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A central Iowa lawyer has been sanctioned a third time for neglecting client matters and retaining unearned legal fees, according to court records.
The Iowa Attorney Disciplinary Board has alleged that attorney Matthew M. Boles of Des Moines is guilty of a “pattern of severe neglect” of a client’s case and of deficient recordkeeping practices that led to him retaining attorney fees that greatly exceeded his contingency-fee agreement with the client.
In that case, Boles was able to secure a $1.3 million settlement for his client, who had been injured in a boating accident. At the time, it was understood that medical bills and Medicaid reimbursement would be paid off using a portion of the settlement funds.
“Boles failed to keep (the client) reasonably informed about the distribution of her settlement funds,” the board stated. “Not only did this keep (the client) in the dark about the true division of her settlement funds — including the amount of the attorney fee and the medical bills paid out of her portion of the settlement — but it also caused the over-disbursements to Boles to go unnoticed.”
Boles retained $47,586 more than his agreed-upon fee until he issued a payment, on his client’s behalf, to Medicaid, the board alleged. After that, “rather than disclose to his client that he had received too much money in the matter, he instead drafted a document that downplayed his own culpability,” the board alleged.
The client and Medicaid were eventually paid all of the money they were owed, with the client collecting $18,181 more than she would have otherwise, the board noted.
“Given Boles’ history of trust accounting issues and the serious nature of the underlying misconduct, a suspension on the more significant end of the spectrum is needed,” the board stated in recommending an 18-month suspension of his law license.
Court records indicate Boles consented to a suspension of up to two years, but last month the Iowa Supreme Court decided without explanation that a six-month suspension of Boles’ license was warranted.
In September 2000, Boles was privately admonished for neglecting client matters, and in June 2004, he was privately admonished for representing a client without having a clear fee agreement in place.
In January 2012, Boles’ license was suspended for 30 days due to alleged misconduct related to client billing and accounting. In that case, the Iowa Supreme Court stated that Boles’ violations primarily resulted “from his flagrant, multi-year disregard for the billing and accounting requirements of our profession. He withdrew unearned fees, delayed responding to client requests for accurate billings, and failed to promptly refund unearned fees.”
In one of the four client cases examined by the court in the 2012 disciplinary case, Boles “paid himself $13,260.68 more than he had earned,” and didn’t issue a refund until 17 months had passed since the resolution of the case, the court stated.