The Florida Bar v. Richardson

• Decision Date: 19 April 1990
• Docket Number: No. 73214,73214
• Parties: 16 Fla. L. Weekly 184 THE FLORIDA BAR, Complainant, v. T. Carlton RICHARDSON, Respondent.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

Page 60

574 So.2d 60

16 Fla. L. Weekly 184

THE FLORIDA BAR, Complainant, v. T. Carlton RICHARDSON, Respondent.

No. 73214.

Supreme Court of Florida.

April 19, 1990.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 30, 1990 and Feb. 14, 1991.

John F. Harkness, Jr., Executive Director and John T. Berry, Staff Counsel, Tallahassee, and Bonnie L. Mahon, Asst. Staff Counsel, Tampa, for complainant.

T. Carlton Richardson, Washington, D.C., in pro. per.

Daniel A. Medeiros, Tampa, for respondent.

PER CURIAM.

T. Carlton Richardson, a Florida Bar member who practices law in Washington, D.C., petitions this Court to review the referee's recommendation that he be given a public reprimand and placed on probation for six months for charging excessive attorney's fees. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 15, Fla.Const. For the reasons expressed, we approve the referee's findings of fact, yet find, based on the circumstances detailed below, that a ninety-one-day suspension is the more appropriate sanction.

The record indicates that on March 31, 1983, Roosevelt Jones, a seventy-four-year-old retired longshoreman, and his seventy-three-year-old wife retained Richardson to probate the estate of Leula King in Tampa, Florida. Jones agreed to pay Richardson a $500 origination fee and ten percent of the estate's gross value. The parties agreed that the origination fee would be applied toward that percentage. Nothing in the agreement indicated whether the percentage of the estate's gross value was a minimum and the agreement did not provide for an hourly rate. King's estate was not complex, consisting of one piece of real property valued at approximately $22,000. King had died approximately fifty years earlier and had no outstanding debts. Between February 24, 1984, and July 5, 1985, Richardson prepared the necessary documents to carry out the probate of King's estate. For this work, Richardson charged the Joneses $10,550.99. In this disciplinary proceeding, Richardson testified that a portion of the legal fees represented a monthly cover charge which he imposed on all of his clients to permit him to provide pro bono legal assistance, that he charged the Joneses a minimum of twenty minutes per phone call even if no one answered the phone so long as an effort was made to reach them, and that he billed the Joneses a minimum of forty-five minutes per page for documents he prepared.

When Richardson realized that the Joneses did not have the cash to pay the attorney's fees but had a mortgage-free residence, he suggested that they obtain a loan and assisted them in obtaining one from Community Federal Savings and Loan Association of Tampa. A substantial portion of the $13,000 loan was used to satisfy Richardson's fees.

Subsequently, Mrs. Jones consulted with another attorney, who advised her, along with her husband, that Richardson's fees were excessive. After the couple advised Richardson that they were terminating their relationship, Richardson withdrew as counsel. The Joneses retained another lawyer to complete King's estate and seek reimbursement of the attorney's fees paid to Richardson. At a hearing in the Hillsborough County Circuit Court, Probate Division, the Honorable Dennis Alvarez heard expert testimony and determined that $2,500 was a reasonable fee in the probate case and that $150.29 was the amount of costs incurred. He then directed Richardson to make restitution for all money received in excess of $2,650.29. The Second District Court of Appeal affirmed, Richardson v. Jones, 508 So.2d 739 (Fla. 2d DCA), review denied, 518 So.2d 1277 (Fla.1987), ¹ but remanded the cause for a recalculation of the fees paid by the Joneses. On remand, Judge Alvarez determined that the Joneses had paid $10,550.99 for the work completed on King's estate. After subtracting $2,650.29 as reasonable attorney's fees and costs, he found that Richardson was required to reimburse King's estate $7,970. ² The court also required Richardson to reimburse King's estate $6,500 for the expense the estate incurred in defending itself regarding the excessive attorney's fees before the probate court and the Second District Court of Appeal and $1,000 for fees incurred in the two proceedings before this Court. A final judgment was entered against Richardson on behalf of the estate. The Second District Court of Appeal rejected Richardson's appeal of this judgment as not being timely filed.

In addition to employing Richardson to probate the estate, the Joneses employed him to prepare their wills. The couple's combined income at that time was less than $14,000 and their gross estate was worth no more than $75,000. The Joneses agreed to pay Richardson $85 for the initial consultation, a $750 origination fee, and a minimum attorney's fee of $1,250. No hourly rate was established. The Joneses paid Richardson $1,444.93 for these services. Richardson also sent the Joneses an invoice for $1,273.97 for general services, charging them for, among other things, a finder's fee associated with assisting Mrs. Jones in obtaining the loan to pay his fees.

After a complaint was filed against Richardson, he argued that the grievance committee lacked impartiality since the panel excluded black persons. Both the grievance committee and the referee denied this challenge. We note that, during the course of his argument before the referee, Richardson stated: "I am not arguing, Your Honor, that the men and women who sat on the panel did not give their best, I am not arguing that they were in any way prejudiced towards me."

The referee heard expert testimony concerning the reasonableness of the legal fees. That witness testified that (a) $2,500 is perhaps a generous fee for the probate of King's estate; (b) $400 is a generous fee for the work performed on the Joneses' wills; and (c) $200 or $300 is sufficient for the general services. On cross-examination by Richardson, the expert stated that "[b]illing hourly rates is not ... necessarily a measure of what is a reasonable fee in a given case," explaining that "the time is not necessarily the time devoted, it's the time that reasonably should be devoted to accomplish a particular task." (Emphasis added.) He further stated that this was an uncomplicated probate matter.

The referee found that Richardson charged his clients fees which were clearly excessive in violation of The Florida Bar Code of Professional Responsibility, Disciplinary Rule 2-106 (a lawyer shall not charge a client a clearly excessive fee). The Bar argued that a ninety-one day suspension was an appropriate penalty for Richardson's actions. The referee recommended the following discipline for Richardson:

[A] public...