In re Saltzstein, A16-1308
| Decision Date | 21 June 2017 |
| Docket Number | A16-1308 |
| Citation | 896 N.W.2d 864 |
| Parties | IN RE Petition for DISCIPLINARY ACTION AGAINST Geoffrey R. SALTZSTEIN, a Minnesota Attorney Registration No. 0390484 |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Susan M. Humiston, Director, Binh T. Tuong, Assistant Director, Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility, Saint Paul, Minnesota, for petitioner.
Geoffrey R. Saltzstein, Edina, Minnesota, pro se.
The Director of the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility filed a petition for disciplinary action against respondent Geoffrey R. Saltzstein, alleging, in part, misappropriation of client funds, false statements, failure to diligently handle client matters, failure to adequately communicate with clients, failure to enter into proper fee agreements and communicate the basis of rates and fees, and noncooperation with the Director's investigations. After Saltzstein did not file an answer to the petition, we deemed the allegations of the petition admitted. The sole issue before us is the appropriate discipline. We conclude that the appropriate sanction is disbarment.
Respondent Geoffrey R. Saltzstein was admitted to the practice of law in Minnesota on October 30, 2009.1 Saltzstein's misconduct involved his representation of six clients: C.W., P.A., N.K., M.O., R.R., and R.M.
In November 2010, C.W. retained Saltzstein to defend him in a criminal matter. In December 2010, C.W. pleaded guilty and began to serve his 5-year prison sentence. Saltzstein agreed to hold money in his law firm's trust account that C.W. expected to receive from a settlement of an unrelated civil suit while C.W. was serving his sentence. C.W. gave Saltzstein the first of two installments from the settlement. By the summer of 2011, after a series of deductions that C.W. authorized, the trust account contained $28,663.58 of C.W.'s funds.
Pursuant to a power of attorney from C.W., Saltzstein placed $28,713.58 into a mutual-fund account in C.W.'s name.2 When C.W. received his second settlement installment payment of $9,500, he instructed Saltzstein to place the money into the mutual-fund account. Saltzstein did so.
In 2011, C.W. agreed to pay Saltzstein $3,000 to review C.W.'s criminal case and $3,000 to file a motion to reopen the case. Saltzstein subsequently filed a motion to withdraw C.W.'s guilty plea on C.W.'s behalf. Saltzstein withdrew a total of $7,500 from C.W.'s mutual-fund account, $1,500 more than C.W. had agreed to pay in attorney fees.
In addition to the unauthorized withdrawal of an additional $1,500 for the motion to withdraw the guilty plea, Saltzstein made a series of unauthorized withdrawals from C.W.'s mutual-fund account. Over the next year, Saltzstein withdrew nearly all of C.W.'s mutual-account funds without C.W.'s knowledge or permission, leaving the mutual-fund account with a balance of only $1.75 by March 2013.
Saltzstein made a series of false and misleading statements about C.W.'s mutual-fund account. In August 2014, C.W. requested an accounting of his mutual-fund account. Saltzstein responded that he had liquidated the account and that C.W. would receive the balance of the funds in 10 to 14 days. Saltzstein never provided an accounting. C.W.'s sister emailed Saltzstein, indicating that C.W. had never asked for a liquidation of the mutual-fund account, to which Saltzstein responded that he "was simply safeguarding [C.W.'s] money." In September 2014, when C.W. sought information about the deductions from his mutual-fund account, Saltzstein told C.W. that the liquidated funds were being redeposited and that the balance was about $16,000. In reality, there was no liquidation or funds redeposited, and there was only a balance of $1.75 in the account.
In October 2014, nearing the end of his sentence, C.W. needed money for housing upon leaving prison. Saltzstein told C.W. not to apply for emergency financial assistance, saying "you have the money." Saltzstein, however, had withdrawn almost all of the funds from C.W.'s mutual-fund account.
By November 2014, after C.W. had communicated with the named partner at the law firm where Saltzstein worked, Saltzstein made partial restitution, bringing the mutual-fund-account balance to $23,863, still short of the amount that he had improperly withdrawn.
Saltzstein's misconduct in his representation of C.W. included misappropriation of C.W.'s funds, failure to respond to C.W.'s requests for information, and making false statements to C.W. and his sister, in violation of Minn. R. Prof. Conduct 1.4(a)(4) (), 1.15(a) (), 1.15(c)(3) (), 1.15(c)(4) (), 4.1 (prohibiting a lawyer from making a knowingly false statement during the course of representing a client), 8.4(c) (), and 8.4(d) ().
In March 2015, P.A. hired Saltzstein to represent him in a criminal appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Saltzstein agreed to accept P.A.'s vehicle, a 2008 Yukon, as payment. In accepting the Yukon, however, Saltzstein failed to advise P.A. on the desirability of seeking independent counsel for the transaction, to provide the time and opportunity for P.A. to seek such counsel, and to obtain informed consent to the transaction in a document other than the retainer agreement. Later, during the representation, Saltzstein failed to respond to P.A.'s request to provide copies of the retainer agreement.
In addition to entering into a transaction with his client, Saltzstein also missed filing deadlines while representing P.A. P.A.'s brief was initially due to the Eleventh Circuit on May 19, 2015. Throughout the month of May 2015, while incarcerated, P.A. attempted to contact Saltzstein to discuss his case. Saltzstein did not reply to these communications. The Eleventh Circuit granted Saltzstein two extensions of time to file his brief, moving the deadline to June 25, 2015. Saltzstein, however, never filed a brief. In August 2015, the Eleventh Circuit dismissed P.A.'s appeal. Saltzstein later sold the Yukon and retained the proceeds, despite failing to complete the work on P.A.'s appeal.
P.A. also hired Saltzstein to ensure that P.A. remained compliant with his court-ordered payments to his life-insurance policy while he was incarcerated. P.A. gave Saltzstein $38,635 to pay the premiums, but Saltzstein did not make the payments. The insurance company subsequently cancelled the policy. From June to August 2015, P.A. repeatedly contacted Saltzstein to get information about, and an accounting of, the premium payments on his life-insurance policy. Saltzstein never provided an accounting or responded to P.A.'s communications.
Saltzstein's misconduct in his representation of P.A. included misappropriating the funds set aside for P.A.'s life-insurance premiums, entering into a business transaction with P.A. without the requisite advice and disclosures, retaining the proceeds of the Yukon sale without providing the agreed-upon legal services, failing to diligently handle P.A.'s criminal appeal, and failing to adequately communicate with P.A., in violation of Minn. R. Prof. Conduct 1.3 (), 1.4(a)(4), 1.5(b)(3) (), 1.8(a) (), 1.15(a), 1.15(c)(3), 1.15(c)(4), 1.16(d) (), 3.2 (requiring a lawyer to "expedite litigation"), 8.4(c), and 8.4(d).
In July 2014, N.K. retained Saltzstein to represent him in a parole hearing. N.K. paid Saltzstein $10,000 pursuant to a written fee agreement, $500 of which represented a cost advance. Saltzstein did not deposit the cost advance into a trust account. Saltzstein represented N.K. at a hearing that month, during which N.K.'s parole was revoked. Saltzstein agreed to appeal the revocation "on [Saltzstein's] dollar." Over the next 2 months, Saltzstein assured N.K. that he was working on the appeal. After meeting with N.K. in prison to discuss the appeal in October 2014, however, Saltzstein never again worked on the appeal. As a result, N.K.'s appeal deadline passed without a filing. Saltzstein also did not respond to any of N.K.'s requests for communication, an accounting, or the return of N.K.'s client file.
Saltzstein's misconduct in his representation of N.K. included failure to enter into a proper fee agreement, failure to timely provide an accounting and return N.K.'s client file, failure to diligently handle N.K.'s appeal, and failure to adequately communicate with N.K., in violation of Minn. R. Prof. Conduct 1.3, 1.4(a)(3) and 1.4(a)(4), 1.5(b) (), 1.15(a), 1.16(d), and 8.4(d).
In August 2014, M.O. retained Saltzstein to represent her in a criminal matter. On Saltzstein's recommendation, M.O. spent 57 days in an alcohol-rehabilitation facility. Saltzstein appeared in court with M.O. for hearings in October 2014, December 2014, and January 2015, after which M.O. left the country to study abroad. Saltzstein assured M.O. that he would continue working on her criminal case while she was abroad. Saltzstein appeared in court for a March 2015 hearing, after which he indicated to M.O. that he was trying to "get a deal worked out." Later that month, however, Saltzstein failed to appear for a hearing in M.O.'s case, causing a warrant to be issued for M.O.'s arrest and the forfeiture of her bond. Saltzstein did not inform M.O. of these developments.
In April 2015, the bail...
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