| Description: |
William R. Reseburg (WSBA No. 5794, admitted 1974), of Seattle, resigned in lieu of disbarment, effective April 3, 2006. This resignation was based on ongoing conduct involving trust-account irregularities.
Commencing in the mid-1980s, Mr. Reseburg’s solo practice involved representing insurance companies in collection suits against at-fault uninsured motorists. Mr. Reseburg would obtain default judgments against the at-fault motorists and enforce the judgments by having the Department of Licensing revoke the motorists’ driver licenses until the motorists satisfied the judgments against them. Motorists who satisfied the judgments against them, either by making a one-time payment or entering into installment agreements with Mr. Reseburg’s office, could be eligible to get their drivers licenses reinstated. Mr. Reseburg generally had hundreds of cases open.
In late 2002, while searching for a missing file, Mr. Reseburg’s legal assistant discovered about 20 files in Mr. Reseburg’s desk drawers. The legal assistant was unaware that Mr. Reseburg stored any files in his desk drawers. Review of one of the files revealed that there was no record of payment of settlement proceeds to the client. After additional investigation, the legal assistant became aware of a number of other files in which a satisfaction of judgment had been entered but there was no evidence of settlement proceeds being disbursed to the client. After confronting Mr. Reseburg, who denied knowledge of the files, the legal assistant filed a grievance with the Bar Association. The Bar Association conducted an audit of Mr. Reseburg’s trust account for the period of December 1998 through August 2004. The audit disclosed the following conduct, which constituted grounds for discipline:
• Mr. Reseburg failed to maintain adequate records and render appropriate accounts to clients. This included depositing over $66,000 of unidentified funds into the trust account, recording $26,000 of funds in his check register that were never deposited into the trust account, and failing to note in the check register two check disbursements to himself totaling $7,500. At the time of the auditor’s report in November 2005, a number of checks written on the trust account remained outstanding, including two written in October 2003 that were unaccompanied by any records of the settlements. When accounting for installment payments, Mr. Reseburg did not reconcile receipts reported to clients with sums deposited into his trust account, resulting in failure to pay his clients almost $19,000 in settlement proceeds.
• Mr. Reseburg deposited earned fees into his trust account and made inappropriate disbursements of fees from the trust account. This included depositing over $100,000 of earned fees into the trust account, 24 instances in a three-year period where Mr. Reseburg issued checks to himself with no client identification other than “attorney’s fees,” several instances where settlement checks had bounced after Mr. Reseburg had disbursed his one-third fee to himself, and incurring over $5,000 of unreimbursed bank charges to the trust account.
• On at least 13 occasions, Mr. Reseburg failed to deposit settlement funds into his trust account, although he continued to pay himself his one-third fee in each of these cases. A total of $104,831 was deposited in this fashion. As of the date of the audit, Mr. Reseburg owed these clients $62,518.68.
• At the time the audit commenced, Mr. Reseburg had a shortfall of $85,547 in his trust account, which he tried to ameliorate in late 2003 by depositing a check for $35,000. Mr. Reseburg did not wait for this check to clear before disbursing amounts owed to his clients. When Mr. Reseburg’s check did not clear, there was an interim period where he used other clients’ funds to cover his disbursements before depositing a second check.
Mr. Reseburg’s conduct violated RPC 1.14(a), requiring that all funds of a client paid to a lawyer be deposited into an identifiable interest-bearing trust account and that no funds belonging to the lawyer be deposited therein except as expressly permitted by rule; 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 possession of the lawyer and render appropriate accounts to his or her client regarding them; RPC 1.14(b)(4), requiring a lawyer to promptly pay or deliver to the client as requested by a client the funds, securities, or other properties in the possession of the lawyer which the client is entitled to receive; RPC 8.4(b), prohibiting a lawyer from committing a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer in other respects; RPC 8.4(c), prohibiting a lawyer from engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation; and RPC 8.4(i), prohibiting a lawyer from committing any act involving moral turpitude or corruption, or any unjustified act of assault or other act which reflects disregard for the rule of law.
Kevin M. Bank represented the Bar Association. Joseph J. Ganz represented Mr. Reseburg. |