Uncovered strange cover up

[RSky]

What is the name of your state? SD

Hi,

I had an attorney have a meeting with a debtor of mine and his attorney behind my back about 2 years ago. The debtor had failed to pay on a note i had loaned to him for a construction contract and my lawyer and I had a writ of attachment for 50 grand in place with the debtor's General Contractor. The GC actually withheld a total of $87,000 because we had told them the issue and that in court we would probably be awarded around 100 grand, which we were.

My lawyer had a meeting behind my back and released the money back to my debtor! The debtor took the money and left town and then declared a bankruptcy. My attorney then tried to lie about it to me. He tried to tell me it was all just a miscommunication and what a bummer for me. After 2 years I have pieced it all together with documents from the Sheriff's office where my lawyer called and now witness testimony of the debtor and his lawyer. This is the real short version, and hope it makes sense. This event caused severe financial burden for me and I am still shaking my head as to why this happened, but now its uncovered and I have the proof my lawyer did this to me.

Will my ex lawyer have any liability to all the anguish, frustration and depression as well as how far it set my business and aviation / college education behind? I'm guessing he will be liable for the money he ordered released and maybe get some kind of State Bar reprimand, however ultimately I would like him to be liable for all the time this cost me from pushing forward with my career path and business, and perhaps even be liable for all the time I have spent putting this little mystery together. He had no right or reason to do what he did and then end up lieing to me about it. (maybe he had a reason, though i don't know what it was). I do know I have a three year time limit for legal malpractice suits in SD and am very glad to have finally uncovered all the evidence pointing to what really happened.

I did already file a complaint with the State Bar before having all this evidence and my ex lawyer lied his way through the investigation. Will I be able to re file with all the evidence I have put together?
Thanks to any one in the know.

[las365]

If you have evidence proving that the lawyer lied to the State Bar in the investigation of your initial grievnce, I would think the Bar would be very interested in seeing it. Unethical lawyers are bad for all lawyers.

[Dandy Don]

How unfortunate that your complaint to the bar association did not result in a more severe penalty for this unscrupulous person who was only greedy for whatever fee or kickback he got from settling your case. It's sad that some bar associations are more interested in covering up the shady actions of their members instead of getting justice for the aggrieved party.

You have a strong case to begin shopping now for an attorney to represent you in a lawsuit against this scumbag for financial damages.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA (tiekh@yahoo.com)

[las365]

I did already file a complaint with the State Bar before having all this evidence...

I don't think the information provided by the OP indicates that the South Dakota Bar Association covered up this lawyer's shady actions.

[RSky]

Thank you all for your replies. The State Bar as far as I know didn't try to cover anything up, though I will say they did take the word of my ex lawyer over mine and the little bit of evidence I had accumulated at the time.

I have always wondered if my ex attorney was given something for the releasing of my levy. Surely something is not right with him having a hidden meeting and then lieing about the whole thing. Though I don't know if I can prove what the motive of his actions were. I am mainly just wondering what the guy is going to be legally responsible to me for. He set my life back greatly in both business and schooling. I am also hoping since I have two witnesses now that the State Bar we take a look at what happened again and perhaps make sure this lawyer cannot pull this sort of thing in the future. If anything I am going to give the story to our local news station and news papers. He is a high profile figure and actually threatened to sue me for libel and slander already because I wrote about the incident on an internet blog.

Thanks again for the replies and any further insights you folks may have.

[Dandy Don]

Do not go to the news media about this unless you want to spend more money on attorney fees trying to defend yourself against a lawsuit that this attorney will certainly bring although he has no legal grounds to do so. Let your lawsuit be your remedy.