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Court Suspends Bay Village Attorney
2006-0809. Disciplinary Counsel v. Rooney, 2006-Ohio-4576.
On Certified Report by the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline, No. 05-045. John James Rooney, Attorney Registration No. 0024969, is suspended from the practice of law in Ohio for six months.
Moyer, C.J., Resnick, Pfeifer, Lundberg Stratton, O'Connor, O'Donnell and Lanzinger, JJ., concur.
Opinion: http://www.supremecourtofohio.gov/rod/newpdf/0/2006/2006-Ohio-4576.pdf
(Sept. 20, 2006) The Supreme Court of Ohio today suspended the law license of Bay Village attorney John James Rooney for six months for professional misconduct including neglecting to file proper paperwork in probate court or return the phone calls of a client who was the executor of an estate.
The Board of Commissioners on Grievances & Discipline found that Rooney had accepted a $500 retainer and $200 for court costs in June 2002 from Gertude Karvelas, the executor and sole beneficiary of her sister's estate. For nearly a year, Rooney and Karvelas spoke regularly, but in 2004, Rooney stopped returning her phone calls. When Karvelas called the Cuyahoga County Probate Court, she learned that no documents had been filed there in connection with the estate. Karvelas terminated Rooney's services in June 2004 and asked for a $700 refund, which she received a year later.
In today's 7-0 per curiam decision, the Court agreed with findings by the disciplinary board that Rooney had violated the state attorney discipline rules that prohibit neglect of an entrusted legal matter; conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation; conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice; intentionally failing to seek the lawful objectives of a client and intentionally failing to carry out a contract of professional employment.
In setting the sanction for Rooney's offenses, the Court considered as mitigating factors that Rooney had no prior disciplinary record, lacked a dishonest or selfish motive, made a good-faith effort to provide restitution, and cooperated during the disciplinary process. The Court disagreed with the board's recommended sanction of a stayed six-month suspension and instead ruled that Rooney's misconduct warranted an actual suspension from the practice of law.
“Although we acknowledge the various mitigating factors noted by the board, those factors do not warrant a departure from the ordinary rule that an actual suspension should be imposed for dishonest conduct, particularly when that conduct is designed to ‘mislead a court or client,'” the Court held.
Contacts
Stacy Solochek Beckman, 614.461.0256, for
the Office of Disciplinary Counsel.
Jerome A. Milano, 440.356.2828, for John James Rooney.
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