Attorney Grievance Comm'n of Md. v. Wills

441 Md. 45

105 A.3d 479

ATTORNEY GRIEVANCE COMMISSION OF MARYLAND

v.Talieb Nilaja WILLS.

Misc. Docket AG No. 99, Sept. Term, 2013.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

Dec. 18, 2014.

Lydia E. Lawless, Asst. Bar Counsel (Glenn M. Grossman, Bar Counsel, Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland), for petitioner.

No argument on behalf of Respondent.

Argued before BARBERA, C.J., HARRELL, BATTAGLIA, GREENE, ADKINS, McDONALD, WATTS, JJ.

Opinion

BARBERA, C.J.

On February 19, 2014, Petitioner, the Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland, acting through Bar Counsel, filed with this Court a Petition for Disciplinary or Remedial Action (the “Petition”) against Respondent, attorney Talieb Nilaja Wills. The Petition alleged violations of the Maryland Lawyers' Rules of Professional Conduct (“MLRPC”) in connection with Respondent's misappropriation of funds belonging to his client, Mrs. Millicent Goode, and his deceitful responses to questions, from Bar Counsel and others, concerning both his use of those funds and his representation of Mrs. Goode. Specifically, the Petition alleged that Respondent violated MLRPC 1.5 (fees); MLRPC 1.15(a) (safekeeping property); MLRPC 4.1(a) (truthfulness in statements to others); MLRPC 8.1(a) and (b) (Bar Admission and Disciplinary Matters); and MLRPC 8.4(a), (b), (c), and (d) (misconduct).

On February 20, 2014, this Court designated the Honorable David A. Boynton of the Circuit Court for Montgomery County (“hearing judge”) to conduct an evidentiary hearing and issue written findings of fact and conclusions of law. On March 20, 2014, Respondent was served with process, in compliance with Maryland Rule 16–753. Respondent did not file a response to the Petition, timely or otherwise. On April 23, 2014, the hearing judge entered a default order against Respondent.

Respondent did not move to vacate the order, although he appeared, unrepresented, at the subsequent hearing on the Petition, which occurred on July 16, 2014. The hearing judge heard evidence from Petitioner and one complainant testifying for Petitioner—Steven Weinberg, the personal representative of Mrs. Goode's estate. Respondent cross-examined Mr. Weinberg but did not testify or present any witnesses. On August 6, 2014, the hearing judge issued written findings of fact and conclusions of law, in which he concluded, by clear and convincing evidence, that Respondent had violated MLRPC 4.1(a); MLRPC 8.1(a) and (b); and MLRPC 8.4(a), (b), (c), and (d). Neither party filed exceptions to either the hearing judge's underlying factual findings or his legal conclusions. Respondent did not make a recommendation for sanction; Petitioner recommended disbarment.

On October 3, 2014, we heard oral argument, at which only Petitioner appeared. The same day, we entered a per curiam order disbarring Respondent. Attorney Grievance Comm'n v. Wills, 440 Md. 182, 100 A.3d 1143 (2014). We explain in this opinion the reasons for that action.

I.

As summarized, the hearing judge found the following facts.

Respondent was admitted to the Maryland Bar on December 19, 2002. He maintained an office for the practice of law, Wills Law, PC, in Montgomery County, Maryland. Sometime in 2009, Mrs. Millicent Goode, who was in her 80s, entered into an attorney-client relationship with Respondent. No formal retainer agreement was ever executed. During his representation, Mrs. Goode was residing in a retirement home. Her health was poor, so she relied on Respondent to care for her finances.

On or about April 8, 2010, Respondent prepared, and Mrs. Goode executed, a “Durable Power of Attorney for Financial and Business Matters of Millicent R. Goode” (“Power of Attorney”). The Power of Attorney “appointed the Respondent as Mrs. Goode's agent to make financial and health care decisions[ ]” and provided that all of Mrs. Goode's future tax returns were to be prepared, executed, and filed by Respondent.

The same day Mrs. Goode signed the Power of Attorney, Respondent added his name as a joint owner of Mrs. Goode's Bank of America bank account (“joint bank account” or “account”). At that time, the account had a balance of $14,157.06. According to bank records, for the most recent years immediately prior to 2009, Mrs. Goode received approximately $3,000 each month in retirement benefits and spent approximately that same amount each month on her personal finances. There was no history of her making cash withdrawals or using a check card.

Once Respondent had his name added to the joint bank account, he began withdrawing cash and making debit card purchases for his personal use. By the end of June 2010 (less than three months after Respondent added his name to the account), the account balance was $2.92.

On June 30, 2010, Mrs. Goode sold her home, located in Washington, D.C., for $245,971.71.¹ That sum was deposited into the joint bank account. Respondent began accessing those funds for his own use. He wrote himself multiple checks from the account and withdrew tens of thousands of dollars in cash. Respondent used account funds to pay his personal utility and cellular phone bills, to buy clothes, meals at restaurants, and alcohol, as well as to purchase plane tickets to Miami, Las Vegas, and Hawaii, and pay for hotels while on those trips.

In or about March 2011, Mrs. Goode suffered a stroke and was admitted to Howard University Hospital. After the stroke and until her death on June 10, 2012, Mrs. Goode lived in various rehabilitation and assisted living facilities. During that time, she returned often to Howard University Hospital for ongoing care and treatment.

By the time of Mrs. Goode's death, there were no funds left in the joint bank account. Respondent nevertheless wrote several checks from the account to cover Mrs. Goode's funeral and burial expenses. Those checks were returned for insufficient funds.

Following Mrs. Goode's death, the civil service annuity payments she had been receiving monthly in the amount of $3,000 continued to be deposited into her account. Respondent did not return the money to the government and instead spent the money.

After the death of Mrs. Goode, her son, Clyde V. Goode, hired an attorney, Steven Weinberg, to assist him in closing the estate. Mr. Weinberg, who later was appointed the personal representative of the estate, sent repeated requests to Respondent asking for information relating to Respondent's work for Mrs. Goode. Mr. Weinberg specifically requested the original retainer agreement, documentation of Mrs. Goode's expenses, her original will, her tax returns for years 2009–2011, and all documents necessary for the probate of her estate.

On August 26, 2012, Respondent provided Mr. Weinberg with a “Memorandum,” which Respondent intended to serve as his response to Mr. Weinberg's request. With the Memorandum, Respondent included an itemized account summary that explained some of the work he had done on behalf of Mrs. Goode. The Memorandum purported to summarize Respondent's work on behalf of Mrs. Goode and included the monetary value of some of that work; the summary contained only some of the detailed financial information Mr. Weinberg had requested. The Memorandum set forth several specific representations relating to Respondent's time and work with Mrs. Goode. Respondent represented that Mrs. Goode's house was sold in 2010, because if she did not sell it, she was going to be fined $100 a day, by the Washington, D.C. government, retroactively to 2009. Respondent stated that he had been involved in the sale of the home with the District of Columbia and had prepared and filed tax returns on behalf of Mrs. Goode. He noted his attorney rate, which he said had been agreed upon with Mrs. Goode, was to be $300 per hour, and that he would be compensated for any administrative work at $85 an hour. He stated that he visited Mrs. Goode in her retirement home three times a week, regularly spoke to the doctors and nurses at Howard University Hospital about Mrs. Goode's medical care, and had talked to Mrs. Goode's health insurance provider, Care First, on her behalf. Respondent noted, too, that there were three outstanding bills including a disputed bill with a rehabilitation facility, a disputed bill with an assisted living facility, and a bill for a separate rehabilitation center. He added that Mrs. Goode also had an outstanding bill with Howard University Hospital for $78,000.

After reviewing the Memorandum and itemized account summary, Mr. Weinberg repeatedly requested additional documentation.

Respondent did not reply to those requests. The hearing judge found that Respondent's itemized “accounting” of the work he had performed for Mrs. Goode was “fabricated by the Respondent in an effort to knowingly and intentionally mislead Mr. Weinberg and Mr. Goode and to cover up his misappropriation.”

Attorney Grievance Commission Investigation

On October 31, 2012, Mr. Goode filed a complaint with Petitioner. Bar Counsel, on behalf of Petitioner, forwarded the complaint to Respondent on November 16, 2012, and requested a written response within fifteen days. Bar Counsel did not receive a response from Respondent and therefore sent a second letter on December 13, 2012. When Bar Counsel did not receive a response to that letter, she sent a third letter on January 22, 2013. In the third letter, Bar Counsel also requested an explanation for Respondent's failure to respond to the first two letters. Respondent again failed to reply to Bar Counsel's letter.

Eventually an investigator working on behalf of Petitioner was able to reach Respondent by personally serving him with a subpoena at a courthouse where he was present for a hearing for another of his clients. After receiving the subpoena for himself and for the Bank of America records of accounts held by Respondent, Respondent agreed to provide a statement under oath.

Bar Counsel interviewed Respondent on April 30, 2013. Although Respondent gave a statement under oath, he failed to bring any of the subpoenaed documents with him. Respondent...