Lessons Learned- Diana Minella and Taking Responsibility: Part 1

The heat surrounding the recent "scamming" of several hundred traffic ticket clients by attorney Diana Minella seems to have died down recently with lots of questions left hanging in the wind. The natural question - "How could this have happened?" - expresses only a small portion of the outrage felt by clients and attorneys alike, but does it also indicate a need to rethink the attorney-client relationship? Should clients, much as patients are now being urged to do with their doctors, take more "ownership" over their legal problems? 

As an attorney, I am left conflicted regarding these basic questions. You see, I was there in the Municipal Courts for two days in January, struggling to undo what had been done, trying to repair the damage done to our profession by volunteering my time and efforts toward helping Minella's clients fix what really couldn't be fixed. Was I a knight in shining armor - a champion of truth, justice and the American way - coming to the rescue of these veritable damsels in distress, righting their wrongs with the silver sword of a legal professional? Or was I just another suit, shucking and jiving to distract these poor people from an inherent problem in attorney-client relationships? As with most of our work, the real answer probably lies somewhere in the middle.

(To Be Continued)

Traffic Ticket CLE

It's not high-profile, but plenty of attorneys take on cases involving traffic citations. And in wake of the lawyer who left her clients in the lurch because she ignored their traffic tickets, the City of San Antonio is conducting a free one-hour CLE on "Municipal Court Rules Regarding Attorney Representation of Clients with Traffic Violations." The CLE takes place at 1 p.m. in the central jury room at the Cadena-Reeves Justice Center; see the SABA website for RSVP instructions.

Possible Criminal Charges in Traffic Ticket Fiasco

San Antonio police recommend charging the suspended lawyer in the traffic ticket mess. The Express-News quotes an assistant district attorney as saying detectives "brought a case of fiduciary misapplication" against Diana Minella, who clients say took their money and ignored their traffic tickets. Before taking her to court, however, the DA's office must follow up on the police investigation.

In the Texas Penal Code, Section 32.45 Misapplication of Fiduciary Duty definse this offense as "intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly misappl[ying] property [held] as a fiduciary or property of a financial institution in a manner that involves substantial risk of loss to the owner of the property or to a person for whose benefit the property is held." In Sabel v. State, an unpublished opinion from 2001, the Fourth Court of Appeals held that "In common parlance, one acts in a fiduciary capacity when the money or property that he handles is not his own or for his own benefit, but is for the benefit of another person."

According to the E-N story, the investigation mentions a loss of $20,000, meaning the crime is a state jail felony. The statute makes this crime a third-degree felony if the loss is between $20,000 and $100,000; a second-degree felony for loss from $100,000 to $200,000; and a first-degree felony if the loss totals $200,000 or more.

Hat tip: Man 'o Law.

On a related note, the City of San Antonio will offer a free continuing legal education course on representing clients with traffic tickets on March 20.

"Slaps on the Wrist"

Yesterday the Express-News published a letter from San Antonio attorney Edgar W. Bridges (scroll down to the second from the bottom) mentioning a February 12 article on the Diana Minella ticket mess, and calling for the State Bar of Texas to do more than administer "slaps on the wrist" to attorneys who violate the state's rules of professional conduct for lawyers:

The lack of rigorous enforcement by the State Bar results in the public painting the honest attorneys with the same brush as the dishonest ones — we're all guilty.

Does the State Bar go easy on its own when it comes to discipline? Every month, the Texas Bar Journal publishes the sanctions that lawyers receive for rules violations. Are the sanctions too light, or too harsh, or do they fit the crime?

No Comment

A TV news crew chases down suspended lawyer Diana C. Minella to answer questions about the hundreds of clients she left in the lurch, but all they get is stonewalled. After Wednesday's bankruptcy hearing, Minella pretends to ignore the reporter and camera as she sits in a car.

As a lawyer, I realize her attorney probably told her not to say anything, because she faces trouble from several angles: her bankruptcy, the Texas State Bar, and possible criminal charges. You have to be careful when you open your mouth, so you don't get yourself in any more trouble. Still, as a former journalist, I think it's better for the subject to get in front of the story and try to steer the way you want it to go than to let someone else take the wheel.

Hat tip for the video: Strange In San Antonio.

That's a Lot of Tickets

If suspended lawyer Diana C. Minella owes you money, the Express-News reports that there's a creditor hearing in a San Antonio bankruptcy court today regarding her debts--some $627,953 in unsecured nonpriority claims.

Minella is the San Antonio lawyer who surrendered her law license after she left hundreds of clients in the lurch, taking their money but neglecting to take care of their traffic tickets as promised--a violation of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct.

Interestingly, Minella sued the city of San Antonio in 2003 after she was fired. The district court dismissed the lawsuit, and the Fifth Circuit upheld the dismissal.