The Sun-Herald asked in a story this morning how to prevent attorneys from stealing from guardianship accounts. The article cites the Michael J. Brown case heavily reported on this website and the suicide of coast attorney Woody Pringle. Pringle stole millions from clients and then committed suicide in Florida when discovered. The Sun-Herald reports District Attorney Michael Guest is investigating the Brown case.Article
However, the newspaper points the finger not at the attorneys but at the system:
"Neither attorney was filing the annual accountings that state law requires for guardianships, conservatorships and estate accounts overseen by chancery court, court officials concede. Chancery clerks are responsible under state law for turning over a list each year of guardians and conservators who are delinquent in filing the accountings required by state law. Once judges have the list, they are supposed to demand the accountings and hold in contempt any account administrators who fail to produce them.
In the Pringle and Brown cases, attorneys also have noted, banks have in some cases failed to follow court orders that restrict spending of funds from the court-supervised accounts.
Lincoln County Chancery Clerk Tillmon Bishop, president of the group’s state association, said many chancery clerks are probably unaware the law directs them to file the delinquent lists. A chancery clerk’s duties under state law are legion and some of them date to the days of horses and buggies, Chancery Clerk John McAdams said. McAdams and another clerk in the same chancery district, Tim Kellar of Hancock County, are now filing the delinquent lists because of Pringle’s embezzlement."
Unfortunately, one chancery clerk didn't get the memo:
"But the third clerk in the district, Gerald Bond, said he is not filing the list. Like most chancery clerks, Bond personally oversees a certain number of guardianships, conservatorships and estates. He accounts for that money. But he does not believe he is responsible for oversight on any accounts managed by attorneys or other individuals.
“It would be a huge burden to do that every time,” Bond said, “to go pull all those files. Of course, something has to be done; something needs to be done. I don’t object to it...”*
The reporter also reported the Rankin-Madison District Attorney is investigating the Brown case:
"Chancery Court Judge J. Dwayne Thomas, who has jailed Brown for contempt of court, sent a transcript of court proceedings in the case to the district attorneys’ offices in Hinds County, and to the Rankin and Madison county district attorney, saying an investigation by one of the two offices should be conducted. The office for Rankin and Madison counties has taken on the task because Brown’s home and office are in Rankin County, said Assistant District Attorney Bryan P. Buckley.
“The Rankin-Madison District Attorney’s Office is absolutely investigating Mr. Brown,” Buckley said. “It appears that this poor kid just got robbed by the very people who were supposed to be watching out for his best interests.”
Methinks we will be talking about this case for quite some time.
*The Mississippi Code states:
"every guardian shall, at least once in each year, and oftener if required, exhibit his account, showing the receipts of money on account of his ward, and showing the annual product of the estate under his management, and the sale or other disposition thereof, and showing also each item of his expenditure in the maintenance and education of his ward and in the preservation and management of his estate, supported by legal vouchers" Section 93-13-67 of the Mississippi Code
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Sun-Herald digs into the Brown case and others. D.A. investigating.
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9 comments:
I know of an estate that was opened about ten years ago by Mike Brown in Hinds County and there is still no accounting in the file. There were life insurance proceeds payable to the estate and other assets that just disappeared. The amounts were very small in comparison to McClintons, but the principle is still the same.
Hinds County is synonymous with corruption.
Why has DA Robert Smith never filed criminal charges against Lieutenant Graham?
Trust law is covered by each state. Have the legislature pass a law requiring use of a corporate trustee for all guardianships or conservatorships above a certain amount. This limits one problem, but does create another.....banks don't want these types of accounts because they are money losers. The fees earned are negligible, but the reporting requirements and liability are high.
Court orders money to be deposited in a bank account? Give attorney 30 days to do it and provide proof. If not, hold him in contempt then - not 5 years later. Chancellors should be obligated to ensure this happens or a price is paid.
When the money gets to the bank, make sure the bank knows funds cannot be withdraw without a court order. If the bank give s out money without an order, the bank is liable.
What's so complicated about this?
Also, every practicing attorney in the state should have to carry at least some E&O coverage.
Glad to see Anita Lee is still reporting. She's good.
2:02 who will pay the premium on the e&o coverage? You? Maybe one of the slow-pay no-pay a-hole loser clients we have to deal with can pay it for us.
Wouldn't cover fraud either, if I'm not mistaken.
9:19, just because you were dumb enough to take out $75K in student loans to go to a third tier law school at a time when there was (and still is) no demand for more lawyers, and now you can't pay your bills, doesn't mean I should have to. Why should someone else have to pay the premiums for YOUR screw ups? Will you start paying the insurance premiums for my car's liability coverage? After all, if I hit you, it's your problem, right?
You're either a democrat or, worse, a millennial.
But, back to placing the blame on 'the system' instead of the individual....
Is it the system's fault when a doctor 'goes astray' and prescribes hydrocodone by the handful to anybody willing to pay him for it?
Is it the system's fault when the A/C mechanic goes under your hood and creates a problem where none existed?
Is it the system's fault when a highly touted reporter gins up his own facts in order to make a run at another Pulitzer, and then takes three months off to do more of it ~ because he got high on it?
Or the preacher, in a counseling session, crosses the line in order to satisfy his prurient interest?
There's no such thing as absolute trust and professional credibility. We all have a line out there somewhere waiting to be crossed.
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