Summary
The Supreme Court of Ohio held that Louis Jay Chodosh violated multiple Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct, including rules concerning client communication, fee division, confidentiality, settlement authority, and dishonest conduct. The court imposed a one-year suspension from practice, stayed in its entirety on the conditions that he commit no further misconduct and pay the proceeding’s costs.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether Chodosh violated the Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct by failing to communicate with clients and failing to obtain and document required client consent concerning settlement and fee-sharing arrangements.
- Whether Chodosh engaged in dishonest, fraudulent, deceitful, or misrepresentative conduct by signing a client's name to legal documents and arranging for a purported signature to be notarized.
- Whether Chodosh violated his duty of confidentiality by revealing information concerning Jewell's representation to another attorney without her informed consent.
- What sanction was appropriate for Chodosh's multiple professional-conduct violations.
Holdings
- Chodosh violated Prof.Cond.R. 1.2(a), 1.4(a)(3), 1.5(c)(2), 1.5(e), and 8.4(c) by failing to abide by Cline's settlement decision, failing to keep her reasonably informed, failing to prepare and obtain a properly executed contingent-fee closing statement, failing to satisfy the requirements for dividing fees with lawyers outside his firm, and engaging in dishonest, fraudulent, deceitful, or misrepresentative conduct.
- Chodosh violated Prof.Cond.R. 1.4(a)(3), 1.5(e), and 1.6(a) by failing to reasonably communicate with Jewell, failing to comply with fee-division requirements, and revealing confidential information about her representation without her informed consent.
- A one-year suspension from the practice of law, stayed in its entirety on the conditions that Chodosh commit no further misconduct and pay the costs of the proceeding, was the appropriate sanction.
Key quotations
“We adopt these findings of fact and agree that Chodosh has violated Prof.Cond.R. 1.2(a), 1.4(a)(3), 1.5(c)(2), 1.5(e), 1.6(a), and 8.4(c).” (¶ 25)
“Accordingly, Louis Jay Chodosh is suspended from the practice of law in Ohio for one year, with the entire suspension stayed on the conditions that he commit no further misconduct and pay the costs of this proceeding.” (¶ 26)
Factual background
Louis Jay Chodosh represented Patricia Cline and Karen Jewell in separate personal-injury matters. In the Cline matter, he failed to obtain or document required client consent concerning settlement and fee sharing, signed Cline's name to settlement documents, and mishandled settlement-distribution documentation and Medicare-lien funds. In the Jewell matter, he transferred the case to another lawyer without Jewell's knowledge or consent, failed to keep her reasonably informed, and disclosed confidential information without her informed consent.
Procedural history
The Columbus Bar Association filed a September 2017 disciplinary complaint alleging misconduct in two personal-injury matters. The parties entered stipulations, disputed one alleged violation, and agreed to dismiss two others. After a hearing, the Board of Professional Conduct found violations and recommended a fully stayed twelve-month suspension. The Supreme Court of Ohio adopted the findings and imposed the recommended sanction.