Attorney Discipline
| Citation | Vol. 28 No. 1 Pg. 0051 |
| Pages | 0051 |
| Publication year | 2022 |
SUMMARIES
LEIGH BURGESS, ASSISTANT GRIEVANCE COUNSEL, STATE BAR OF GEORGIA
April 19, 2022, through May 17, 2022
Disbarments
Tiffini Collette Bell
1571 Phoenix Blvd., Suite 1
College Park, GA 30349
Admitted to the Bar 2006
On April 19, 2022, the Supreme Court of Georgia disbarred attorney Tiffini Collette Bell (State Bar No. 676971) from the practice of law in Georgia. The disciplinary matter came before the Court pursuant to the report of the special master who recommended that Bell be disbarred for her violations of a variety of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct in conjunction with her representation of a client in a dispossessory action. The State Bar filed a formal complaint, and Bell answered. Discovery proceeded, and the Bar then moved for partial summary judgment. Bell did not respond to the Bar’s motion. No hearing having been requested, the special master considered the record and entered an order granting the Bar’s motion for partial summary judgment. Shortly thereafter, the special master entered her report and recommendation recommending Bell’s disbarment.
As background, in September 2017, a client retained Bell to represent her in a dispossessory action against a tenant. The client paid Bell $210 to draft and file a complaint. On Sept. 28, 2017, Bell informed her client that she would file the complaint that day, but she did not. The following day, the client inquired as to whether Bell filed the complaint and served the defendant, to which Bell replied that she had filed the complaint but was waiting for the client to pay the service fee. Bell did not file the complaint until Oct. 3, 2017. Afterward, Bell twice told her client that she had served the defendant, but Bell never served the defendant with the complaint.
In November 2017, the client informed Bell of updated costs to add to the claim. Bell told her client that she would amend the claim that week, but Bell never amended the claim. In December 2017, Bell told her client that she filed a motion for default and expected the court to schedule a hearing on that motion near the beginning of 2018, but Bell never filed a motion for default in the case. The court p laced the case on a calendar call for June 26, 2018, and although Bell was aware of the hearing, she did not appear, causing the court to dismiss the case for want of prosecution. Bell received a copy of the dismissal order but did not notify her client about it until August or September 2018. Other than the complaint, Bell did not file anything in the client’s case. Bell told her client that she filed a necessary certificate verifying that the defendant was not on active duty in the military, but she never did so. Bell told her client that she would refile the lawsuit after it was dismissed, but she never did so. Throughout the representation, Bell failed to adequately respond, or to respond at all, to her client’s attempts to contact her for information and updates on the case.
Based on these facts, the special master found that Bell had violated Rules 1.2 (a), 1.3, 1.4 (a) and 3.2. The maximum punishment for a violation of Rule 1.2 or 1.3 is disbarment, whereas the maximum punishment for a violation of Rule 1.4 or 3.2 is a public reprimand. The special master found that Bell’s violations of the duties owed to her client were intentional and knowing, rather than inadvertent or negligent; that they harmed her client; and that disbarment was the appropriate sanction. The special master found no factors in mitigation of discipline but found in aggravation that Bell had a history of prior discipline, a dishonest or selfish motive, a pattern of misconduct, multiple offenses and substantial experience in the practice of law.
Bell filed a short, one-page list of exceptions to the special master’s report and recommendation arguing that the Court should suspend her rather that disbar her; however, the Court did not find her arguments persuasive. The Court agreed with the special master’s findings of facts and agreed that disbarment was the appropriate sanction.
Donald Francis Hawbaker
5610 Park View Drive
Midlothian, TX 76065 .
Admitted to the Bar 2013
On May 3, 2022, the Supreme Court of Georgia accepted the petition for voluntary surrender of...
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