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L. Eugene Hanson (WSBA No. 3418, admitted 1968), of Goldendale, was ordered to receive a reprimand on October 18, 2005, following a stipulation approved by a hearing officer. This discipline was based on his conduct between 1997 and 2005 involving lack of diligence, failure to communicate with a client, and trust-account irregularities.
In 1996, Mr. Hanson was hired to handle a real estate matter involving a client seeking assistance with a parcel of property located in White Salmon. At the time, Mr. Hanson maintained offices in both White Salmon and Goldendale. He agreed to take the necessary probate action to establish clear title to the property. Between 1996 and 1997, Mr. Hanson actively worked on the matter, but activity was interrupted in early 1997 when out-of-state witnesses failed to sign and return necessary affidavits.
Later in 1997, Mr. Hanson closed his White Salmon office, consolidating it into the Goldendale office. At that time, the client's file was misplaced with closed files from the White Salmon office. Mr. Hanson took no further action in the case until after the client filed a disciplinary grievance in November 2002. In the interim, the client repeatedly called Mr. Hanson to inquire about the status of the matter. Although Mr. Hanson spoke to the client on some of these occasions, he did not locate the file, take further action on the matter, or properly advise the client as to the status of the matter. After the disciplinary grievance was filed, Mr. Hanson made a thorough search for the missing file and eventually located it. He filed a probate action in March 2003, and concluded the estate in October 2005 by establishing his client's ownership of the property.
Prior to the closure of Mr. Hanson's White Salmon office, $970 of the client's funds were being held in Mr. Hanson's White Salmon trust account. In September 1997, Mr. Hanson transferred the balance of the White Salmon trust account into his Goldendale trust account, including the client's $970. Although Mr. Hanson closed out the client's White Salmon ledger, he failed to open a new client ledger for her in the records of his Goldendale trust account. He has never provided the client with a final accounting of the balance of her trust account funds.
Mr. Hanson subsequently became aware that his combined trust account had an excess of funds. He consulted with his former bookkeeper to determine the reason for the discrepancy. They were unable to ascertain the reason for the excess but suspected that it was related to accounts acquired when Mr. Hanson had assumed the practice of a retiring lawyer. Mr. Hanson drew down the balance of the account so that the bank balance corresponded with what he believed were the client balances. As part of the investigation into the client's grievance, Mr. Hanson agreed to cooperate with an examination of his trust accounts. The WSBA auditor found that the reconciled bank balance exceeded the check register balance by $121.26 (reflecting a series of addition errors), that the client ledger accounts exceeded the reconciled bank balance by $1,793, that there were 20 client ledger accounts (totaling $1,965.93) that appeared to be inactive, and that failing to reconcile the client accounts with the reconciled bank balance had contributed to the account discrepancies. The auditor recommended, among other things, that Mr. Hanson restore the $1,793 to his trust account and seek to locate the clients to whom the $1,965.93 belong. Mr. Hanson agreed to comply with the auditor's recommendations.
Mr. Hanson'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 to keep a client reasonably informed about the status of a matter and promptly comply with reasonable requests for information; RPC 1.14(a), requiring a lawyer to deposit all client funds into one or more identifiable interest-bearing trust accounts; and RPC 1.14(b)(3), requiring a lawyer to maintain complete records of all funds, securities, and other properties of a client coming into the lawyer's possession and render appropriate accounts to the client regarding them.
Randy V. Beitel represented the Bar Association. Mr. Hanson represented himself. David A. Thorner was the hearing officer. |