AMENDED NOTICE OF REPRIMAND (By Consent)
ADB 217-88 Stephen J. St. Amant, P-28887, Lansing, MI, by Attorney Discipline Board Washtenaw County Hearing Panel #1.
1) Reprimand; 2) Effective March 10, 1989. The Attorney Grievance Commission and the hearing panel approved a stipulation for consent order of discipline submitted in accordance with MCR 9.115(F)(5). The respondent admitted that he failed to deposit funds belonging to four separate clients into a trust account but commingled those funds with his own in a general account. The respondent admitted that a misappropriation occurred when the account balance fell below the amount owed to two clients. The respondent further admitted that from April to December 1985, he wrote thirty checks on the account payable to vendors and other creditors which were initially dishonored for non-sufficient funds. Finally, the respondent admitted that his representation to the Attorney Grievance Commission that no client funds had been deposited in the account was not true. The stipulation for consent discipline was accompanied by a statement by the parties acknowledging certain mitigating factors considered by the Commission. The respondent's conduct was deemed to be in violation of MCR 9.104(1-4,6); MCR 9.113(A) and Canons 1 and 9 of the Code of Professional Responsibility, DR 1-102(A)(1,3-6); DR 9-102(A) and DR 9-102(B)(4). Costs were assessed in the amount of $286.54.