Disbarment urged in misappropriation case

A Lodi lawyer may be disbarred after a State Bar Court judge found he misappropriated thousands of dollars from a client and charged her an exorbitant fee. ERIC CONNER [#145616], 47, committed 12 acts of misconduct, including acts of moral turpitude, while representing a woman who feared she was the target of a criminal investigation.

The bar court’s review department upheld the 2006 recommendation by Judge JoAnn Remke that Conner be disbarred. The recommendation is pending before the California Supreme Court.

Conner represented Janet Spitler, who bought three properties with Dennis Hunter, who later was arrested on suspicion of drug activities and money laundering. The properties were in her name but Hunter had a right to claim an interest because of his investment.

Fearing she too could be arrested, Spitler hired Conner and signed a $10,000 flat fee agreement. The money was to be paid after the properties were sold. A few days later, Conner’s paralegal called Spitler and said the case was more complicated than they thought and the fee would be $50,000. When she objected, they agreed to a $30,000 fee.

Spitler sold the first property, but the U.S. Attorney stopped the sale. Conner met with the authorities, who allowed the sale to proceed as long as the net proceeds from the sale of the properties were held in trust pending further investigation.

Conner then deducted $18,500 in legal fees from the proceeds, leaving $133 for Spitler that was deposited in trust. When a second property was sold, Conner deducted another $19,500 for fees. The U.S. Attorney had not agreed that attorney’s fees would be paid from sale of the properties.

After the case went dormant, Conner continued to collect fees from Spitler, billing her for $54,216.40 despite the fact that she was never the target of a criminal investigation and the government never pursued a forfeiture action against the properties.

His paralegal also asked Spitler to lend $25,000, from the money held in trust, to Conner for advertising. In exchange, he gave her $2,000. Conner misappropriated $18,000 of that money, Remke found.

When the third property went into foreclosure, Spitler learned that Conner received a check for more than $17,000 to be held in trust. When she tried to claim the money, the paralegal billed her $7,061, payable to “Fast and Efficient Attorney Service,” for recovering the funds. The paralegal did not disclose that he owned Fast and Efficient.

When Spitler hired a new lawyer, the paralegal sent a letter threatening to betray attorney-client privileges to criminal prosecutors and to turn over the remaining trust funds to the government. Conner learned about the letter later but did nothing to retract it.

Remke found that of the $92,105 from the sale of the homes, Conner took $89,699.56, claiming $70,061.75 in attorney fees, and misappropriating an additional $19,637.81. Spitler also was sued by Hunter and spent $60,000 defending herself.

Conner later opened a new trust account and deposited a series of cashier’s checks in transactions structured to create a false appearance that he had properly maintained Spitler’s money. He admitted he tried to deceive the bar. Remke found that he also submitted fraudulent billing statements and other documents.

She found that he failed to perform legal services competently, maintain client funds in trust, render accounts or return files, and he obtained an interest adverse to his client, charged an unconscionable fee, misappropriated client funds and committed multiple acts of moral turpitude.

In recommending Conner’s disbarment, the three-person review panel said it could “glean no assurance that the public will be protected against future acts of misconduct.”