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In re Bradley11/29/2005
ATTORNEY DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS
This disciplinary matter arises from formal charges filed by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel ("ODC") against respondent, Philip M. Bradley, an attorney licensed to practice law in Louisiana, but currently ineligible to practice.
FORMAL CHARGES
Count I
Respondent represented Kevin Hopper in a personal injury matter stemming from injuries that left Mr. Hopper a paraplegic. Suit was filed in March 1987. Judgment awarding Mr. Hopper $4,282,808.25 was rendered in June 1993 and, following appeals, became final in March 1995. Subsequently, respondent advised Mr. Hopper on investing his judgment proceeds.
In April 1997, respondent approached Mr. Hopper for assistance in providing collateral for respondent's $57,000 business loan for his seafood business. At this time, based on the prior personal injury representation and respondent's subsequent investment advice, Mr. Hopper believed he had an on-going attorney-client relationship with respondent. Mr. Hopper agreed to pledge as collateral 1,600 shares of stock he owned valued at approximately $60,000. In exchange for this pledge, respondent assigned collateral to Mr. Hopper in the form of real estate holdings, promissory notes payable to respondent, future legal fees from respondent's other cases, and 4% ownership in respondent's seafood business.
In April 1998, respondent gave Mr. Hopper further investment advice, advising him to invest a portion of his judgment proceeds with Frankwell Investment Services in Houston, Texas. This investment subsequently resulted in litigation in which respondent participated as a witness on Mr. Hopper's behalf.
In August 1998, after respondent defaulted on the business loan for which Mr. Hopper had provided collateral, the bank sold Mr. Hopper's stock to satisfy the loan. Thereafter, respondent failed to honor his assignment of collateral to Mr. Hopper, who retained other counsel and filed suit against respondent. In April 1999, respondent made a $10,000 payment to Mr. Hopper as partial restitution, but no further payments have been made.
The ODC alleges respondent's conduct in this matter violated Rule 1.8 (conflict of interest) of the Rules of Professional Conduct.
Count II (A-H)
Respondent represented multiple clients who received medical treatment at Baton Rouge Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation ("provider"). Respondent settled seven cases and withheld funds from these settlements to pay the provider. The funds due the provider totaled $14,649. However, respondent failed to remit the payments to the provider and instead converted the funds to his own use.
On November 5, 2000, respondent agreed to pay the provider the balances owed on all of his clients' accounts, including those cases that were still pending, as well as the seven that had settled. The total amount owed at that time was $20,819. Respondent agreed to make thirteen monthly payments of $1,500 each, plus a final payment of $1,319, which was due in December 2001. By the end of December 2001, respondent had made only sporadic payments totaling $9,800 and still owed the provider $11,019.
On December 28, 2001, the provider filed a disciplinary complaint against respondent. Subsequently, respondent made additional payments to the provider. However, as of May 9, 2002, he still owed the provider $9,969.
Furthermore, in making payments, respondent failed to direct the provider to apply them to specific client accounts. As such, the provider applied them to the oldest accounts first. Therefore, of the $14,649 respondent owed on the settled cases, he still owed $4
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