SC disbars lawyer for failure to represent Dutch client, despite being paid US$ 16,854 retainer fee
MANILA,
Oct. 6 (PNA) — The Supreme Court (SC), in a 13-page per curiam
decision, ordered the disbarment of a lawyer who was found guilty of
committing gross malpractice and gross misconduct for failing to
represent a Dutch client despite being paid USD16,854 for his legal
services.
Ordered stricken from the Roll of Attorneys in the SC decision was Atty. Godwin R. Valdez.
The
SC also ordered Valdez to immediately refund complainant Torben B.
Overgaard the sum of USD16,854.00 or its equivalent in Philippine pesos
at the time of actual payment with interests and all the papers and
documents he had received from Overgaard.
Court
records show that Overgaard engaged and paid in full for the services
of Valdez in 2006 to represent him in various cases, including those
charging him with estafa, grave threats and oral defamation, then
pending before the Office of the City Prosecutor of Antipolo.
However,
the complainant later learned that Valdez had failed to enter his
appearance and to file counter-affidavits in said criminal cases, some
of which already have pending warrants for his arrest.
This
prompted Overgaard to file an administrative case against Valdez before
the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) who found the former guilty
of committed multiple violations of the canons of the Code of
Professional Responsibility and recommended that he be prevented from
practicing law again.
The
SC affirmed the IBP’s findings and ruled that Valdez has “fallen below
the exacting standards demanded of members of the bar” when he, among
others, “abandoned his client and left him without any recourse but to
hire another lawyers.”
It
even noted that arrest warrants were even issued against Overgaard
because of the negligence of Valdez who could not be contacted by the
former.
The
SC also cited Canon 1, Rule 1.01 of the Code of Professional
Responsibility which states that “a lawyer shall not engage in
unlawful, dishonest, immoral or deceitful conduct” and Rule 16.01,
Canon 16 which provides that “a lawyer shall account for all money and
property collected or received for and from the client.”
“The
practice of law is not a right, but a privilege. It is granted only to
those of good moral character…The acts of the respondent constitute
malpractice and gross misconduct in his office as attorney. His
incompetence and appalling indifference to his duty to his client, the
courts and society render him unfit to continue discharging the trust
reposed in him as a member of the bar,” the SC further said. (PNA)
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