State ex rel. Okla. Bar Ass'n v. Grayson

2021 OK 58

STATE OF OKLAHOMA ex rel. OKLAHOMA BAR ASSOCIATION, Complainant, v. TYNAN DASHAREY GRAYSON, Respondent.

No. SCBD-7066

Supreme Court of Oklahoma

November 16, 2021

BAR DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDING

Tracy Pierce Nester, Assistant General Counsel, Oklahoma Bar Association, for Complainant.

Tynan Grayson, Edmond, Oklahoma, Pro Se.

KAUGER, J.

¶0 The complainant, Oklahoma Bar Association, charged the respondent, Tynan Dasharey Grayson, with seven counts of professional misconduct which involved neglecting multiple clients, failing to cooperate with the investigation, and one count of aggravation stemming from four prior counts of misconduct. The Professional Responsibility Tribunal recommended that the respondent be suspended from the practice of law for two years and a day and that costs be imposed. Upon de novo review we hold that the respondent's license to practice law is suspended for two years and a day. The respondent is assessed costs in the sum of $3, 862.34 for payment not later than ninety days after this opinion becomes final.

¶1 The complainant, Oklahoma Bar Association (Bar Association) charged the respondent, Tynan Dasharey Grayson (respondent/Grayson), with seven counts of professional misconduct resulting from client neglect, neglect in responding to the Bar Association's investigation, and aggravation stemming from four prior counts of misconduct. ^[1] The Bar Association alleged that the attorney violated Rules 1.3 (diligence), ^[2] 1.4 (communication), ^[3] 1.5 (fees) ^[4] 1.15 (safe-keeping property), ^[5] and 8.4(a) of the Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct, 5 O.S. 2011 Ch. 1 App. 3-A (violation of rules), ^[6] and Rules 1.3(discredit to profession), ^[7] and 5.2(misrepresentation during investigation) ^[8] of the Rules Governing Disciplinary Proceedings, 5 O.S. 2011 Ch. 1, App. 1-A.

¶2 The Bar Association seeks for the respondent to be disciplined as the "Court finds equitable and proper," as well as the payment of costs. ^[9] Upon de novo review, we hold that the respondent's license to practice law should be suspended for two years and a day. The respondent is assessed the costs of this proceeding in the sum of $3, 862.34 for payment not later than ninety days after this opinion becomes final.

FACTS

¶3 The respondent, Tynan Dasharey Grayson (Grayson/attorney) became a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association (Bar Association) on September 27, 2005. She is a solo practitioner at Grayson Law Group, PLLC. In 2014 and 2015 four grievances were filed against the attorney. They all involved lack of communication, improper deposit of client retainers, neglect of clients, and failure to respond to the Bar Association's inquiry into the grievances. On August 8, 2016, the attorney entered into a Diversion Program Agreement in which the Bar Association agreed to keep the grievances confidential, and the attorney agreed to participate and cooperate in the Bar Association's Diversion Program and be subject to a private reprimand upon completion of the program. ^[10]

¶4 On August 8, 2017, the Bar Association acknowledged that the attorney had satisfactorily completed the terms of her Diversion Agreement, and that pursuant to her contract, all costs had been waived. The attorney successfully completed classes in trust account school, communications, client neglect, and law practice management. On August 18, 2017, as required by the Diversion Agreement, the Professional Responsibility Tribunal (PRT) privately reprimanded Grayson as the result of the 2014-2015 grievances.

¶5 Then, from February of 2020 through March of 2021 Grayson's clients filed five additional grievances with the Bar Association. The five grievances, as alleged in the June 1, 2021, Complaint, are summarized as follows:

1. The Harris Grievance. LaTanya Harris retained Grayson in May of 2019 to assist with setting up a business plan and website, and later, to pursue a divorce action on her behalf. Harris paid $300.00 toward the attorney's $500.00 fee for design of the website, and $1200.00 towards the attorney's fee for setting up the business plan. Harris also paid $250.00 as partial payment for filing the divorce and another $80.00 for court costs for the filing of a child support citation on Harris' behalf. The payments were not filed into a client trust account, the attorney failed to perform the work, and failed to communicate with the client. Harris filed a grievance on February 25, 2020, and was able to recover most of the funds she had paid the attorney in small claims court in August of 2020.

2. The Taylor Grievance. In January of 2019, D. Mariah Taylor hired Grayson to represent her in a divorce with minor children. Taylor paid the attorney $5860.00 which was not deposited in a client trust account. Respondent moved law offices and did not notify Taylor, and failed to account for and/or refund unearned and unreasonable fees for work she failed to perform.

3. The Duke Grievance. In December of 2019, Robert N. Duke paid Grayson $5, 000.00 to pursue a race discrimination case against Duke's employer, the United States Post Office. Grayson deposited the check into her personal account rather than a client trust account. After weeks of no communication, Duke terminated the attorney, but was able to arrange a meeting with her to retrieve several documents he had left with her. At the meeting, the attorney convinced Duke to keep her on the case, but, thereafter, communications again ceased, and a case was never filed. Duke never received a refund, nor the documents he had previously delivered to Grayson.

4. The Clark Grievance. In January of 2020, Dylan Clark retained Grayson to represent him in an ongoing paternity/child custody case. He paid the attorney $5, 350.00 which she did not deposit in a client trust account. Grayson neglected the case, failed to perform the work she was hired to do, failed to account or refund unearned funds and moved her law office in June of 2020 without telling Clark.

5. The Nakeia Billingsley Grievance. In December of 2017, Nakeia Billingsley hired Grayson to represent her in a race discrimination suit against her former employer, and then to represent her in a 2020 bankruptcy. Grayson filed the discrimination lawsuit in August of 2019, but failed to disclose the lawsuit in the bankruptcy schedule of pending claims. In November 2020, the employer in the discrimination suit filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings for failure to disclose the bankruptcy. The attorney never responded, and the employer's motion was granted. The federal court ordered Grayson to provide a copy of the order to the bankruptcy trustee, but she never did. In the bankruptcy case, Billingsly requested certain assets be included in re-affirmation agreements, but the attorney neglected to include them. The bankruptcy was discharged, and the attorney never notified Billingly.

After several meetings with the Bar Association, two additional counts were added to the Complaint. One related to Grayson's failure to cooperate with the investigation, and to provide documentation and account information, as promised. The other relates to the four prior grievances which resulted in the 2017 private reprimand.

¶6 The PRT held a hearing on June 29, 2021, and heard from the Bar Association investigator Les Arnold and the clients who filed the grievances, with the exception of Taylor. Grayson represented herself and offered mitigating evidence which primarily included medical information relating to mental, physical, psychological, and emotional issues which were filed under seal. ^[11] The attorney also maintained that she never took any fees from clients which were not earned, and that she never deposited any funds into her personal or operating accounts unless she had already earned them as well.

¶7 On July 19, 2021, the Bar Association filed agreed findings of fact and conclusions of law which, by agreement with the attorney, laid out facts relating to each grievance and noted her failure to provide information, as well as her failure to respond to the Complaint. On August 16, 2021, the PRT filed its report, detailing all the evidence presented in the June 29, 2021, hearing. It determined that the respondent needed time to properly address her mental and emotional disabilities before she was capable of practicing law again. It recommended that the respondent be suspended from the practice of law for a period of two years and a day and that she be assessed costs in the amount of $3, 862.34.

¶8 Initially, the Bar Association sought a one year suspension, but changed its recommendation after it learned that the attorney allegedly lied in the PRT hearing about having requested Associate Membership to the Bar Association. During the hearing, she testified that she had submitted an application for Associate membership to the Executive Director of the Bar Association. The letter, identified as "Statement in Support of Application for Associate Membership -- Tynan Grayson" is dated April 16, 2021, and addressed to the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Bar Association. Other than presenting her copy of the letter, there is no evidence that it was ever mailed or ever received by the Bar Association. Nor is there evidence that it was not received. The Bar Association now recommends that the Court follow the recommendations of the PRT due to Grayson's failure to cooperate, communicate, and provide an accounting of funds and due to her lack of respect to the Bar, the disciplinary process, and the Court. After the briefing was complete, the cause was assigned to my chambers for disposition on October 4, 2021.

THE ATTORNEY'S CONDUCT WARRANTS A SUSPENSION OF TWO YEARS AND A DAY FROM THE PRACTICE OF LAW AND THE ASSESSMENT OF COSTS.

¶9 This Court is the...