs. Ward's $3,500.00 retainer payment on February 4, 2010 until August 11, 2011, Respondent did not send Mrs. Ward monthly or other periodic invoices showing services performed on her legal matter. He did not inform Mrs. Ward that her initial retainer was depleted, nor did he request a replenishing retainer from her, in that period. After the filing and granting of the petition to abandon property in February 2011, Respondent provided no additional legal services to Mrs. Ward.

Mrs. Ward testified that she asked Respondent “[a]bout every other month,” whether he was going to issue an invoice for legal services. He would tell her not to worry about it, and Mrs. Ward assumed Respondent's billing “never made it to the 3500.” Despite her requests, it was not until August 11, 2011 that Respondent presented Mrs. Ward an invoice, titled “Pre-bill Worksheet.” Respondent's accompanying letter claimed a balance was due of $7,845.98 for legal fees and expenses, after crediting Mrs. Ward's $3500.00 retainer against the total billed charges of $11,345.98. The August 11, 2011 Pre-bill Worksheet was the first and only bill for services Mrs. Ward received from Respondent.

The August 11,

...