Jackson Jambalaya

As part of its commitment to serve the public, Jackson Jambalaya is publishing the names of lawyers sanctioned by the Mississippi Bar this year. These names come from online issues of the Mississippi Lawyer. The May/June 2009 issue (Pages 31-32) reported the following sanctions:

Dwayne Deer of McComb: Disbarment. Mr. Deer surrendered his license. Mr. Deer was convicted of participating in a real estate fraud scheme. Oddly enough, the publication does not mention any part of his conviction. It only says "he had committed violations of Rules...... in a bankruptcy matter where he failed to safekeep client funds."

What Mr. Deer actually did was reported in this article:
"McComb attorney Dwayne Deer pleaded guilty in federal court last week to conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
Deer was accused of conspiring with McComb developer Todd Phillips to submit false information to acquire more than $14.5 million in funding for real estate developments throughout Mississippi from more than 20 banks..."

However, an article in the Clarion-Ledger states he was barred for misappropriating funds in his escrow account after a bankruptcy judge found some improper um, accounting of the funds, not for the actual crime he of which he was convicted. If you read the Bar's account of Mr. Deer's disbarment in its publication, you would never know he was part of a multi-million dollar real estate fraud.

John M. Mooney, Jr. of Jackson: 90 Day Suspension. Deposited client's $2,500 retainer in another account when it should have been placed in the Lawyer Trust account. Didn't perform any work on the case, kept client's money even after being ordered to return it by the Bar. He listed client as a creditor when he filed bankruptcy.

Laquetta Golden of Gulfport: 14 Day Suspension effective March 26, 2009. Two complaints were filed aginst Ms. Golden. The first one allged she "failed to have entered a final default judgement in a replevin matter." The second one alleged she collected 2/3 of the settlement as attorney's fees in a Section 1983 lawsuit. She also deposited the settlement check into her operating account instead of her Lawyer Trust account although part of that was due to bank error.

J.B. Goodsell of Jackson: 14 Day Suspension. Here we go again as Mr. Goodsell is in trouble once more. Mr. Goodsell took a $500 fee to handle a replevin matter and didn't prepare the documents needed until three weeks after the first meeting and only then when the client raised hell. He then demanded another $1,100 for court costs of filing the case. Mr. Goodsell told client he had a court date of September 26, 2007 despite the fact no case was filed. Mr. Goodsell also blew off the bar and didn't respond to the Bar Complaint. The Bar also stated Mr. Goodsell had three prior Public Reprimands.

By the way, is anyone noticing a pattern? Lawyers who ignore bar complaints and don't respond to them don't seem to suffer too much from flipping off the Bar, do they?