Attorney Disbarment for Misconduct In Washington

In In re Discipline of Talbot, 107 Wn.2d 335, 728 P.2d 595 (1986), the Court disbarred attorney Talbot for four principal acts of misconduct. First, Talbot disregarded an automatic stay of a client's bankruptcy petition by withdrawing client funds from the registry of the court to cover his legal fees. Second, in a separate client matter, Talbot failed to respond to a pending motion for summary judgment resulting in a grant of the motion to the opposing party. "But most inexcusably, he never even informed his client that a summary judgment had been granted against her." Id. at 336. Third, Talbot did nothing to process an estate for which he accepted the duties of executor, and during a suit against him by the estate's heirs he failed to appear for two show cause hearings. And finally, Talbot completely failed to cooperate with the Bar during their disciplinary investigation, choosing to "ignore the whole matter." Id. at 337.