In re Hargrove

• Decision Date: 09 March 2017
• Docket Number: No. 16–BG–385,16–BG–385
• Citation: 155 A.3d 375
• Parties: IN RE Barbara Juanita HARGROVE, Respondent.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

155 A.3d 375

IN RE Barbara Juanita HARGROVE, Respondent.

No. 16–BG–385

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Submitted February 2, 2017

Decided March 9, 2017

Barbara Juanita Hargrove, pro se.

Wallace E. Shipp, Jr., Disciplinary Counsel, Jennifer P. Lyman, Senior Assistant Disciplinary Counsel, and Hamilton P. Fox, III, Assistant Disciplinary Counsel, for the Office of Disciplinary Counsel.

Before Beckwith and McLeese, Associate Judges, and Pryor, Senior Judge.

Per Curiam:

Barbara Juanita Hargrove challenges the Report and Recommendation of the Board on Professional Responsibility, in which the Board determined that Ms. Hargrove violated the following Rules of Professional Conduct: Rule 1.1 (a) (failure to provide competent representation); Rule 1.1 (b) (failure to serve the client with commensurate skill and care); Rule 1.3 (c) (failure to act with reasonable promptness); Rule 1.16 (d) (failure to surrender papers and property after termination of representation); and Rule 8.4 (d) (engaging in conduct that seriously interferes with the administration of justice). The Board recommended that Ms. Hargrove be suspended from the practice of law for sixty days, with a requirement to prove fitness to practice as a condition of her reinstatement. We conclude that Ms. Hargrove forfeited her ability to challenge the Board's Report and Recommendation in this court. We accept the Board's findings of fact as supported by substantial evidence and adopt the Board's recommended sanction.

Ms. Hargrove was appointed as personal representative of Emma O. Johnson's estate in 1996. During her time as personal representative, Ms. Hargrove failed to record and collect a judgment on behalf of the heirs, took multiple actions purporting to exercise ownership rights over Ms. Johnson's property when she did not have the legal authority to do so, failed to have the deed to the property transferred from the heirs' guardian to the Estate so that the property could be sold, and allowed the Estate's bank accounts to escheat to the state. Ms. Hargrove was removed as personal representative in 2009. After her removal, Ms. Hargrove refused to give the Estate's file to the successor personal representative for over a year. As of February 2016, Ms. Hargrove had yet to pay a $6,480.84 judgment and an $18,300 award of attorney's fees to the Estate pursuant to court orders from December 2012 and January 2013.

In a three-page brief in this court, Ms. Hargrove contends that (1) the Board inappropriately entered a default judgment against her under D.C. Bar R. XI, § 8 (f), because Disciplinary Counsel did not provide clear and convincing evidence that she violated the Rules of Professional Conduct listed in the specification of charges; (2) she did not violate the Rules of Professional Conduct; and (3) there were procedural errors during the disciplinary process. Disciplinary Counsel responds that Ms. Hargrove is precluded from raising these contentions in this court and that in any event the contentions lack merit.

We agree with Disciplinary Counsel that Ms. Hargrove's contentions have been forfeited. Ms. Hargrove had numerous opportunities to challenge the allegations against her and to object to any procedural errors, but she failed to properly do so. First, Ms. Hargrove did not timely file an answer to the specification of charges. After missing earlier deadlines, Ms. Hargrove belatedly moved to late-file two answers, citing only the "press of business" as a reason for her tardiness. Pursuant to D.C. Bar Rule XI, § 8 (f), the Hearing Committee entered an order of default, concluding that Ms. Hargrove had not demonstrated that her failure to timely file an answer was due to excusable neglect. The Hearing...