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OLR seeks 9-month suspension for bankruptcy attorney

By: Eric Heisig//September 25, 2013//

OLR seeks 9-month suspension for bankruptcy attorney

By: Eric Heisig//September 25, 2013//

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A suspended Wisconsin bankruptcy attorney faces 35 counts of alleged misconduct for mishandling numerous cases and, on one occasion, holding a gun during a meeting with clients.

David Moss, who lives in Oregon City, Ore., previously had an office in Galesville, Wis., in Trempealeau County. His license, issued in 2009, was suspended by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in October 2012 after Moss was purposefully uncooperative with the Office of Lawyer Regulation’s inquiries into complaints brought against him.

An OLR complaint, filed Thursday, alleges Moss ignored clients for months on end and did not return money that four clients paid to him for services they ultimately did not receive. The allegations stem from 2011 until he closed his office in 2012.

The 35-page complaint details client meetings Moss allegedly missed and messages he allegedly did not return. In one case, according to the complaint, he didn’t tell his clients that he was closing his office and moving.

The complaint also details a series of bizarre incidents alleged during interactions with clients. In one case, according to the complaint, Moss did not respond to calls from a client, Gene Horst, for several months. The client was able to reach him a few times, and Moss “informed [the client] that he would contact the police if Horst called [him] back and hung up.”

The same day, Moss sent a cease-and-desist letter to the client, the complaint states.

In the same month, during a meeting with other clients, Moss had “a handgun in [his] lap and in his hand as he was sitting behind his desk,” the OLR alleges. According to the complaint, Moss explained to the clients that “he was carrying the handgun for protection from people who were hounding him and from clients who stalked him and harassed him.”

The OLR is asking the state Supreme Court to suspend Moss’ license for nine months and to require he pay nearly $4,000 in restitution to the state’s Lawyers Fund for Client Protection.

Moss’ voicemail was not set up Wednesday morning. An email was not immediately returned.

According to the complaint, he wrote a letter to the OLR on April 28 that said “he would not respond to any more grievances.” He enclosed his Wisconsin State Bar membership card “to serve as his resignation from the [bar].”

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