STATE OF MICHIGAN Attorney Discipline Board
GRIEVANCE ADMINISTRATOR, Attorney Grievance Commission,
Petitioner!A ppellee, v RONALD G. KRAFT, P 16196, Respondent/Appellant. ----------------------------------------------,
Case No. 11-73-GA
ORDER AFFIRMING HEARING PANEL ORDER OF DISBARMENT & RESTITUTION
Issued by the Attorney Discipline Board 211 W. Fort St., Ste. 1410, Detroit, MI
An order of disbarment and restitution was entered in this matter by Tri-County Hearing Panel #53 on September 14, 2011. Respondent, Ronald G. Kraft, petitioned for review and the Attorney Discipline Board has conducted review proceedings in accordance with MCR 9.118, including review of the briefs and arguments submitted to the Board at a review hearing conducted March 21,2012.
The hearing panel found that respondent negotiated a settlement on behalf of a client in a personal injury case and received a settlement check in the amount of $55,478.00 in October 2005 made payable to respondent and his client. The panel found that respondent did not notify his client of his receipt of the check; that he endorsed and negotiated the check without notice to his client in November 2005; that he converted the funds belonging to his client to his own use and that from October 2005 through 2009, respondent falsely represented to his client that there was a delay in the settlement of their case. The hearing panel adopted the recommendation of the Grievance Administrator that respondent's conduct warrants disbarment under Standard 4.11 of the American Bar Association Standards for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions and the hearing panel ordered restitution in the amount of $55,478.00.
Respondent's argument that his purported letter of resignation as a member of the State Bar of Michigan in October 2009 deprived the Attorney Discipline Board and its hearing panels of jurisdiction in discipline proceedings based upon his misconduct was considered and rejected by the Board in Grievance Administrator v Ronald G. Kraft, Case No. 09-59-GA (ADB 2011). Respondent's remaining grounds for review, including his claim that his filing of a petition for interlocutory review on August 18, 2011, should have resulted in an automatic stay of the scheduled hearing before the panel on August 22, 2011, are without merit.
NOW THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the hearing panel order of disbarment and restitution entered in this matter on September 14, 2011, is AFFIRMED.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that respondent shall, on or before April 21,2012, pay costs previously assessed in the hearing panel order of September 14,2011, in the amount of $1,834.92. Check or money order shall be made payable to the State Bar of Michigan, but submitted to the Attorney Discipline Board [211 West Fort St., Ste. 1410, Detroit, MI 48226] for proper crediting. (See attached instruction sheet).
DATED: March 22, 2012
By:
ATTORNEY DISCIPLINE BOARD
Board Members Thomas G. Kienbaum, James M. Cameron, Jr., Rosalind E. Griffin, M.D., Andrea L. Solak, Carl E. Ver Beek, Sylvia P. Whitmer, Ph.D., Lawrence G. Campbell, and Dulce M. Fuller concur in this decision.
Board Member Craig H. Lubben was absent and did not participate.
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