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In re Armant11/19/2004
ATTORNEY DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS
This disciplinary matter arises from formal charges filed by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel ("ODC") against respondent, William G. Armant, an attorney licensed to practice law in Louisiana but currently on interim suspension.
PRIOR DISCIPLINARY HISTORY
Before we address the current charges, we find it helpful to review respondent's prior disciplinary and ineligibility history. Respondent was admitted to the practice of law in Louisiana in 1992. Three years later, in 1995, respondent was disciplined for the first time, in the form of an admonition by the disciplinary board for incompetence, neglect of a legal matter, and failure to communicate with his client. In 1997, respondent was again admonished by the disciplinary board for neglect of legal matters and failure to communicate with his client.
On July 5, 2001, this court ordered that respondent be placed on interim suspension pursuant to a joint motion filed by respondent and the ODC. In re: Armant, 01-1918 (La. 7/5/01), 791 So. 2d 631. Thereafter, respondent filed a petition for consent discipline with this court. The petition proposed that respondent be disbarred from the practice of law for his substantial pattern of misconduct, including neglect of legal matters, failure to communicate with his clients, failure to protect his clients' interests upon termination of the representation, engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation, commingling and converting client and third-party funds, and failure to cooperate with the ODC. We rejected the petition for consent discipline and remanded the matter for further proceedings. In re: Armant, 01-3004 (La. 4/24/02), 814 So. 2d 1289.
Having considered the background of respondent's prior disciplinary infractions we now turn to an examination of the current charges against him.
UNDERLYING FACTS
The ODC filed two sets of formal charges against respondent. The first set of formal charges bears the disciplinary board's docket number 02-DB-042 and consists of a consolidation of the three sets of formal charges subject of respondent's previous petition for consent discipline as follows: 00-DB-077 filed on June 19, 2000 and encompassing twenty counts of misconduct, 00-DB-136 filed on November 6, 2000 and encompassing one count of misconduct, and 01-DB-022 filed on February 12, 2001 and encompassing two counts of misconduct. The second set of formal charges bears the disciplinary board's docket number 02-DB-105, consists of eleven counts of misconduct, and was filed on October 17, 2002. The two sets of charges were heard by different hearing committees before being consolidated by an order of the chair of the disciplinary board adjudicative committee on April 15, 2004.
00-DB-077/02-DB-042
Count I -- The Roberts Matter
In August 1997, Todd Roberts retained respondent to handle a personal injury matter. Respondent failed to adequately communicate with Mr. Roberts, ignoring his telephone messages and certified mail, and failed to keep Mr. Roberts advised of the status of his case.
After Mr. Roberts filed a complaint against respondent with the ODC in June 1999, respondent stated he would contact Mr. Roberts to apologize and "rectify his concern." Nevertheless, respondent failed to do so.
Count II -- The Barrett Chiropractic Clinic Matter
Respondent represented eight personal injury clients who were referred to Barrett Chiropractic Clinic for medical treatment in 1993 and 1994. The clinic provided respondent with a notice of health care provider privilege in each case. Nevertheless,
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