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Kim Wallace Comfort (WSBA No. 16645, admitted 1987), of University Place, was suspended for 18 months, effective August 17, 2005, by order of the Washington State Supreme Court following a stipulation approved by the Disciplinary Board. This discipline was based on his conduct between 1999 and 2003 involving lack of diligence, failure to communicate with a client, and providing false documents and false information to a client.
In 1999, Mr. Comfort represented a client in a personal injury claim. The client and Mr. Comfort entered into a contingent-fee agreement. From August 1999 through November 2002, Mr. Comfort told the client that he was diligently handling her claim when, in fact, he was not. In July 2002, one day before the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations, Mr. Comfort filed a complaint in the matter in Pierce County Superior Court. In October 2002, Mr. Comfort discovered that the summons and complaint had never been served on the defendants and that his client's lawsuit would be dismissed for failure to effect timely service of process. Mr. Comfort knew that the lawsuit's dismissal would preclude any recovery by his client, because the statute of limitations had expired. In order to conceal his error in failing to effect timely service, Mr. Comfort did not inform the client of the situation. In November 2002, Mr. Comfort contacted his client and falsely told her that he had settled the case for $14,750. Mr. Comfort fabricated the settlement to avoid telling his partners about the potential malpractice claim. Mr. Comfort then fabricated settlement documents and paid the client $7,343.32, which he falsely stated was the client's share of the settlement proceeds. The settlement statement inaccurately reflected that Mr. Comfort had received $4,000 as his contingent fee.
In April 2002, the lawyer for the defendant filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit for failure to effect service. Without his client's knowledge or authorization, Mr. Comfort signed and agreed to entry of a stipulation and order of dismissal. In March 2004, the client contacted Mr. Comfort inquiring about the unpaid PIP claim relating to her personal injury claim. Mr. Comfort falsely stated that the claim had been paid and apparently misapplied to the wrong account. After discovering that there was no settlement from her PIP carrier, the client confronted Mr. Comfort, who apologized and admitted there was no settlement.
Mr. Comfort's conduct violated RPC 1.3, requiring a lawyer to act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing a client; RPC 1.4(a), requiring a lawyer keep a client reasonably informed about the status of a matter and promptly comply with reasonable requests for information; and RPC 8.4(c), prohibiting a lawyer from engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.
Jonathan H. Burke represented the Bar Association. Mr. Comfort represented himself. |