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ATTORNEY disciplinary
proceeding. Attorney's license
suspended.
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1. PER CURIAM. We review the
recommendation of the referee,
John A. Fiorenza, that Attorney Lynn
Morrissey's license to practice law in
Wisconsin be suspended for 60 days for
professional misconduct. The misconduct at
issue consisted of Attorney Morrissey's
handling of two client matters. In the first
case the misconduct involved representing
that a satisfaction of lien would not be
filed until payment of the lien amount was
mailed to the person entitled to the money
and by receiving and filing the satisfaction
of lien prior to remitting payment. In the
second case the misconduct involved failing
to file acceptable findings of fact,
conclusions of law and a judgment in a
divorce action with reasonable promptness.
The referee recommended that Attorney
Morrissey's license be suspended for 60 days.
2. We determine that the seriousness of
Attorney Morrissey's professional misconduct
warrants a suspension of her license to
practice law for 60 days. We further agree
with the referee that Attorney Morrissey
should pay the costs of this proceeding.
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3. Attorney Morrissey was admitted to
practice
law in Wisconsin in 1995. On October 19,
2004, her license to practice law was
temporarily suspended due to her failure to
respond or cooperate with the Office of
Lawyer Regulation's (OLR) investigation into
grievances that had been filed against her.
Those grievances do not involve the conduct
at issue here. Her license remains suspended.
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4. The complaint filed by the OLR in this
action alleged that in March of 2001
Attorney Morrissey was retained to represent
a client in the sale of real estate in
Washington County. The real estate was
subject to division in a Colorado divorce
action. The divorce order provided that the
client's former wife had a lien of $60,000
and a 50 percent interest in any value in
excess of $100,000 in real estate the couple
owned in Wisconsin.
5. Attorney Morrissey wrote to the
client's
former wife arranging for the closing and
the sale of the real estate. In June 2001
Attorney Morrissey wrote to the former
wife's attorney proposing that Attorney
Morrissey prepare a satisfaction of lien for
$60,000. Attorney Morrissey advised the
other attorney that after he obtained his
client's signature on the satisfaction of
lien he should forward it to the title
company to hold until the closing, at which
time the title company could mail his client
her check.
6. In July 2001 Attorney Morrissey sent
the
draft satisfaction of lien to her client's
former wife and requested she sign it and
return it. Attorney Morrissey assured the
client's former wife that the satisfaction
would not be recorded until the $60,000
check had been sent. The client's former
wife signed the satisfaction and sent it to
Attorney Morrissey in reliance on the
representation that the satisfaction would
not be filed until payment had been made.
7. Attorney Morrissey recorded the
satisfaction on April 16, 2002. On May 16,
2002, Attorney Morrissey's client signed a
land contract for the sale of the property.
On June 18, 2002, Attorney Morrissey's
client signed a closing statement which
indicated a disbursement to him of
$92,580.39 and no disbursement to his former
wife. The land contract was recorded on July
3, 2002. On July 16, 2002, the bank
disbursed proceeds of the sale by way of a
check to Attorney Morrissey's law office in
the amount of $2,807.20 and a check to
Attorney Morrissey's client in the amount of
$89,773.19.
8. On August 6, 2002, the attorney
representing Attorney Morrissey's client's
former wife requested a copy of the closing
statement, which Attorney Morrissey
provided. On March 5, 2003, the attorney for
the client's former wife wrote to Attorney
Morrissey requesting the $60,000.
9. On October 16, 2003, the OLR
requested
Attorney Morrissey's response to a grievance
filed by her client's former wife. Attorney
Morrissey failed to respond to that request
and two other requests.
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10. The OLR's complaint also alleged that
Attorney Morrissey engaged in professional
misconduct with respect to her handling of a
divorce action for a client. The second
client retained Attorney Morrissey on April
8, 2002. The final hearing was held in the
divorce on May 5, 2003. At the time of the
hearing the court directed Attorney
Morrissey to file findings of fact,
conclusions of law and a judgment. The
findings filed were deemed insufficient and
on July 15, 2003, a family court
commissioner clerk faxed Attorney Morrissey
a list of provisions for inclusion in the
findings. On September 18, 2003, Attorney
Morrissey was again faxed a list of
mandatory provisions to be included in the
findings. On November 1, 2003, because
Attorney Morrissey had failed to file the
findings, the clerk forwarded the file to
the court to calendar an order to show cause
hearing.
11. On November 5, 2003, the guardian ad
litem in the case wrote a letter to the
court, with a copy to Attorney Morrissey,
regarding Attorney Morrissey's failure to
have signed findings, conclusions and a
judgment on file. In her letter the guardian
ad litem said the failure to file these
documents was exacerbating disputes between
the parties.
12. The trial court set the order to
show
cause hearing for December 1, 2003. Attorney
Morrissey failed to appear. The court
continued the hearing to December 12, 2003,
and had Attorney Morrissey served with
notice of the hearing. Although Attorney
Morrissey again failed to appear at the
December 12 hearing, she did call the court
to advise she was ill and could not attend.
The court continued the hearing until
December 22, 2003.
13. Attorney Morrissey submitted the
completed findings on December 22, 2003,
more than seven months after the final
divorce hearing and five months after the
clerk had first faxed her a list of the
missing provisions. The court signed the
findings, conclusion and judgment on January
7, 2004.
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14. In early January 2004 the OLR requested
Attorney Morrissey to respond to questions
relating to the second client's grievance.
Attorney Morrissey failed to respond. In
March of 2004, after ordering Attorney
Morrissey to show cause in the matter and
after her failure to do so, this court
temporarily suspended her license. Her
license was subsequently reinstated after
she belatedly filed a written response to
the second client's grievance. As noted
above, her license to practice law was again
temporarily suspended on October 19, 2004,
when she failed to respond to the OLR's
inquiries about other grievances.
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15. Attorney Morrissey did not file an
answer to
the OLR's complaint or otherwise make any
appearance in the case. The OLR filed a
notice of motion and motion for default
judgment. Attorney Morrissey filed no
response to the motion. On October 12, 2004,
the referee granted the OLR's motion for
default judgment and issued a decision in
the case.
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16. The referee found that by representing
to
the first client's former wife that the
satisfaction of lien would not be filed
until payment of the lien amount was mailed
and by receiving and filing the satisfaction
of lien prior to remitting payment and by
failing to include or provide for payment of
the lien from the proceeds of the sale
Attorney Morrissey engaged in conduct
involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit and
misrepresentation, in violation of SCR 20:8.4
(c).
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17. The referee also found that by failing
to
file acceptable findings of fact,
conclusions of law and a judgment in the
second client's divorce with reasonable
promptness, Attorney Morrissey violated SCR
20:1.3. In addition, the referee found that
by willfully failing to respond to the OLR's
request for written responses to the two
grievances, Attorney Morrissey violated SCR
22.03(2), SCR 22.03(6)4 and SCR 20:8.4(f).
The referee recommended that Attorney
Morrissey's license be suspended for 60 days
and that she be assessed the costs of the
proceeding.
18. A referee's findings of fact on a
disciplinary matter will not be set aside
unless they are clearly erroneous. In re
Disciplinary Proceedings Against Sosnay,
209 Wis. 2d 241, 243, 562 N.W.2d 137 (1997).
Conclusions of law are reviewed de novo.
In re Disciplinary Proceedings Against
Carroll, 2000 WI 130, par. 29, 248 Wis. 2d
662,
636 N.W.2d 718. Since the referee's findings
of fact have not been shown to be clearly
erroneous, we adopt them.
19. We also conclude, as did the
referee,
that the seriousness of Attorney Morrissey's
misconduct warrants the suspension of her
license to practice law in Wisconsin for 60
days. Finally, we agree with the referee
that Attorney Morrissey should be required
to pay the costs of this proceeding.
20. IT IS ORDERED that the license of
Attorney Lynn Morrissey to practice law in
Wisconsin is suspended for 60 days,
effective the date of this order.
21. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that within 60
days
of the date of this order, Attorney Lynn
Morrissey pay to the Office of Lawyer
Regulation the costs of this proceeding. If
the costs are not paid with the time
specified and absent a showing to this court
of her inability to pay the costs within
that time, the license of Attorney Lynn
Morrissey to practice law in Wisconsin shall
remain suspended until further order of the
court.
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