|
|
| 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | Search | Upcoming cases |
Public Information Home
Former Geauga County Attorney Disbarred
2006-1562. Disciplinary Counsel v. Jones, 2006-Ohio-6367.
On Certified Report by the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline, No. 06-013. David Ross Jones, Attorney Registration No. 0005283, is permanently disbarred from the practice of law in Ohio.
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-6367.pdf
(Dec. 20, 2006) The Supreme Court of Ohio has disbarred former Geauga County attorney David Ross Jones for multiple violations of the Code of Professional Responsibility arising from his misappropriation of funds from a charitable foundation over which Jones exercised trusteeship powers. In a 7-0 per curiam decision announced today, the Court permanently revoked Jones' license to practice law in Ohio.
The Court adopted findings and conclusions of the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline that Jones abused his authority as trustee of a charitable foundation established by a now-deceased client, Carl H. DeVoe. The foundation's articles of incorporation identified six specific charities that were to receive distributions from the annual net earnings of the foundation's proceeds, and specified that no one other than the designated charities was to receive distributions.
Following DeVoe's death in March 1996, Jones applied to administer his estate and also served as trustee of a revocable trust established in DeVoe's will to fund the DeVoe Foundation. The foundation's board of trustees initially included Jones, another attorney, and the executive directors of the six charities named as beneficiaries. Although Jones sent checks to several of the designated charities between 1997 and 1999 purporting to be their distributive shares of the foundation's earnings, one of the beneficiaries, the Arthritis Foundation, questioned whether Jones had paid all the funds to which the organization was entitled and asked to examine the DeVoe Foundation's financial records. When Jones, who had not called a meeting of the foundation's board since DeVoe's death, failed to provide the requested information, the Arthritis Foundation filed suit in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas in October 1999 alleging that Jones had breached his fiduciary duties and violated the foundation's corporate regulations.
In January 2002, the common pleas court entered a default judgment finding that Jones had breached his fiduciary duties, removed him as an officer and trustee of the DeVoe Foundation, and found Jones personally liable to the six designated charities for $751,145, which the court determined to be the assets of the DeVoe Foundation. In 2004 another of the designated charities, the Kidney Foundation, obtained a default judgment against Jones personally for the $751,145 amount and an injunction barring Jones from transferring ownership of any of his personal assets. In January 2005 the foundation's bank account was closed by court order and the court directed that the then-current balance of $519,550 be distributed to the six beneficiary charities according to the mission of the foundation.
In investigating an attorney discipline grievance brought against Jones, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel obtained bank records showing that, after he had been removed as trustee, Jones had written checks against the DeVoe Foundation's bank account to a corporation of which he was a member and agent, and that corporation had in turn written checks totaling $135,000 payable to Jones' wife. Jones, who had moved to South Carolina, did not answer the complaint filed against him by Disciplinary Counsel and did not cooperate with the investigation of his alleged misconduct, requiring the disciplinary board to conduct default proceedings.
Based on this and other evidence, the board concluded that Jones had violated, among others, the state attorney discipline rules that bar illegal conduct involving moral turpitude; conduct involving fraud, dishonesty, deceit or misrepresentation; conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice, conduct that adversely reflects on an attorney's fitness to practice and failure to promptly pay or deliver funds which a client is entitled to receive. In light of numerous aggravating factors in the case and nothing in the record that would mitigate the severity of Jones' offenses, the board recommended permanent disbarment.
In today's opinion, the Court unanimously adopted the board's findings of fact and conclusions of law, and agreed with its recommendation of permanent disbarment as the appropriate sanction for Jones' misconduct. “Respondent (Jones) reprehensibly misappropriated funds intended by his client to serve charitable purposes and then ignored his duty to assist in relator's investigation of the wrongdoing,” the opinion noted. … “The presumptive disciplinary measure for such acts is disbarment. … Respondent is therefore permanently disbarred form the practice of law.”Contacts
Carol A. Costa, 614.461.0256, for
the Office of Disciplinary Counsel.
No current contact information available for David R. Jones.
Please note: Opinion summaries are prepared by the Office of Public Information for the general public and news media. Opinion summaries are not prepared for every opinion released by the Court, but only for those cases considered noteworthy or of great public interest. Opinion summaries are not to be considered as official headnotes or syllabi of Court opinions. The full text of this and other Court opinions from 1992 to the present are available online from the Reporter of Decisions: http://www.supremecourtofohio.gov/ROD/newpdf/. In the Full Text search box, enter the eight-digit case number at the top of this summary and click "Submit."