"1. Respondent is an attorney at law; his Kansas Attorney Registration number is 6974, and his last registration address for the Clerk of the Appellate Courts> of Kansas is: 8600 W. 95th Street, Suite 104, Overland Park, Kansas 66212.

"2. Respondent has engaged in the active practice of law in Kansas and Missouri for 25 years. His practice was initially concentrated in the domestic relations and divorce area, but in the last 6 to 8 years has been concentrated in the areas of workers' compensation and personal injury .

"3. Respondent's client, Ms. Hager-Early, was injured in an accident on January 12, 1990, and employed Respondent to represent her in filing a lawsuit. A contingent fee based upon the amount of the recovery was agreed upon but never put into writing. The lawsuit was filed January 10, 1992, by Respondent.

"5. Respondent attempted to negotiate with his client's insurance company concerning repayment of the PIP lien in the amount of $3,489.36, from the proceeds of settlement; the insurance company refused to negotiate, and insisted upon being paid the amount of its PIP lien.

"6. Upon settlement of the case, Respondent received three checks, including a check for $3,489.36 made payable jointly to his client, her insurance company, and Respondent.

"7. On March 3 Respondent had the representative for his client's insurance company endorse the PIP lien check. Respondent deposited the check into his trust account and withdrew the amount of his contingency fee, leaving a net deposit of $2,326.24. Respondent wrote a letter to the insurance company advising that he would remit the amount of the PIP lien forthwith to his client's insurance company.

"8. Despite the assurances to his client and her insurance company, Respondent failed to remit the amount of the PIP lien to the insurance company and failed to respond to telephone calls and letters from the insurance company. Respondent failed to notify his client that he took this action.

"9. The amount of the PIP lien proceeds due to his client's insurance company, $2,326.24, initially remained in respondent's trust account; however, respondent withdrew portions of this amount from his trust account and spent it personally. Respondent admitted that he knew that no portion of the PIP lien proceeds could possibly have been payable to him since he had previously withheld from the deposit the amount of his contingent fee for collecting the PIP proceeds. Respondent knew that the full amount of such PIP lien proceeds were payable and belonged to either his client or her insurance company. As the result of having ignored the telephone calls and

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Kansas Personal Injury Attorneys    Personal Injury Lawyers