In THE MATTER OF DERRIC CROWTHER (Two Cases)

An elderly client hired Derric Crowther in 2007 to pursue a medical malpractice case over her mother's death. After the case settled in 2012 for $187,500, a court ordered Crowther not to distribute any money until all plaintiffs signed liability releases. Instead, between 2014 and 2016, Crowther paid himself and his firm the entire settlement, never accounted properly for the funds, and misrepresented to the client that money was still available. In a second matter, Crowther mishandled trust accounts for other clients' settlement funds and failed to pay a lienholder until after a grievance was filed. A Special Master recommended disbarment, but a Review Board recommended only a four-year suspension, crediting Crowther's inexperience and remorse. The Bar and Crowther both appealed to the Supreme Court of Georgia. The court found the Review Board's reasoning unsupported by precedent or the record, concluded Crowther's misconduct was serious and aggravated, and ordered him disbarred, with reinstatement conditioned on paying over $140,000 in restitution.

The court held that disbarment, not a four-year suspension, is the appropriate sanction because Crowther violated multiple rules governing diligence, communication, fees, and trust accounting, and his substantial legal experience, dishonesty, and lack of restitution outweighed any mitigating factors.

The decision reinforces that Georgia lawyers who mishandle client trust funds and mislead clients about settlement money face disbarment, not lesser suspensions, even when they show good character or community service. It also limits how much weight review boards can give to sympathetic factors over serious trust violations.

Disbarred, with reinstatement conditioned on payment of restitution

1. The court applied the ABA Standards for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions, a framework that weighs the duties violated, the lawyer's mental state, the injury caused, and aggravating and mitigating factors, to decide the proper punishment.
2. It found that Crowther violated rules requiring diligence, honest communication, reasonable fees, and careful handling of client trust funds by disbursing an entire settlement to himself despite a court order barring distribution and by failing to keep proper trust account records for years.
3. The court disagreed with the Review Board's decision to treat Crowther's 14 years of legal experience as a mitigating factor, holding that a lack of mentors does not excuse an experienced solo practitioner's failure to follow basic trust accounting rules.
4. It distinguished the review board's key precedent, In the Matter of Favors, because that case involved a voluntary petition for discipline, multiple mitigating factors including restitution, and resulted in a three-year suspension, none of which applied to Crowther, who never repaid the client.
5. Weighing nine aggravating factors, including dishonest motive, a pattern of misconduct, false statements during the disciplinary process, and lack of restitution, against only two categories of mitigation, the court concluded the balance strongly favored the most severe sanction.

• attorney disbarment
• trust account violations
• settlement funds
• State Bar of Georgia
• legal malpractice