Ill. Attorney Disciplinary System Recommends Minimum 6-Month Bar Ticket Suspension For Lawyer Who (Among Other Things) Screwed Over Two Homeowners Seeking Help Avoiding Foreclosure; Suspension To Run Indefinitely Until $2K In Unearned Fees Returned To One Client; State Supremes To Have Final Say

In Chicago, Illinois, the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin reports:

• A lawyer accused of neglecting legal matters and accepting unearned fees should be suspended for six months and have to repay the fees, a lawyer-discipline review panel urged.
  
  The Illinois Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission Review Board’s report filed earlier this month affirms a Hearing Board report that recommended Forest Park attorney Joseph P. Harris receive a half-year suspension and remain suspended until he repays a client $2,000 in unearned legal fees from a mortgage modification that never happened.
  
  Harris, 80, a lawyer since 1965 who was previously disciplined after committing perjury in 1999, did not challenge the alleged misconduct during his hearing in August 2014.
  
  ***
  In a 2011 case, Patricia Banks retained Harris to modify her mortgages on a home and two investment properties she and her husband owned. Upon receiving forensic audits from Banks to identify whether any errors existed in the mortgages, Harris suggested the reports provided a basis to seek modifications.
  
  Banks paid Harris $3,000 to perform the suggested work. However, Harris failed to take any “meaningful action” on Banks’ behalf, the hearing board found, and failed to take or return any of her phone calls.
  
  Harris later testified that he learned Banks’ investment properties weren’t eligible for modification because they were commercial. He also conceded he owed Banks a $2,000 refund but had not made any payments as of his hearing date.
  
  In yet another case, in February 2012, Harris agreed to represent Carolyn Whitehurst in a foreclosure action but failed to file an appearance or answer in the matter until September 2012. During that time gap, a notice of sale was issued, the court granted a motion approving the sale and entered an order for possession of Whitehurst’s property.
  
  Whitehurst learned Harris failed to make appearances in her case when she came to court in mid-September 2012, when she received a notice that the sheriff’s office sought to enforce the possession order.
  
  She tried to reach Harris about the matter but failed. He filed a motion about a week later to stay the court’s orders, but the court denied the motion.
  
  ***
  ARDC hearing boards act as trial courts in the attorney disciplinary process, while the review board functions as an appellate tribunal. The Illinois Supreme Court has the final say in most disciplinary cases.
  
  Both sides have until Jan. 22 to file exceptions on the matter, In re Joseph Preston Harris, 2013 PR 00114.

For more, see Board affirms suspension for six-month term.