Summary
The Kentucky Supreme Court temporarily suspended Danny Perkins Butler from practicing law after finding a reasonable basis to believe that he misappropriated client funds and posed a substantial threat of harm to clients or the public. The order also required Butler to notify clients of his suspension, cease advertising, and permitted disciplinary proceedings to be initiated.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the Inquiry Commission established a sufficient basis for temporarily suspending Butler under SCR 3.165(1)(a) and (b).
- Whether Butler should be temporarily suspended from practicing law pending further order of the Supreme Court.
Holdings
- The submitted indictment materials and detective's affidavit supplied a reasonable basis to believe that Butler had misappropriated funds held for others or otherwise improperly dealt with those funds and posed a substantial threat of harm to his clients or the public; temporary suspension was therefore warranted.
Key quotations
“After reviewing the petition, the attached discovery, and Detective Burton’s affidavit, we believe the Commission has supplied us with a reasonable basis to believe that Butler misappropriated funds he held for others or has been otherwise improperly dealing with said funds, and poses a substantial threat of harm to his clients or to the public.”
Factual background
Danny Perkins Butler, a Kentucky attorney, was indicted in Hardin Circuit Court for theft by unlawful taking over $10,000 and theft by failure to make required disposition over $10,000. An investigating detective reviewed Butler's financial records and reported that Butler treated settlement funds and other client funds as his own, failed to disclose receipt of some settlement funds, and that some clients did not receive settlements or estate proceeds. The court also noted that the FBI had received fifteen complaints about Butler warranting further investigation.
Procedural history
The Inquiry Commission relied on indictments against Butler in Hardin Circuit Court for theft-related offenses and submitted discovery and a detective's affidavit concerning alleged misappropriation and improper handling of client funds. The Supreme Court found a reasonable basis to believe that Butler had misappropriated funds or otherwise improperly dealt with them and posed a substantial threat of harm, and granted the petition for temporary suspension.