A D.C. lawyer has had his license suspended after he admitted to misappropriating money from one of his clients and missing crucial court deadlines in another client’s case.
The D.C. Court of Appeals ordered Ronnie Thaxton’s license to practice law suspended for six months and put him on probation for another three years because he bungled two different cases. According to court papers, Thaxton admitted to legal ethics investigators that he withdrew $5,000 in fees from an escrow account that was supposed to be kept for his client, Terri Roberts
.
Roberts, who was injured in an accident, was threatening a lawsuit against Geico. The insurance company and Thaxton agreed to settle the case for $15,000, but Thaxton never told his client about the settlement discussions or his acceptance of the deal. He also didn’t bother to pay the doctor who treated Robert’s injuries, court records show. In a separate section of his ethics complaint, Thaxton admitted that he missed a status conference and another vital hearing related to a former D.C. mental health worker’s wrongful-termination lawsuit. His absences caused Janice Arkue’s suit to be tossed briefly by the D.C. Superior Court.
Thaxton declined to talk about the sanctions Monday. “Why are you calling” he asked. “This is newsworthy?” When he was negotiating his discipline with D.C. legal ethics investigators, Thaxton blamed the missed deadlines and blown payments to the doctor on “poor office management.”
He claimed he settled Roberts’ personal injury suit without telling her about it because the statute of limitations was about to expire.
Neither Roberts nor Arkue could be reached for comment. Thursday’s suspension was ordered by the D.C. Court of Appeals. This is not the first time Thaxton has been in trouble with the ethics bar. Last year, he received an informal admonishment for helping an unlicensed attorney practice a case in D.C., a violation of bar association rules.
In separate discipline, the court of appeals also suspended College Park-based lawyer Leslie Silverman as Virginia ethics investigators look into allegations of violations. Silverman has been disciplined by out-of-state ethics counsels in Maryland and Massachusetts, records show. She couldn’t be reached for comment.
