KENTUCKY BAR ASSOCIATION V. DAVID ANTHONY GRIFFITHS
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TO BE PUBLISHED
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2007-SC-000097-KB
IVIOVANT
KENTUCKY BAR ASSOCIATION
IN SUPREME COURT
RESPONDENT
DAVID ANTONY GRIFFITHS
OPINION AND ORDER
The Kentucky Bar Association Board of Governors recommends that
Respondent, David Antony Griffiths, KBA member no. 88430, be suspended from the
practice of law in this Commonwealth for a period of 181 days.
In January of 2005, Mr. Gary Haas hired Respondent to facilitate Haas'
becoming legal guardian for his disabled daughter. Haas paid Respondent $500 .00, but
was never able to contact him thereafter . The Office of Bar Counsel's attempt to notify
Respondent of the bar complaint was unsuccessful. Thereafter, the Office of Bar
Counsel served subsequent notices to the Executive Director of the KBA pursuant to
SCR 3.175. The KBA director sent certified letters to Respondent notifying him that he
had been served as agent for service of process on behalf of Respondent. These
letters were returned marked unclaimed or undeliverable and unable to forward . The
aforementioned correspondence was attempted over a period of several months,
beginning October of 2005 and ending on May 9, 2006 when the last letter was returned
to the KBA.
Respondent was charged with a violation of SCR 3.130-1 .3 (lack of diligence),
SCR 3.130-1 .4 (lack of communication), SCR 3.310-1 .16(d) (failure to return unearned
fee) and SCR 3.130-8 .1(b) (failure to respond to a disciplinary authority), and again, all
attempts to notify Respondent of the charges were unsuccessful .
Upon the foregoing, the Board of Governors found Respondent guilty of the first
three violations, but not guilty of failure to respond to a disciplinary authority. In
determining the appropriate sanction, the Board considered Respondent's disciplinary
history which included a suspension in December 2005 for failure to pay KBA dues. We
adopt the KBA's recommendation and hereby suspend Respondent for 181 days.
Based on the foregoing, it is ordered that:
(1) David Antony Griffiths is hereby suspended from the practice of law in the
Commonwealth of Kentucky for a period of one-hundred-eighty-one (181) days,
effective from the date of this Order.
(2) Pursuant to SCR 3 .390, Griffiths is ordered to send letters within ten days of
this Order to all Courts in which he has matters pending and all clients for whom he is
actively involved in litigation notifying them of his inability to continue to represent them,
advise them of the necessity and urgency of promptly retaining new counsel,
simultaneously provide a copy to the Director of the KBA, and cease advertising
activities .
(3) David Antony Griffiths is directed to pay restitution to his client in the amount
of $500 .00 .
(4) In accordance with SCR 3.450, Griffiths is ordered to pay all costs associated
with these disciplinary proceedings, said sum being $194.96, and for which execution
may issue from this Court upon finality of this Opinion and Order.
All sitting . All concur.
ENTERED: June 21, 2007 .
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