Tennessee Attorney Disbarred for Mishandling Client Funds

By Thomas Greer | June 29, 2014

Last November, the Supreme Court of Tennessee upheld the decision of the Board of Professional Responsibility of the Supreme Court of Tennessee to disbar an attorney who had mishandled his clients’ funds in numerous ways. The case of George Ernest Skouteris Jr. serves as an example of some of the ways in which attorneys can fail to handle client funds properly. Many legal malpractice actions are based upon claims that an attorney mishandled a client’s funds, so it is important that clients become aware of what kinds of things could indicate a situation in which their funds may not be being handled properly.

The Board of Professional Responsibility disbarred Skouteris after receiving six complaints of professional misconduct. One complaint involved an automobile accident case in which Mr. Skouteris represented the accident victim. There was no written fee agreement, and, according to the accident victim, Mr. Skouteris had told her that he would not charge a fee to represent her. Mr. Skouteris claimed that she had orally agreed to a one third contingency fee. Mr. Skouteris settled the case for nearly two hundred thousand dollars, but he did so without the client’s consent. He did not tell her about the settlement for quite some time after he settled the case. When he finally told his client about it, he promised to pay her medical bills and then send her the remainder of the proceeds. Mr. Skouteris did not pay her medical bills, nor did he send her the remainder of her settlement in one payment. The accident victim sued him for payment of her settlement, and as of the date of the Supreme Court case, he had not paid the judgment that was entered against him. This complaint illustrates the importance (for both the lawyer and the client) of having written fee agreements. It also shows how attorneys sometimes settle cases without their clients’ knowledge, and how they can damage a client by failing to pay medical bills from settlement proceeds as well as failing to pay the client the settlement money which was recovered on their behalf.

One of the other complaints against Mr. Skouteris involved another automobile accident case in which he delayed payment of settlement proceeds to the accident victim because he did not have sufficient funds in his trust account to pay her. When he finally did pay her, it was in smaller payments over a period of a few months, and the payments were found to have been made from deposits which belonged to other clients. This case illustrates how clients can be harmed when an attorney mishandles funds by failing to keep them in their trust account until they are paid to the client to whom they belong. There were insufficient funds in Mr. Skouteris’s client trust account at numerous times during the period within which he was handling the cases from which the complaints arose because he had withdrawn money from there for his personal use. In essence, he had committed the crime of conversion by taking money which belonged to his clients and using it for his own purposes.

Mishandling of client funds is a form of legal malpractice. If you suspect that your attorney has mishandled funds belonging to you, seek assistance right away.  The experienced Memphis Legal Malpractice Attorneys at Bailey & Greer, PLLC would like to learn more about your case so that we can help you. We will answer all of your questions, explain your options, and help you decide how to proceed. To learn more, call us at 901-680-9777 to schedule a time to discuss your case.  At Bailey & Greer, PLLC, we are small enough to care, big enough to fight, and experienced enough to win.

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