In Re Petition for DISCIPLINARY ACTION AGAINST Patrick Scott DINNEEN, a Minnesota Attorney, Registration No. 293775 , 849 N.W.2d 69 ( 2014 )

OFFICE OF
APPELLATE COURTS
JUL 0 9 2014
STATE OF MINNESOTA
IN SUPREME COURT
FILED
Al4-0537
In re Petition for Disciplinary Action against
Patrick Scott Dinneen, a Minnesota Attorney,
Registration No. 293775.
ORDER
The Director of the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility has filed a
petition for disciplinary action alleging that respondent Patrick Scott Dinneen committed
professional misconduct warranting public discipline. The petition alleges that in the
same litigation, respondent represented a client with interests directly adverse to his
current clients, filed an unsigned affidavit with a court without having communicated
with the affiant about the topics addressed in the affidavit or the affidavit itself, and made
a knowingly false statement to a court, in violation of Minn. R. Prof. Conduct l.7(a)(l),
3.3(a)(l) and (a)(3), and 8.4(c) and (d). In a stipulation for discipline, respondent
unconditionally admits the allegations of the petition, waives his procedural rights under
Rule 14, Rules on Lawyers Professional Responsibility (RLPR), and with the Director
recommends that the appropriate discipline is a public reprimand and a 2-year period of
unsupervised probation.
•'[W]e have suspended attorneys for misrepresentations made to our judicial
officers." In re Jensen, 542 N.W.2d 627, 634 (Minn. 1996). We have suspended
attorneys when the attorney's misconduct involved a single misrepresentation to a court.
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See, e.g., In re Michael, 836 N.W.2d 753, 758-59, 767 (Minn. 2013) (30-day suspension
for making a false statement to a court, disobeying a court order, making a frivolous
argument, and improperly accusing a judge of bias); In re Warpeha, 802 N.W.2d 361,
361 (Minn. 2011) (order) (60-day suspension for making a false statement about the
attorney's criminal history during voir dire when he was a potential juror); In re Van
Liew, 712 N.W.2d 758, 758 (Minn. 2006) (order) (90-day suspension for making false
statement to a tribunal and failing to file opposition to a motion); In re Scott, 657 N.W.2d
567, 568 (Minn. 2003) (order) (30-day suspension for making false statements to a court
in attorney's divorce and custody proceeding).
After the parties filed their stipulation for discipline, we issued an order to show
cause in which we directed the parties to submit memorandum of law addressing why
respondent should not be subject to more severe discipline because he made a false
statement to a court and committed other acts of misconduct. Both the Director and
respondent filed a memorandum in response to the order to show cause. Along with his
memorandum, respondent submitted an affidavit providing evidence that several
mitigating factors are present in his case.
The court has independently reviewed the file and, in light of the evidence of
mitigating factors, approves the recommended disposition except for the terms of
probation. Given respondent's misconduct at issue in this case, respondent's probation
should be supervised.
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Based upon all the files, records, and proceedings herein,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:
l. Respondent Patrick Scott Dinneen is publicly reprimanded;
2. Respondent is placed on disciplinary probation for 2 years subject to the
following terms and conditions:
a. Respondent shall cooperate fully with the Director's Office in its
efforts to monitor compliance with this probation. Respondent shall
promptly respond to the Director's correspondence by its due date.
Respondent shall provide the Director with a current mailing address and
shall immediately notify the Director of any change of address.
Respondent shall cooperate with the Director's investigation of any
allegations of unprofessional conduct that may come to the Director's
attention. Upon the Director's request, respondent shall provide
authorization for release of information and documentation to verify
respondent's compliance with the terms of this probation;
b. Respondent shall abide by the Minnesota Rules of Professional
Conduct;
c. Respondent shall be supervised by a licensed Minnesota attorney
appointed by the Director to monitor compliance with the terms of this
probation. Within 2 weeks from the date of the filing of this order,
respondent shall provide the Director with the names of four attorneys who
have agreed to be nominated as respondent's supervisor. If, after diligent
effort, respondent is unable to locate a supervisor acceptable to the
Director, the Director shall seek to appoint a supervisor. Until a supervisor
has signed a consent to supervise, respondent shall, on the first day of each
month, provide the Director with an inventory of client files as described in
paragraph d below. Respondent shall make active client files available to
the Director upon request; and
d. Respondent shall cooperate fully with the supervisor's efforts to
monitor compliance with this probation. Respondent shall contact the
supervisor and schedule a minimum of one in-person meeting per calendar
quarter. Respondent shall submit to the supervisor an inventory of all
active client files by the first day of each month during the probation. With
respect to each active file, the inventory shall disclose the client name, type
of representation, action respondent took to ensure there were no conflicts
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of interest with the representation, date opened, most recent activity, next
anticipated action, and anticipated closing date. Respondent's supervisor
shall file written reports with the Director at least quarterly, or at such more
frequent intervals as the Director may reasonably request; and
3. Respondent shall pay $900 in costs pursuant to Rule 24, RLPR.
Dated: July 9, 2014
BY THE COURT:
Associate Justice
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