PHOENIX (Legal Newsline) - A lawyer who admitted to ethical violations during his representation of multiple parties in litigation over the police shooting of a young man isn’t entitled to an additional $50,000 share of a child’s settlement, an Arizona court ruled.
Gregory Lattimer represented the family of Rumain Brisbon after he was shot and killed by Phoenix police in 2014. The Washington, D.C., lawyer was initially hired by Mykel Chambers, the mother of Rumain’s daughter A.R., but went on to sign contingency-fee agreements with A.R., Rumain’s estate and his father Ricky McGee.
The City of Phoenix settled all the litigation in 2017 for $1.5 million, including $1.2 million for wrongful-death claims and $300,000 for individual claims by those who witnessed Rumain’s death. The court approved paying $240,000 to A.R., $720,000 to Rumain’s other three children, and $20,000 to McGee. Over Lattimore’s objection, the court awarded him and local counsel $108,000 in fees.
The Arizona Court of Appeals awarded the settlement, but a probate court returned Lattimore’s fee objection to the court overseeing A.R.’s conservatorship. The probate court also reported Lattimore to the state bar for simultaneously representing so many conflicting parties in the same action. Lattimore consented to a finding of ethical violations over unclear billing and in exchange the state bar dismissed the conflict-of-interest charges.
A year later, Lattimore petitioned the conservatorship to pay him an additional $50,000 in fees, which the court denied. He also lost on appeal, with the Court of Appeals ruling in a July 26 decision that there was “ample evidence” of ethical violations to deny his request for more money.
“Lattimer emphasizes his settlement with the state bar, but he misses the point,” the appeals court said. “State bar discipline is not required for courts to enforce ethical rules.”