In the Matter of Timothy Walter Boyd ( 2021 )


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  • In the Supreme Court of Georgia
    Decided: August 10, 2021
    S21Y0608. IN THE MATTER OF TIMOTHY WALTER BOYD.
    PER CURIAM.
    This disciplinary matter is before the Court on the report and
    recommendation of the special master, Laura J. Murphree,
    recommending that the Court disbar Thomas Walter Boyd (State
    Bar No. 072790) from the practice of law for his violations of Rules
    1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.15 (I), 4.1, and 8.4 of the Georgia Rules of
    Professional Conduct, see Bar Rule 4-102 (d), in connection with his
    handling of one client matter. This Court recently rejected Boyd’s
    third petition for voluntary discipline as to a different disciplinary
    matter. See In the Matter of Boyd, 
    310 Ga. 1
    , 4-5 (849 SE2d 172)
    (2020).
    In this case, Boyd, who has been a member of the Georgia Bar
    since 1992 and the Virginia Bar since 1988, failed to answer the
    properly served formal complaint1; therefore, the facts set out in that
    complaint were deemed admitted. See Bar Rule 4-212 (a). Those
    facts are that a woman hired Boyd to prepare her last will and
    testament, but passed away in 2017 before the will was completed.
    After the woman’s death, her parents, who lived in Florida, traveled
    to Georgia for the funeral. The deceased’s father submitted a claim
    to the deceased’s life insurance provider for payment owed for
    services provided at the deceased’s residence following her death.
    The insurance company paid the claim in early December 2017 by
    issuing two checks made payable to the estate in the amounts of
    $1,000 and $6,280.
    While in Georgia, the deceased’s parents (accompanied by a
    friend of the deceased) met with Boyd and retained him to assist the
    father in qualifying and serving as the administrator of the
    deceased’s estate. The father provided the insurance company’s
    1The formal complaint ultimately was served by publication pursuant to
    Bar Rule 4-203.1 (b) (3) (ii) after Boyd failed or refused to acknowledge receipt
    of the formal complaint via mail, and an attempt at personal service was
    unsuccessful.
    2
    checks to Boyd and directed him to endorse those checks to the
    service provider as payment for its services. Although Boyd agreed
    to the representation, he failed to provide the deceased’s father with
    an hourly rate for his legal services and instead advised that his fee
    would be between $2,000 and $5,000, depending upon the work that
    needed to be completed. The parties agreed that the fee would be
    paid from the estate, but Boyd never provided an engagement letter
    detailing the scope and proposed costs of the representation, despite
    the father’s repeated requests for it.
    With respect to the representation, Boyd recommended that
    the father (hereinafter, “client”) give him power of attorney to
    complete the final actions of the deceased’s estate because the client
    resided in Florida. The client agreed, and in January 2018, he signed
    a Limited Power of Attorney form that authorized Boyd to make
    decisions concerning only the real estate within the estate. Boyd
    attended a closing of the sale of the deceased’s residence in February
    but failed to provide the client with any closing documents. The
    client eventually obtained a copy of the closing documents from the
    3
    real estate agent and discovered an unauthorized debit item on the
    settlement statement in the amount of $14,397.50 for “Seller
    Probate Attorney Fees to Boyd Law Group, LLC.” The client had not
    authorized the debit for attorney fees and Boyd had never advised
    him of the debit. In the meantime, despite the client directing him
    in December 2017 to pay the service provider for its services and
    making repeated follow-up requests that he do so, Boyd did not pay
    the service provider until the end of February 2018.
    Around the same time, the client asked his deceased daughter’s
    friend to have Boyd give her the checkbook for a bank account Boyd
    opened at Piedmont Bank with the proceeds from the sale of the
    deceased’s residence, along with copies of all checks received for the
    estate, the life insurance policy, and any jewelry appraisals. Boyd
    met the friend at the bank and added her to the bank account. Once
    the friend obtained online access to the account, she confirmed that
    (1) the proceeds from the mortgage closing were deposited into the
    account; (2) Boyd had written two checks payable to “Cash” in the
    amount of $5,750 and $8,900 from that account; (3) the account
    4
    indicated that Boyd used a separate check to pay the service
    provider (rather than endorsing the insurance company checks as
    instructed by the client); (4) the two checks from the insurance
    company were never deposited into an estate account; (5) Boyd never
    opened an estate account; and (6) Boyd was the only authorized
    signatory listed on the account. After the friend notified the client of
    her findings, he instructed her to immediately close the bank
    account and deposit all funds into a new estate account he had
    established, which she did.
    In March 2018, the client sent Boyd correspondence requesting
    an itemized bill for services and fees related to the residential
    mortgage closing, documentation of any and all payments received
    by the estate, and supporting documents related to the two “cash”
    withdrawals from the Piedmont Bank account. The day after the
    client sent the correspondence, the friend learned that Boyd had
    deposited the two checks from the insurance company, which were
    made out to the estate, into a different unauthorized bank account
    located at Fifth Third Bank — an account on which Boyd was the
    5
    only signatory and about which he never advised the client. When
    confronted about this issue, Boyd provided to the friend a cashier’s
    check in the aggregate amount of $7,280 (the total of the insurance
    company’s two checks), which she deposited into the estate account.
    After the client received no response from Boyd to his letter, he
    sent additional correspondence in April 2018, requesting a full
    accounting and additional detailed information about the improper
    and unauthorized fees showing on the settlement statement, the two
    checks Boyd wrote on the Piedmont Bank account made payable to
    cash, and the funds improperly deposited into the unauthorized
    account at Fifth Third Bank. Boyd never responded to the client,
    provided him an accounting, or refunded any unearned fees.
    Based on these facts, the special master found that Boyd
    violated Rule 1.2 by failing to abide by the client’s instructions with
    respect to the representation; Rule 1.3 by failing to promptly pay the
    service provider, provide mortgage closing documents to the client,
    and establish a separate estate account for the property sale
    proceeds; Rule 1.4 by failing to notify the client of the fees or cash
    6
    payments, to inform him of the bank accounts and the withdrawals
    from them, and to provide an itemized accounting of disbursements
    made on behalf of the estate; Rule 1.5 by collecting without his
    client’s knowledge or consent a fee of $14,397.50 from the mortgage
    closing proceeds and two other fees through cash withdrawals from
    the estate proceeds — fees totaling $29,047.50, which is not a
    customary fee for the legal services provided; Rule 1.15 (I) by
    keeping the funds associated with the estate in a checking account
    rather than an approved trust account, disregarding repeated
    requests by the service provider and the client to pay amounts owed,
    and failing to provide the accounting of the funds held for the estate
    despite the client’s requests; Rule 4.1 by falsely advising the real
    estate agent that fees of $14,397.04 were authorized and should be
    disbursed to him as fees in conjunction with the real estate closing;
    and Rule 8.4 by making false statements to the real estate agent
    regarding his entitlement to the $14,397.04 fee, concealing from the
    client the receipt of that fee and the two other withdrawals, and
    7
    concealing from the client the existence of the various unauthorized
    bank accounts.
    In considering the appropriate level of discipline for Boyd’s
    misconduct, the special master referenced the ABA Standards for
    Imposing Lawyer Sanctions, see In the Matter of Morse, 
    266 Ga. 652
    ,
    653 (470 SE2d 232) (1996), noting that, under those standards,
    disbarment is appropriate when a lawyer causes injury or potential
    injury to a client or causes a significant or potentially significant
    adverse effect on the legal system by knowingly converting client
    property, see Standard 4.1; knowingly failing to perform services for
    a client, see Standard 4.4; knowingly deceiving a client with the
    intent to benefit the lawyer or another, see Standard 4.6; and
    knowingly engaging in conduct that is a violation of a duty owed as
    a professional with the intent to obtain a benefit for the lawyer, see
    Standard 7.1.2 The special master found no factors in mitigation of
    2 The special master also referenced ABA Standard 6.11, which provides
    that disbarment is appropriate when an attorney, with the intent to deceive
    the court, submits a false document or improperly withholds material
    information, causing serious or potentially serious harm to a party or on the
    8
    discipline, but she noted that the record showed the following factors
    in aggravation: (1) prior disciplinary history, in that Boyd received
    a formal letter of admonition from the State Bar’s Investigative
    Panel (now the State Disciplinary Board) in 2011, an Investigative
    Panel reprimand in 2012, and an Investigative Panel reprimand in
    2014; (2) dishonest or selfish motive; (3) a pattern of misconduct
    based on this and prior offenses; (4) multiple offenses committed
    within this case; (5) bad faith obstruction of the disciplinary
    proceeding by intentionally failing to comply with rules or orders of
    the Bar; (6) vulnerability of the victim, as an elderly parent burying
    his only child; and (7) substantial experience in the practice of law.
    See Standard 9.22 (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (h), and (i). Noting that this
    Court has disbarred attorneys facing similar charges, see In the
    Matter of Holliday, 
    308 Ga. 216
     (839 SE2d 518) (2020) (disbarring
    attorney for violations of a variety of Rules including Rules 1.2, 1.3,
    and 8.4 (a) (4) in multiple client matters); In the Matter of Johnson,
    legal proceeding. This standard is not applicable to these circumstances, and
    has no bearing on our disposition.
    9
    
    308 Ga. 233
     (838 SE2d 755) (2020) (same); In the Matter of Moore,
    
    303 Ga. 296
     (811 SE2d 343) (2018) (same); In the Matter of Watkins,
    
    302 Ga. 226
     (805 SE2d 816) (2017) (same), the special master
    recommended disbarring Boyd.
    Based on our review of the record, we agree that disbarment is
    an appropriate sanction for Boyd’s actions in this case. Accordingly,
    it is hereby ordered that the name of Timothy Walker Boyd be
    removed from the rolls of persons authorized to practice law in the
    State of Georgia. Boyd is reminded of his duties pursuant to Bar
    Rule 4-219 (b).
    Disbarred. All the Justices concur.
    10
    

Document Info

Docket Number: S21Y0608

Filed Date: 8/10/2021

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 11/20/2021