In re Disciplinary Action Against Jellinger, C3-00-1681.

• Decision Date: 26 December 2002
• Docket Number: No. C3-00-1681.,C3-00-1681.
• Citation: 655 N.W.2d 312
• Parties: In re Petition for DISCIPLINARY ACTION AGAINST Richard T. JELLINGER, an Attorney at Law of the State of Minnesota.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

655 N.W.2d 312

In re Petition for DISCIPLINARY ACTION AGAINST Richard T. JELLINGER, an Attorney at Law of the State of Minnesota.

No. C3-00-1681.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

December 26, 2002.

Rehearing Denied January 21, 2003.

Edward J. Cleary, Director, Candace M. Hojan, Senior Assistant Director, Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility, St. Paul, MN.

Edward F. Kautzer and Jack D. Nelson, St. Paul, MN, for Respondent Jellinger.

Heard, considered and decided by the court en banc.

O P I N I O N

PER CURIAM.

In this attorney-discipline proceeding, we review the referee's conclusion that although Respondent Richard T. Jellinger violated the Rules of Lawyers Professional Responsibility (RLPR), he proved by clear and convincing evidence that his depression provided mitigation. We hold that Jellinger's claim of mitigation was not fully supported by the evidence. We also review the referee's recommendation that we suspend Jellinger for one year, retroactive to August 17, 2001, and place him on conditional probation for three years. We conclude that a more severe discipline is appropriate.

Jellinger was admitted to practice law in Minnesota in 1982. He was in private practice from 1982 to about 1989 and from 1994 to 2001, ultimately operating as a sole practitioner specializing in family law, criminal defense, and estate planning and administration. He is currently suspended from the practice of law pending the outcome of this proceeding.

On May 3, 2001, we publicly reprimanded Jellinger and placed him on conditional probation for two years after an investigation by the Director of the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility (Director) revealed that he misused a trust account, neglected clients, and failed to cooperate with the investigation that led to the charges against him. In re Jellinger, 625 N.W.2d 143, 145 (Minn.2001). In the ensuing months, Jellinger ignored requests from the Director's office for information concerning the conditions of his probation. As a result, the Director petitioned for further disciplinary action and we temporarily suspended Jellinger from the practice of law on August 17, 2001.

The current disciplinary proceeding arises from a supplementary petition filed by the Director against Jellinger. The supplementary petition charged Jellinger with misappropriating client funds, failing to act with reasonable diligence, failing to communicate with clients, making false statements, exceeding the scope of representation, failing to expedite litigation, continuing noncooperation with the Director's investigation and other assorted acts of misconduct. Jellinger's answer alleged as mitigation that he suffered from depression during his period of misconduct.

The matter was assigned to a referee, who held a disciplinary hearing on the supplementary petition. The evidence showed that Jellinger's operating account for his law practice had been closed by the bank in December 2000 for chronic overdrafts and that he thereafter used his client trust account to pay his operating and personal expenses. For example, the referee found that Jellinger, acting as the personal representative of an estate, misappropriated $5,200 of estate funds to his client trust account and then disbursed them for his personal benefit; told the heirs and the Director that he had paid $5,280 in federal fiduciary taxes on behalf of the estate, when he had paid nothing; misappropriated $10,000 from the estate account to his client trust account and disbursed the funds to himself or to personal and business creditors; and misappropriated $4,050 from the estate account to his client trust account and disbursed the funds for personal and business expenses.

The referee also found that Jellinger failed to communicate with his clients in an adoption matter, neglected two marital dissolution matters, made false statements to clients and failed to cooperate with the Director's investigation.

Jellinger testified on his own behalf and he called his treating psychologist, Dr. Sheldon Pinsky, as a witness. Dr. Pinsky had seen Jellinger on five occasions over a period of approximately two months, beginning in January 2002. Dr. Pinsky testified that he conducted a series of diagnostic interviews and psychological tests on Jellinger, including the Beck's Inventory Test and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory ("MMPI"). Dr. Pinsky opined that Jellinger had a major depressive disorder; that he had been depressed for over two years; and that his professional misconduct was in large part a result of his depressive disorder, because he did not have the skills or the awareness to appreciate what was happening around him. Dr. Pinsky further opined that if Jellinger adheres to a regimen of antidepressant medication and bi-weekly cognitive therapy, over a period of two to three years, his depression is not likely to reappear.

On cross-examination, Dr. Pinsky acknowledged that the results of the Beck's Inventory Test indicated that Jellinger had only moderate depression. The Director did not call an opposing expert witness.

The referee concluded that Jellinger failed to comply with the terms of his probation, failed to communicate with clients, made false statements to clients, neglected clients, failed to expedite litigation, failed to cooperate with the Director's investigations, misappropriated client funds, and made misrepresentations of fact to the Director. In regard to Jellinger's depression, the referee found that Dr. Pinsky's opinions must be accepted because they were uncontested and they proved mitigation by clear and convincing evidence. He found that Jellinger's "misconduct was largely the byproduct of inadequate treatment of his depression." While the Director sought disbarment, the referee found that disbarment would be "unduly harsh" and, based on the finding of mitigation, recommended a one-year suspension, retroactive to August 17, 2001, and conditional probation for three years. The Director sought review.

I.

The Director ordered the hearing transcript and notified this court within the ten-day time period allotted by Rule 14(e), RLPR. The referee's findings, therefore, are not conclusive and are subject to review. In re Jensen, 468 N.W.2d 541, 543 (Minn.1991). In attorney-discipline cases, we will uphold the referee's findings of fact and conclusions of law if they are supported by the evidence. In re Bergstrom, 562 N.W.2d 674, 677 (Minn.1997) (quoting In re Copeland, 505 N.W.2d 606, 608 (Minn.1993)).

The Director agrees with the referee's findings and conclusions regarding Jellinger's misconduct but disputes the referee's conclusion that Jellinger proved his claim of mitigation by clear and convincing evidence. When an attorney raises a psychological disability as a mitigating factor in an attorney-discipline case, he or she has the burden to prove by clear and convincing evidence that: (1) the attorney has a severe psychological problem; (2) the psychological problem caused the misconduct; (3) the attorney is undergoing treatment and is making progress to recover from the psychological problem which caused or contributed to the misconduct; (4) recovery has arrested the misconduct; and (5) the misconduct is not apt to recur. In re Weyhrich, 339 N.W.2d 274, 279 (Minn.1983).

We conclude that the evidence fell short on at least three Weyhrich factors: causation, recovery sufficient to arrest the misconduct and the misconduct is not apt to recur. As to the latter two, we determine that Jellinger's treatment by Dr. Pinsky, for only two months and during a period when Jellinger was suspended and not...