NOTICE OF REPRIMAND Case No. 97-136-GA Ivan D. Brown, P-47645, Jackson, Michigan, by the Attorney Discipline Board reducing Ingham County Hearing Panel #4's Order of Suspension.
1) Reprimand; 2) Effective December 3, 1998. Respondent drafted a Quit Claim Deed and Assignment of Sellers Interest in Land Contract on behalf of the complainant's brother. The deed and assignment purported to quit claim and assign the interest of his client's mother in her house to herself and her four sons. Respondent signed the deed and the assignment as a witness to the parties' signatures. Respondent admitted that he signed the documents as a witness to the signatures of the parties when he did not, in fact, witness the signing of the document by his client's mother, in violation of Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct 1.2(c) and 8.4(b). The balance of the Formal Complaint was dismissed. The panel ordered that respondent be suspended from the practice of law for 60 days and pay costs in the sum of $1,656.70.
Respondent filed a petition for review seeking a reduction of both discipline and costs, and received an automatic stay of discipline. In an order and opinion issued November 11, 1998, the Attorney Discipline Board reduced the discipline imposed to a reprimand, and reduced the costs to $683.28.