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Plymouth attorney faces 2-year suspension over 21 counts of misconduct

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//October 10, 2016//

Plymouth attorney faces 2-year suspension over 21 counts of misconduct

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//October 10, 2016//

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A Plymouth attorney faces a two-year suspension of his law license.

According to a complaint filed Sept. 30, Daniel Rostollan committed 21 counts of misconduct involving three clients and practicing while his license was suspended for failing to cooperate in the OLR’s investigation of client grievances filed against him.

Rostollan could not immediately be reached late last week

In the case of one client who hired Rostollan in 2012 to represent him in bankruptcy matters, the client gave Rostollan a $36,000 check to hold in trust. The check was for life insurance proceeds.

Rostollan neither had the client sign a written contract for the representation nor prepared a written document stating the purpose of any advance fee payments, according to the complaint.

The OLR alleges that a year later, after various unauthorized disbursements from Rostollan’s trust account to Rostollan’s business account, the account contained only $10. Rostollan, according to the complaint, told his client that the money from the check had been spent to cover debts, legal fees and other expenses.

The complaint also tells of how a couple had hired Rostollan in June 2015 to represent them in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition, but he failed to enter written agreements with the couple governing fees and representation.

The couple paid him the $300 filing fee, signed the petition in July 2015 and told Rostollan they wanted the petition filed soon. Rostollan didn’t file the petition until September 2015, only after the couple emailed him that they were going to hire a different attorney to represent them. The case was dismissed in October 2015 because Rostollan failed to present a plan document and did not ask for a deadline extension.

The OLR alleges Rostollan made misrepresentations to the bankruptcy court. Among other things, he is accused of forging signatures and submitting an affidavit that had been improperly notarized.

The couple filed a grievance against him to the OLR and fired him in November 2015, yet Rostollan appeared in court on their behalf and lied to the court that the couple had agreed to a plan.

The OLR attempted to get in touch with Rostollan about the couple’s grievance, as well as another grievance that had been filed against him. But he declined to respond and the Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended his license on Dec. 2, 2015.

Yet, the OLR alleges, Rostollan continued to practice, appearing in two bankruptcy hearings.

The OLR is asking the state’s Supreme Court to suspend Rostollan’s license to practice law for two years and pay $4,690 in restitution to one of his clients.

Rostollan earned his degree from Marquette University Law School in 1983. His license is active and in good standing, according to the Wisconsin State Bar and OLR websites. Rostollan has no history of professional discipline.

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