Complaint against lawyer goes to high court
BROOKSVILLE –
The Florida Bar has filed a complaint with the Florida Supreme Court against a Spring Hill attorney following accusations he and his paralegal mismanaged hundreds of thousands of dollars.
David Allen Buck was sued three years ago by a former client, Loretta Bretana.
Buck, along with paralegal Elizabeth Chichester, was accused of mishandling Bretana’s money by misleading her about her real estate investments.
The case went before a grievance committee in October 2010. The committee members found probable cause to send the case to the Florida Supreme Court, according to public records.
Buck, in a phone interview Thursday, said he was unaware Chichester caused “shortages” in his client’s trust fund.
“These shortages occurred because disbursements were made before deposits were cleared,” he said.
In other words, his office was in possession of a written check, but money was doled out before the check amount was actually in the account. Doing so is a violation, according to the Florida Bar.
Buck fired Chichester in 2009.
In their complaint, attorneys Joann Marie Stalcup and Kenneth Lawrence Marvin accused Buck of suggesting his client invest in certain private mortgage loans.
They also stated Buck “failed to adequately supervise his nonlawyer assistant/office manager, Elizabeth Chichester, which created a situation wherein Ms. Chichester was permitted to act outside the scope of her authority to obtain an interest in mortgaged property rightfully belonging to Ms. Bretana.”
Chichester mismanaged the money invested in that property and at one time loaned $214,000 to two Tampa-area business owners, according to the complaint.
About $204,000 of that money belonged to Bretana, attorneys said.
After the business owners failed to make their monthly payments, Chichester wrote them a scathing letter, portions of which were included in the complaint.
“It is now August 2, 2005, and I have a client that is ready to turn Mr. Buck and me into the Florida Bar for mismanagement of their monies,” Chichester stated in her letter. “I can not begin to tell you how upsetting this is to me. I went out on such a long limb and even loaned you the full 100% of the purchase price to help you with your dreams and then didn’t record the mortgage to help you even more.”
In the same letter, Chichester threatened the people she loaned the money to and wrote, “If you were anyone other than who you are, I would immediately file a foreclosure suit against you today.
“Needless to say, Mr. Buck and I both will be hung out to dry and the Florida Bar may close our doors,” she continued. “This is not a good feeling and I can’t let Mr. Buck lose his license because I made a decision of the heart instead of using every precaution I could to protect my client’s assets which I am sworn to do.”
Buck said Chichester “wasn’t properly managing the trust account.”
To him, it’s a case of vicarious liability.
Legally, if a subordinate commits a violation, his or her boss may be held accountable. Paralegals cannot be disciplined by the Florida Bar.
Buck also said no money was ever missing from the trust account.
Stalcup and Marvin also accused Buck of taking out a $25,000 loan from Bretana so he could purchase a mobile home for investment purposes.
Several more checks totaling $120,000 were written by Buck, the attorneys said.
By March 2007, Bretana learned through her accountant she no longer had assets or income with which to pay her taxes, according to the complaint.
A couple months later, Bretana revoked Chichester’s power of attorney. The lawsuit was filed the following year.
In short, Stalcup and Marvin believes Buck was “not in substantial compliance with the (Florida) Bar rules governing attorney trust accounts.”
The attorneys also accuse Buck and Chichester of similar misconduct against two more clients.
A search on the Florida Bar website shows no discipline history for Buck during the past 10 years.
