Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board v. John Michael Carter , 847 N.W.2d 228 ( 2014 )

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF IOWA
No. 13–1333
Filed May 23, 2014
IOWA SUPREME COURT ATTORNEY DISCIPLINARY BOARD,
Appellee,
vs.
JOHN MICHAEL CARTER,
Appellant.
Appeal from the report of the Grievance Commission of the
Supreme Court of Iowa.
Attorney appeals from the grievance commission’s recommendation
of revocation. LICENSE REVOKED.
Christopher R. Kemp of Kemp & Sease, Des Moines, for appellant.
Charles L. Harrington and Elizabeth E. Quinlan, Des Moines, for
appellee.
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CADY, Chief Justice.
The Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board charged
John Michael Carter with several violations of the Iowa Rules of
Professional Conduct. The gravamen of these charges is that Carter
converted client funds for personal use without a colorable future claim
to them. The Board also charged Carter with other violations flowing
from the alleged conversions. The Grievance Commission of the
Supreme Court of Iowa found Carter converted client funds and had no
colorable future claim to them. It recommended Carter’s license be
revoked. On our review, we find Carter violated the rules of professional
conduct by converting client funds and revoke his license.
I. Background Facts and Prior Proceedings.
John Carter was admitted to practice law in Iowa and Nebraska in
2007. Carter maintained offices in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Omaha,
Nebraska. He practiced as a sole practitioner. Prior to attending law
school, he worked as a police officer for seventeen years.
The events that gave rise to this action relate to Carter’s
representation of clients in three separate cases. In late 2008, Carter
was hired by Norma Noland and Clifettia Rose to assist them as the
personal representatives of the estate of their mother, Anna Charles.
Noland and Rose were also beneficiaries under the will. The decedent
was under a conservatorship prior to her death, and Carter had briefly
been employed by Noland and Rose to represent them in opposing an
action taken by the conservator. However, Anna Charles died a short
time after Carter began representing Noland and Rose, and he performed
little legal work for them. Carter had entered into a fee arrangement for
him to be paid $165 per hour.
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On February 20, 2009, the conservator sent a check to Carter in
the amount of $7334.61. These funds represented assets of the
conservatorship that had become assets of the estate. Carter deposited
the check into his office trust account the same day. However, he
subsequently withdrew $6300 of the funds from the account. He
withdrew $1800 on March 17, 2009, and $4500 on April 3, 2009. The
withdrawal of these funds served as a basis for part of the disciplinary
complaint brought against Carter by the Board.
In another case, Carter represented Rodney and Barbara
Eastridge. He received a check from an insurance company in the
amount of $52,766.46, which represented proceeds from an insurance
claim by the Eastridges. Carter deposited the funds into his office trust
account, but later withdrew $17,600 of the funds and placed them into
his business account. He subsequently used a portion of these funds for
his personal benefit.
In a third matter, Carter represented Shirley Suber in various legal
problems encountered by Suber. Eventually, Carter sought and obtained
a loan from Suber for $60,000. Suber acquired the loan proceeds by
withdrawing the funds from her retirement account. She paid taxes and
a penalty as a result of the transaction. Carter told Suber his law license
was in jeopardy, and he desperately needed the money. The loan was
not reduced to writing, and Carter did not advise Suber to seek
independent counsel and did not obtain informed consent prior to the
transaction. Once Carter obtained the loan proceeds, he promptly sent
Noland and Rose checks for $3300.
Suber was later forced to file bankruptcy, which she did in
Maryland. During the bankruptcy proceedings, Carter initially
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acknowledged the loan, but later claimed the funds were in payment of
legal fees he had earned from representing Suber.
In 2011, the Nebraska Supreme Court revoked Carter’s license to
practice law in Nebraska. State ex rel. Counsel for Discipline of the Neb.
Supreme Ct. v. Carter, 808 N.W.2d 342, 352 (Neb. 2011) (per curiam).
The proceedings were primarily confined to the Anna Charles estate
matter. The Supreme Court agreed with the court-appointed referee,
which concluded:
The conclusion is inescapable that [Carter] paid
himself fees before they were earned, attempted to conceal
the withdrawal by repaying the money and characterizing it
as a “distribution” from the estate, and, when that ruse
failed, created after-the-fact billing statements to make it
appear he had fully earned the money before it was
withdrawn. From April 2009 until December 2009, the
$6,300.00 was in [Carter’s] possession or converted to his
personal use and unaccounted for.
Id. at 347, 349.
The Board eventually filed a multiple-count indictment against
Carter, which it subsequently amended to include more counts. With
respect to the Anna Charles estate, the Board charged Carter with
violating Iowa Rules of Professional Conduct 32:1.15(a) and 32:8.4(c), as
well as their Nebraska counterparts, Nebraska Court Rules of
Professional Conduct 3-501.15(a) and 3-508.4(c). With respect to the
Eastridge matter, the Board charged Carter with violating Iowa Rules of
Professional Conduct 32:1.15(b), 32:8.4(b), 32:8.4(c), 32:8.4(d), as well as
their Nebraska counterparts, Nebraska Court Rules of Professional
Conduct 3-501.15(b), 3-508.4(b), 3-508.4(c), and 3-508.4(d). With
respect to Carter’s financial transactions with Shirley Suber, the Board
charged Carter with violating Iowa Rules of Professional Conduct
32:1.8(a) and 32:1.8(b), as well as their Maryland counterparts, Maryland
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Rules of Professional Conduct 1.8(a) and 1.8(b). With respect to Carter’s
interaction with Suber’s bankruptcy attorney during her bankruptcy
proceeding, the Board also charged Carter with violating Iowa Rules of
Professional Conduct 32:4.1(a) and 32:8.4(d), as well as their Maryland
counterparts, Maryland Rules of Professional Conduct 4.1(a) and 8.4(d).
Finally, the Board alleged Carter made false statements in the 2012
reciprocal discipline proceeding and accordingly charged Carter with
violating Iowa Rules of Professional Conduct 32:8.4(b) and 32:8.4(c).
At the hearing on the complaint, Carter claimed the funds he
withdrew from his trust account in March and April of 2009 were to pay
his fee for legal services performed in connection with the Anna Charles
matter. He further claimed the supporting fee documentation was not
available to verify the amount of his fee because it was lost when a
computer program malfunctioned. Yet, Carter offered a different account
in response to the Nebraska proceedings. When he first responded to the
counsel for discipline in Nebraska, he did not assert any entitlement to
the funds as payment for legal services. Instead, he said he intended to
distribute the trust account funds to Noland and Rose in the near future.
Carter told a third story to the Iowa trust account auditor to explain the
withdrawal of the funds from the trust account. He told the auditor that
the funds were taken from his trust account because Noland used them
to pay him for his legal services in periodic increments of approximately
$200.
Following the hearing, the commission found Carter violated Iowa
Rules of Professional Conduct 32:1.8(a) (entering a business transaction
with a client without obtaining informed consent), 32:1.8(b) (using
information relating to representation to the disadvantage of the client),
32:1.15(a) (misappropriating property), 32:1.15(b) (commingling lawyer
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and client funds), 32:4.1(a) (making a false statement of material fact to a
third person), 32:8.4(a) (violating or attempting to violate the Iowa Rules
of Professional Conduct), 32:8.4(b) (committing a criminal act reflecting
adversely on a lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer),
32:8.4(c) (engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or
misrepresentation), and 32:8.4(d) (engaging in conduct prejudicial to the
administration of justice). In particular, it found Carter converted the
Anna Charles funds from his trust account without a colorable claim. It
recommended that his license to practice law be revoked.
II. Scope of Review.
“We review attorney disciplinary matters de novo.” Iowa Supreme
Ct. Att’y Disciplinary Bd. v. Lemanski, 841 N.W.2d 131, 133 (Iowa 2013).
“We give the commission’s findings respectful consideration, but we are
not bound by them.” Iowa Supreme Ct. Att’y Disciplinary Bd. v. Boles,
808 N.W.2d 431, 434 (Iowa 2012).
III. Ethical Violations.
We agree with the commission that Carter violated the rules of
professional conduct identified by the commission. In particular, we find
Carter did not have a colorable future claim to the Anna Charles funds in
the trust account to avoid a finding of misappropriation of client funds.
This finding is critical to the outcome of this proceeding and makes it
unnecessary for us to discuss the other violations in detail.
The professional standards pertaining to the protection of client
funds “are well known and . . . long-standing.” Iowa Supreme Ct. Bd. of
Prof’l Ethics & Conduct v. Anderson, 687 N.W.2d 587, 590 (Iowa 2004).
Misappropriation or conversion of client funds results in revocation,
except in instances in which the attorney had a colorable future claim to
the funds or did not take the funds for personal use. Id. In those
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instances in which the attorney has a colorable future claim to the
funds, the violation only pertains to the failure to follow the various
requirements for the safekeeping of client funds. See, e.g., Iowa Supreme
Ct. Att’y Disciplinary Bd. v. Powell, 830 N.W.2d 355, 357, 359–60 (Iowa
2013) (suspending lawyer’s license for improper depositing of advance
fees in office operating account instead of client trust account); Iowa
Supreme Ct. Att’y Disciplinary Bd. v. Casey, 761 N.W.2d 53, 61 (Iowa
2009) (suspending lawyer’s license for taking the second half of an estate
fee before receiving court approval under Iowa Court Rule 7.2(4)).
In this case, Carter uses the colorable-claim defense to argue that
he merely took fees in violation of the trust fund accounting and
notification requirements. See Iowa R. Prof’l Conduct 32:1.15. This
claim requires us to first consider the burden of proof in cases in which
an attorney is accused of conversion of client funds. It is well-known
that the Board bears the burden of proving all violations by “ ‘a
convincing preponderance of the evidence.’ ” Iowa Supreme Ct. Att’y
Disciplinary Bd. v. Conrad, 723 N.W.2d 791, 792 (Iowa 2006) (quoting
Iowa Supreme Ct. Bd. of Prof’l Ethics & Conduct v. Lett, 674 N.W.2d 139,
142 (Iowa 2004)). The question here is whether the burden shifts in any
way for the attorney to prove a colorable future claim.
In civil proceedings, shifting burdens of proof and production are
common. See, e.g., Vaughan v. Must, Inc., 542 N.W.2d 533, 538 (Iowa
1996) (describing the so-called McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting
framework common to employment discrimination litigation).
Furthermore, a defendant normally bears the burden of proof on an
affirmative defense in a civil matter. See, e.g., Armstrong v. City of
Des Moines, 232 Iowa 711, 715, 6 N.W.2d 287, 289 (1942) (“The plea of
the statute of limitations is an affirmative defense and the burden of
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proof is upon the pleader.”). In contrast, the burden of proof in criminal
proceedings generally does not require a defendant to prove an
affirmative defense; instead, an affirmative defense asserted by a
defendant “places the burden of going forward with evidence, or
production, on the defendant, but leaves the burden of persuasion on the
prosecution.” State v. Wilt, 333 N.W.2d 457, 462 (Iowa 1983); accord
State v. Delay, 320 N.W.2d 831, 834 (Iowa 1982) (describing the
difference between an element of a criminal offense and an affirmative
defense offered by the defendant).
The burden applicable to professional misconduct proceedings is
neither proof beyond a reasonable doubt nor a preponderance of the
evidence. See Iowa Supreme Ct. Att’y Disciplinary Bd. v. Conroy, 795
N.W.2d 502, 505 (Iowa 2011) (“Although this burden is less demanding
than proof beyond a reasonable doubt, it requires a greater showing than
the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard.”). Considering the elevated
burden of proof appertaining to professional misconduct proceedings and
the prosecutorial nature of the proceedings, the framework applicable to
criminal proceedings should apply to disciplinary proceedings. Thus, an
attorney in a disciplinary proceeding bears the burden of coming forward
with evidence of a colorable future claim, but the burden to prove
conversion remains with the Board.
We next consider the concept of a colorable future claim to client
funds. The phrase first surfaced in Anderson, see 687 N.W.2d at 590,
but it was a concept we have recognized for a much longer period of time,
see Iowa Supreme Ct. Bd. of Prof’l Ethics & Conduct v. Allen, 586 N.W.2d
383, 385, 390 (Iowa 1998) (suspending the law license of a lawyer who
took fees from a conservatorship without first obtaining court approval);
Comm. on Prof’l Ethics & Conduct v. Jackson, 492 N.W.2d 430, 433, 435
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(Iowa 1992) (suspending the law license of a lawyer who took fees before
obtaining court approval required by probate rule); Comm. on Prof’l Ethics
& Conduct v. Rauch, 486 N.W.2d 39, 40 (Iowa 1992) (per curiam)
(suspending law license of a lawyer who took a fee in a conservatorship
without first obtaining court approval). While any form of conversion of
client funds violates our rules of professional conduct, the colorable-
future-claim defense exists to distinguish “for purposes of sanctions
between conduct involving trust fund violations and conduct in the
nature of stealing.” Powell, 830 N.W.2d at 359. Thus, the defense
generally permits an attorney to avoid revocation of a license to practice
law when client funds are converted for payment of attorney fees before
the fees have been earned or approved. See id. at 357, 359 (involving
circumstances in which an attorney paid himself fees from client funds
before the fees were earned); Iowa Supreme Ct. Att’y Disciplinary Bd. v.
McCann, 712 N.W.2d 89, 97 (Iowa 2006) (involving circumstances in
which an attorney converted a fee retainer into payment of fees prior to
earning the fees); Allen, 586 N.W.2d at 384–86 (involving circumstances
in which an attorney for a conservatorship took fees prior to court
approval).
In examining the evidence in the Anna Charles matter, we are
confronted with numerous inconsistent positions by Carter, as well as
conduct blatantly contrary to basic standards of the practice of law.
These circumstances significantly undermine the veracity of his eventual
defense that his conduct did not amount to conversion of client funds.
Moreover, Carter uses the colorable-claim defense to cover
circumstances it was not intended to cover. He argues he performed
legal services for the executors in the Anna Charles matter that entitled
him to a fee. He also claims the loss of his billing records prevented him
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from showing the amount of the fee he earned, but asserts there was no
evidence offered by the Board to show he did not do any work to earn the
amounts he withdrew from the trust account.
The contours of a colorable future claim have not been sharply
drawn, but a few observations pertinent to this case can be distilled from
our prior cases. A colorable-future-claim defense to revocation of a
license to practice law as a sanction for conversion of client funds
broadly applies to the premature conversion of client funds intended as
attorney fees, as opposed to the conversion of client funds with no future
claim of right to the funds. See Powell, 830 N.W.2d at 358–59
(addressing the broad distinction recognized by a colorable future claim);
Iowa Supreme Ct. Att’y Disciplinary Bd. v. Reilly, 708 N.W.2d 82, 84–85
(Iowa 2006) (same). Yet, a colorable-future-claim defense may also
involve the premature taking of a fee by an attorney in an amount greater
than the actual fee ultimately earned. We have generally been more
willing to allow the colorable future claim to continue to shield an
attorney from revocation when the premature fee claim exceeds the
actual fee earned if the funds converted were retainer funds. See Boles,
808 N.W.2d at 439, 441–43 (suspending attorney who withdrew retainer
fees in advance of earning them, but in fact earned at least a substantial
portion of the fees); Iowa Supreme Ct. Att’y Disciplinary Bd. v. Parrish,
801 N.W.2d 580, 586, 590 (Iowa 2011) (suspending attorney who
prematurely withdrew entire amount of retainer funds as fees in excess
of amount actually earned). Since retainer funds exist for the purpose of
paying attorney fees that will be incurred in the future, the conversion of
retainer funds by an attorney can be consistent with a claim that the
funds were intended to be earned as fees. The intent to withdraw funds
as fees is essential to a colorable-future-claim defense.
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In the Anna Charles matter, Carter converted funds from his trust
account that were not held as a retainer or advance fee. They were funds
of the estate that could only be used as attorney fees if approved by the
court. Additionally, Carter converted the funds at times that were
inconsistent with an intent to take the funds as estate fees. The evidence
further supported a finding that the amount of funds converted by Carter
had no relationship to an amount that would be actually earned. Under
these circumstances, the evidence failed to support a colorable future
claim to avoid revocation. A colorable future claim to nonretainer funds
does not involve a bare claim that some of the converted funds would
have been earned. In essence, that is the claim asserted by Carter.
Moreover, we have made it clear that conversion does not depend on the
amount of funds converted. See Comm. on Prof’l Ethics & Conduct v.
Rowe, 225 N.W.2d 103, 103, 104 (Iowa 1975) (ordering revocation of
license for the conversion of client funds in the amount of $1500).
We conclude the Board proved by a convincing preponderance of
the evidence that Carter converted client funds when he withdrew $6300
from his trust account in March and April 2009 and that he did so
without a colorable future claim to the funds. The claim by Carter that
he was unable to establish his right to the client funds because of lost
records was not supported by credible evidence. He failed to come
forward with credible evidence.
IV. Sanctions.
We revoke an attorney’s license to practice law for stealing client
funds. Reilly, 708 N.W.2d at 84–85. Carter converted client funds in
this case without any colorable future claim to the funds. This conduct
alone is enough to support revocation, and it is unnecessary for us to
further consider the impact of his other unethical conduct. See Iowa
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Supreme Ct. Att’y Disciplinary Bd. v. Strand, 841 N.W.2d 600, 604 (Iowa
2014).
V. Conclusion.
We revoke the license of John Michael Carter to practice law in this
state. The costs of this proceeding are assessed against Carter.
LICENSE REVOKED.