Attorney Discipline, 0217 WYBJ, Vol. 40 No. 1. 47

Attorney Discipline

Vol. 40 No. 1 Pg. 47

Wyoming Bar Journal

February, 2017

PRIVATE REPRIMAND

The Review and Oversight Committee of the Wyoming State Bar has issued a private reprimand to an attorney who negotiated a settlement in a civil action which required the attorney's client to pay $25,000 to the opposing party. Before the settlement was consummated, the attorney received a notice of garnishment from the opposing party's judgment creditor which required the payment of approximately $10,000 to the judgment creditor. When the parties exchanged settlement documents, the attorney paid the garnishment from the $25,000 settlement, paying the balance in cash to the opposing party. The opposing party moved successfully to set aside the settlement, with the court holding that the existence of the garnishment was a material fact which the opposing party had a right to know of during the settlement negotiations. The opposing party's lawyer...