Vermont Lawyer Suspended For Three Years For Misleading Clients

In Vermont, The Times Argus reports the three year suspension from the practice of law of attorney Matthew Colburn by the state's professional responsibility board after he acknowledged misleading clients about the status of their cases. Among the incidents of misconduct that he acknowledged engaging involved a case he took in 2001 of a Morrisville family who purchased a home that was later found to have multiple structural problems, including a leaking roof, a faulty chimney and a buried pool obstructing drainage. Believing the previous owners had knowledge of the issues but failed to disclose them, the family retained Colburn to file suit. Although the suit was filed, Colburn never bothered to serve the defendants with notice of the lawsuit. The court ultimately dismissed the case in 2004 after more than two years spent waiting for Colburn to serve the defendants. Despite the dismissal, Colburn led the family into believing that the case was moving through the system, going so far as to tell them a settlement had been reached and that a check was in the mail. The family learned of the deception by accident in 2005 when a state agency, doing an investigation on an unrelated matter, discovered and informed them of the dismissal. Because of the passage of time, the family apparently has lost any legal claims it may have had against the former homeowner and is now stuck with a structurally defective home. For more, see Board suspends Montpelier lawyer.