In 2007, a Norwalk attorney was accused of stealing $90,000 from a Florida retiree and smaller amounts from other clients.
Duncan Hume's misconduct, for which he was disbarred and convicted of third-degree larceny, was part of what state bar officials said at the time was a spate of attorney thefts that included accusations against lawyers practicing in lower Fairfield County. Two of Hume's clients, including a woman who lived in Stamford, sought compensation from a special fund set up by the state's attorneys in 1999 to help people in their situation, the Client Security Fund.
In March, Gov. M. Jodi Rell, state Treasurer Denise Nappier, and state Comptroller Nancy Wyman tried to transfer the $2 million held in the fund into the state's general fund to help bridge the budget gap, according to a lawsuit filed by attorneys and the Connecticut Bar Association.
Full Article and Source:
Bill protects Client Security Fund
More information:
On April 7, Gov. M. Jodi Rell agreed to withdraw her bid to seize $2 million from the legal profession’s Client Security Fund.
ZELDES V. RELL: GOVERNOR WITHRDRAWS BID TO USE FUND'S MONEY
Rell Backs Off Siphoning $2 Million From Client Security Fund
Rell Told "Hands Off" Special Lawyers Fund
Duncan Hume's misconduct, for which he was disbarred and convicted of third-degree larceny, was part of what state bar officials said at the time was a spate of attorney thefts that included accusations against lawyers practicing in lower Fairfield County. Two of Hume's clients, including a woman who lived in Stamford, sought compensation from a special fund set up by the state's attorneys in 1999 to help people in their situation, the Client Security Fund.
In March, Gov. M. Jodi Rell, state Treasurer Denise Nappier, and state Comptroller Nancy Wyman tried to transfer the $2 million held in the fund into the state's general fund to help bridge the budget gap, according to a lawsuit filed by attorneys and the Connecticut Bar Association.
Full Article and Source:
Bill protects Client Security Fund
More information:
On April 7, Gov. M. Jodi Rell agreed to withdraw her bid to seize $2 million from the legal profession’s Client Security Fund.
ZELDES V. RELL: GOVERNOR WITHRDRAWS BID TO USE FUND'S MONEY
Rell Backs Off Siphoning $2 Million From Client Security Fund
Rell Told "Hands Off" Special Lawyers Fund
Attorneys are getting into utright theft because there's little punishment.
ReplyDeleteEven in this article, Duncan Hume's theft is called "misconduct".
It was theft - not misconduct.
Here's the truth of it -- they have the fund to reimburse innocent victims of bad attorneys, and then they deny the reimbursement.
ReplyDelete