MATTER OF GREENSPAN, 90-242.

• Decision Date: 27 July 1990
• Docket Number: No. 90-242.,90-242.
• Citation: 578 A.2d 1156
• Parties: In the Matter of Jeffrey Lee GREENSPAN, Respondent. A Member of the Bar of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

578 A.2d 1156

In the Matter of Jeffrey Lee GREENSPAN, Respondent A Member of the Bar of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals

No. 90-242.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Submitted June 12, 1990.

Decided July 27, 1990.

Before ROGERS, Chief Judge, and NEWMAN and FARRELL, Associate Judges.

PER CURIAM:

Respondent was charged with engaging in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice in violation of DR 1-102(A)(5). Specifically, respondent was charged with failing to attend meetings and to supply information to the Superior Court Auditor-Master, and failure to respond to Bar Counsel's inquiries regarding these failures.

At the same time respondent was facing these charges, he was given a six-month suspension by the Maryland Court of Appeals for making false statements to a bank on behalf of a client. Upon the recommendation of the Board, we administered reciprocal discipline nunc pro tunc. In re Greenspan, No. 88-1185 (April 25, 1990).

After an evidentiary hearing, the Board found that respondent violated DR 1-102(A)(5) by engaging in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice. Bar Counsel recommended public censure, and the Hearing Committee recommended a 180-day suspension due to the presence of aggravating circumstances, namely respondent's suspension for dishonesty in Maryland. The Board has adopted the Hearing Committee's proposal and recommends a 180-day suspension. Neither party filed briefs or exceptions with the Board or with this court.

We accept the Board's findings of fact as supported by substantial evidence, and we attach the Board's Report and Recommendation hereto and incorporate it by reference. We also agree with the Board that, in light of the significant record of prior discipline stemming from respondent's Maryland case, public censure is an inadequate sanction. See In re Jones (II), 534 A.2d 336, 337 (D.C.1987). Respondent's pattern of lying under oath, as demonstrated by this case and respondent's Maryland case, evinces a serious lack of fitness to practice law and leads us to conclude that a 180-day suspension borders on inadequacy as well. Therefore, in addition to a 180-day suspension, we require that respondent prove his fitness to practice before reinstatement. In re Morris, 495 A.2d 1162, 1163 (D.C.1985) (this court "shall adopt the recommended disposition of the Board unless to do so would foster a tendency toward inconsistent dispositions for comparable conduct or otherwise would be unwarranted.").¹

Accordingly, it is:

ORDERED that, pursuant to D.C.Code § 11-2502 (1989), respondent, JEFFREY LEE GREENSPAN, is suspended from the practice of law in the District of Columbia for 180-days, with proof of fitness to practice law required before reinstatement. This order shall be effective thirty (30) days from the date of this opinion. Respondent's attention is directed to the provisions of District of Columbia Bar Rule XI, § 14 governing disbarred and suspended attorneys.

ROGERS, Chief Judge, concurring:

I write separately out of concern that respondent not be unaware of what will be required if he decides to seek reinstatement. While the Board on Professional Responsibility and the court will have to examine all of the circumstances at such a time, and cannot be bound by Bar Counsel's view of what is required, guidance from Bar Counsel to respondent about what would be minimally required for Bar Counsel to support respondent's request for reinstatement would provide guidance for respondent in any area where little if any guidance exists. See In re Harrison, 511 A.2d 16 (D.C.1986) and In re Roundtree, 503 A.2d 1215 (D.C.1985).

BOARD ON PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURT OF APPEALS

Bar Docket No. 160-88

BOARD REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

This matter is before the Board on the Report and Recommendation of Hearing Committee No. 10, which, after an evidentiary hearing, concluded that Respondent had violated DR 1-102(A)(5) (engaging in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice). The specific misconduct found involved Respondent's failure to attend meetings and to supply information to the Superior Court Auditor-Master, coupled with Respondent's disregard of Bar Counsel's inquiries concerning those very failures.

Bar Counsel recommended the sanction of public censure. The Hearing Committee found significant aggravating circumstances and recommended a 180-day suspension. Neither party filed exceptions or briefs with the Board. We recommend a suspension for 180 days.

Findings of fact

We adopt the Findings of Fact made by the Hearing Committee, which we find to be supported by substantial evidence in the record, as follows:

1. Respondent was admitted to practice before the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in 1975 (BX A).¹

2. On May 5, 1986, Respondent became counsel for Norbert T. Ungar, a defendant in a civil action pending in the Superior Court, captioned Ungar v. Ungar, Civil Action No. 14284-83.

3. The Ungar litigation was a family dispute over an apartment house property. Among other relief, the plaintiffs were seeking an accounting from Respondent's client for rents collected from the property.

4. On the same day that Respondent entered his appearance, Judge Joseph M. Hannon referred the case to the Auditor-Master "to determine the accountability of the collection of the rentals" from the property. (BX 2) (Tr. 27-28).

5. On July 29, 1987, approximately 14 months after the reference order, the Auditor-Master notified counsel in the Ungar case that a meeting would be held on September 30, 1987 "for the purpose of executing the Order of Reference." (BX 7) (Tr. 28-29).

6. Although this notice had been received by Respondent (Tr. 81, 113, 149), Respondent did not show up at the meeting. Opposing counsel appeared but, because of Respondent's absence, the meeting was not productive. (Tr. 29-30, 115).

7. Respondent had a conflicting court appearance on the day of the meeting. His law clerk contacted the Auditor-Master's office to attempt to obtain a postponement of the meeting. The proper procedures for obtaining a postponement from the Auditor-Master's office were not followed and, in fact, the meeting was not postponed. (Tr. 41-42, 61-62).

8. On October 1, 1987, the Auditor-Master sent a new notice to Respondent, requesting an explanation for Respondent's failure to attend the September 30 meeting (BX 8) (Tr. 30). Respondent received this notice (Tr. 30, 81, 115, 149), but did not respond.

9. On October 5, 1987, the Auditor-Master sent a further notice to Respondent, this time requiring Respondent to file an accounting on behalf of his client within one month (BX 9) (Tr. 31). Although Respondent received this notice, he once again failed to respond (Tr. 31, 127).

10. A further notice (BX 10) was sent by the Auditor-Master on March 30, 1988, demanding an explanation for Respondent's failure to appear at the September 30, 1987 meeting and the failure to file the accounting (Tr. 31-32). This notice was also received by Respondent and it, too, elicited no response (Tr. 32, 150). This last unanswered notice led the Auditor-Master, on April 25, 1988, to contact the Office of Bar Counsel (BX 6) (Tr. 32).

11. On May 13, 1988, June 21, 1988, and July 19, 1988, the Office of Bar Counsel sent its standard letters of inquiry to Respondent, requesting response to the Auditor-Master's allegations of misconduct. (BX 11-13) (Tr. 19-21). These letters each warned Respondent that his failure to respond could be the basis for imposition of discipline, and each established a deadline for response. Respondent received these notices, but made no response. When an Assistant Bar Counsel personally telephoned Respondent about this matter on August 9, 1988, Respondent told her that he would file a written response by August 12, 1988 (Tr. 19-21). Respondent did not file a response on August 12, 1988 (Tr. 21).

12. On August 16, 1988, Respondent was personally served by the Office of Bar Counsel with a further letter of inquiry, which enclosed copies of Bar Counsel's three earlier letters (BX 14) (Tr. 141). Respondent testified under oath at the hearing that he did, in fact, respond to this last letter on August 23, 1988, by preparing and mailing to Bar Counsel a three page, single-spaced letter with numerous attachments (BX 11) (Tr. 142). The Hearing Committee found, as a matter of fact, that Respondent had not actually prepared and sent the letter dated August 23 to Bar Counsel as he had testified.

Discussion and Conclusions

In his written submission to the Hearing Committee following the hearing, Respondent conceded that his failures to respond to the Auditor-Master and Bar Counsel constituted conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice. See Respondent's Proposed Findings of Fact, dated 2/16/89, at p. 6. But even if the violations had not been conceded, we would have to find the charged violations were proven based on the evidence in this record. The only issue that remains for us now is the appropriate sanction for these violations.

Respondent urges that he should receive no more than an informal admonition because, with respect to his non-compliance with the requests of the Auditor-Master, Respondent had "no intent to subvert the judicial process" and a "good faith belief that the matter had been settled between the parties." (Ibid.) With respect to his failure to respond to Bar Counsel, Respondent offers what he labels a "sincere apology" and an acknowledgement "that he should have taken greater care to see to it that the August 23, 1988 letter (R.E. 11), reached its intended destination.

Bar Counsel recommended a sanction short of suspension because there was "no demonstrable prejudice" to the client and because the case "does not involve a charge of dishonesty" (emphasis added). Bar Counsel's Proposed Findings of Fact, dated 2/2/89, at pp. 10-11. Even though Bar Counsel recognized that Respondent showed...