In re Matson

• Decision Date: 18 January 2017
• Docket Number: A16-0137
• Citation: 889 N.W.2d 17
• Parties: IN RE Petition for DISCIPLINARY ACTION AGAINST Jesse David MATSON, a Minnesota Attorney, Registration No. 0389131.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

889 N.W.2d 17

IN RE Petition for DISCIPLINARY ACTION AGAINST Jesse David MATSON, a Minnesota Attorney, Registration No. 0389131.

A16-0137

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

Filed: January 18, 2017

Susan M. Humiston, Director, Joshua H. Brand, Senior Assistant Director, Office of

Lawyers Professional Responsibility, Saint Paul, Minnesota, for petitioner.

Jesse D. Matson, Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, pro se.

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

The Director of the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility (Director) filed a petition for disciplinary action seeking reciprocal discipline and a supplementary petition for disciplinary action against respondent Jesse David Matson. The Director alleged that Matson committed financial misconduct by misappropriating client funds, failing to place client funds in trust, failing to return unearned fees, and using improper fee agreements. The Director further alleged that Matson committed dishonest conduct by making false statements to clients and fabricating a document. The other alleged misconduct in the petitions included neglecting and abandoning numerous client matters, failing to communicate with numerous clients, failing to abide by court rules, filing a frivolous motion, failing to cooperate with the investigation of several disciplinary complaints, and being placed on suspension by the North Dakota Supreme Court. We deemed the allegations admitted after Matson did not respond to either petition. The sole issue before us is the appropriate discipline. We conclude that it is disbarment.

Matson was admitted to practice law in Minnesota on October 31, 2008, and in North Dakota on October 10, 2011. On August 31, 2015, the North Dakota Supreme Court suspended Matson for 6 months and 1 day. In re Matson , 869 N.W.2d 128, 129 (N.D. 2015). The Director filed a petition for disciplinary action seeking reciprocal discipline. See Rule 12(d), Rules on Lawyers Professional Responsibility (RLPR) (authorizing the Director to file a petition for discipline upon learning "that a lawyer licensed in Minnesota has been publicly disciplined ... in another jurisdiction"). After receiving and investigating additional client complaints against Matson, the Director filed a supplementary petition for disciplinary action. Matson did not serve or file an answer to either the petition or the supplementary petition. We therefore deemed the allegations of the petition and supplementary petition admitted. See Rule 13(b), RLPR (stating that if the respondent fails to file an answer, "the allegations" in the disciplinary petition "shall be deemed admitted"); see also Rule 12(d), RLPR (stating that a final adjudication by another jurisdiction that a lawyer has committed misconduct "shall establish conclusively the misconduct for purposes of disciplinary proceedings in Minnesota"). We also invited the parties to submit written proposals on the appropriate discipline. The Director recommended disbarment, while Matson argued for a suspension and placement on disability inactive status.¹

Matson's misconduct, occurring between 2013 and 2015, covered seven Minnesota client matters and three North Dakota client matters. We summarize the primary instances of misconduct below.

Misappropriation

With respect to the Minnesota misconduct, Matson misappropriated client funds, in violation of Minn. R. Prof. Conduct 8.4(c) and 8.4(d), from his client C.B. C.B. provided Matson with a check for $550 to file a petition for review with our court. Matson submitted the petition to the Clerk of the Appellate Courts on July 21, 2015. But because the petition failed to comply with applicable rules, the clerk rejected the petition and returned it to Matson, along with the $550 filing fee. Matson did not refund the $550 to C.B. or make further attempts to file the petition in compliance with the rules.

Failure to Safekeep Property and Improper Fee Agreements

Matson failed to keep his clients' property safe and failed to return unearned fees and client files, in violation of Minn. R. Prof. Conduct 1.15(a), 1.15(c)(3), 1.15(c)(4), and 1.16(d). From 2013 to 2015, Matson did not maintain either a North Dakota or Minnesota IOLTA account. He did not put funds he received from four clients (C.B., K.W., L.I., and T.K.) into a trust account. Matson also failed to provide four clients (C.B., K.W., L.I., and B.F.) with billing statements or invoices accounting for his use of their funds, and, after accepting a total of $9,000 in retainer fees from three clients (K.W., L.I., and T.K.), he did not return any unearned fees to those clients. Finally, Matson failed to return client files to each of his seven Minnesota clients (C.B., M.W., K.W., L.I., B.F., T.K., and R.O.), even after they requested that he do so.

Additionally, Matson entered into improper fee agreements with three of his clients, in violation of Minn. R. Prof. Conduct 1.5(b)(3) and 1.5(c). Matson entered into an oral contingent fee agreement with M.W. in October 2013. His fee agreements with K.W. and L.I. improperly referred to their retainers as "non-refundable."

Dishonesty

Matson engaged in dishonesty in the course of his representation of three clients, in violation of Minn. R. Prof. Conduct 4.1 and 8.4(c). When C.B. repeatedly requested that Matson send the district court paperwork to clarify a May 2015 order, Matson told C.B. that he had already done so. Matson provided C.B. with a copy of a letter dated July 12, 2015, that he purportedly sent to the court and to the counsel for C.B.'s ex-husband. Matson, however, fabricated the letter and falsely told C.B. that he had sent the letter to the court and opposing counsel.

In addition, Matson falsely told two other clients that he had scheduled hearings when he had not actually done so. In August and September 2015, Matson told K.W. that he had scheduled hearings by conference call in her matter. But K.W. telephoned the court and was informed that Matson had not filed any papers and no hearing had been scheduled. Similarly, in late February or early March 2014, Matson told B.F. that he had scheduled a hearing to clarify a district court order finding B.F.'s motion to be frivolous and imposing sanctions. There were, however, no court records of any such hearing.

Neglect and Failure to Communicate

From 2013 to 2015, Matson neglected seven client matters and failed to communicate with these clients, and in two of these matters, he failed to follow court rules, in violation of Minn. R. Prof. Conduct 1.2(a), 1.3, 1.4, 3.1, 3.2, 3.4(c), and 8.4(d). During the course of his representation of C.B., for example, Matson failed to timely respond to telephone calls, voicemails, e-mails, and texts from C.B.; failed to keep C.B. apprised of the status of her case or provide her with important case-related documents; routinely filed court documents late; and neglected C.B.'s case.

Three of Matson's clients were not aware of any substantive action Matson took on their cases. M.W. retained Matson in October 2013, but Matson did not provide M.W. with any work he had performed or information on any progress he had made on the case. K.W. and L.I. similarly could not confirm that Matson took any substantive action on their cases. L.I. stated that her new attorney had to "start over from the beginning." Although Matson performed some work after T.K. retained him in June 2014, Matson failed to timely communicate with T.K. and neglected his matter.

In January 2014, Matson gave another client, B.F., the wrong date for a hearing in her child-custody matter. Matson did not appear at the hearing, and B.F. traveled from Idaho to Minnesota to attend the hearing after it had already occurred. In that proceeding, the district court ordered monetary sanctions against B.F. and Matson, jointly and severally, for a frivolous motion Matson had filed. Matson filed a notice of appeal of the district court order, without first consulting with B.F. But then Matson did not file any papers with the court of appeals. As a result, the district court ordered monetary sanctions against Matson for "unreasonably contributing to the length and expense of the proceedings to the detriment of the adverse party" by causing the opposing side to incur costs responding to an appeal that never occurred. As of the date of the filing of the supplementary petition, Matson had not paid the order for monetary sanctions.

R.O. retained Matson around late 2014 or early 2015 to appeal his felony conviction in Minnesota state court. Matson failed to timely file the necessary documents and, as a result, on August 5, 2015, the court of appeals dismissed R.O.'s appeal. The court later allowed Matson to reinstate the appeal, and gave directions to Matson on how to proceed with the appeal. Matson did not take any further action. The court of appeals ultimately permitted R.O. to substitute an appellate public defender as R.O.'s counsel.

Finally, Matson failed to inform clients (M.W., K.W., T.K., and R.O.) that he had vacated his North Dakota law office in the fall of 2015. Matson's representation of each of the seven Minnesota clients (C.B., M.W., K.W., L.I., B.F., T.K., and R.O.) ended in the same way: Matson stopped responding to client communications. In the B.F. matter, Matson ceased communicating with his client in May 2014, while in the other six matters Matson stopped responding to communications in August or September of 2015.

Noncooperation

Finally, Matson did not cooperate with the Director's investigation of client complaints, in violation of Minn. R. Prof. Conduct 8.1(b) and Rule 25, RLPR. Six clients (C.B., M.W., L.I., B.F., T.K., and R.O.) filed complaints with the Director between August 2015 and February 2016. Matson did not respond to any of the notices of investigation sent to him by the Director. In each case, the Director sent another letter to Matson a few weeks later requesting a response to the clients' complaints. Matson did not respond.

Reciprocal Discipline

With respect to the North Dakota misconduct, the North...