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Ricardo A. Guarnero (WSBA No. 18922, admitted 1989), of Seattle, was disbarred, effective July 8, 2004, by an order of the Washington State Supreme Court following a hearing. This discipline was based on his conduct in 2000 involving forging a client's signature and submitting the forgery to the court and opposing counsel.
In 2000, Mr. Guarnero agreed to represent a client in her lawsuit against King County alleging a sexual assault while she was an in-patient at a treatment facility. The county's summary judgment motion was set for May 19, 2000. On May 10, 2000, the client drove to the office and signed her declaration. Due to a copy-machine error, the signature page of the client's declaration was omitted from the copy sent to the prosecutor and to the judge. The court considered the client's declaration, denied the summary judgment motion, and ordered Mr. Guarnero to fax a copy of the executed signature page to the court and counsel by 4:30 that afternoon. Unsure he could locate the original, Mr. Guarnero asked his assistant to call the client to have her come down to the office, but didn’t reach her. By the time the client called back, Guarnero told her he had found the signed copy. Mr. Guarnero then forged the client's name on a second copy of the declaration and faxed the forgery to the court and to the prosecutor. Based on expert testimony that the signature was a forgery, the court did not grant reconsideration. It held a hearing on the summary judgment motion at which the client testified, but the court did not rule at that time. The parties settled before she ruled. Mr. Guarnero continued to represent the client after the forgery was discovered and did not advise the client of a potential conflict of interest.
Mr. Guarnero's conduct violated RPCs 8.4(b), prohibiting committing a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer in other respects [RCW 9A.60.020, Forgery]; 8.4(c), prohibiting conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation; 3.3(a)(1), prohibiting knowingly making a false statement of law or material fact to a tribunal; 3.3(a)(4), prohibiting offering evidence the lawyer knows to be false; 8.4(d), prohibiting conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice; 1.4, requiring lawyers to keep clients reasonably informed of the status of their matters; and 1.7(b), prohibiting lawyers from representing clients if the representation may be materially limited by the lawyer's own interests, unless the lawyer reasonably believes the representation will not be adversely affected and the client consents in writing after a full disclosure.
Thomas V. Harris and Joanne Abelson represented the Bar Association. Kurt Bulmer represented Mr. Guarnero. Robert Redman was the hearing officer. |