Indiana lawyers suspended over personal injury cases – one involving GEICO

Davis’ case involved representing a personal injury claimant while his firm acted as special advisor in the claimant’s bankruptcy proceedings.

All proceeds from the personal injury case should be turned over to the liquidator, The Indiana Lawyer reported. The case was eventually settled for $ 68,000, but Davis was unable to send the proceeds for months. In July 2019, he finally handed the money over to the trustee.

However, the previous April, Davis made multiple transfers to and from his escrow account with insufficient documentation, The Indiana Lawyer reported. As a result, he did not have sufficient funds in his account to cover the bankruptcy case. When asked to provide records for the escrow accounts, Davis provided records that did not match what was being supplied by the bank.

Davis told the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Committee that he believed he was entitled to pay his fees and expenses before transferring the settlement funds to the administrator, The Indiana Lawyer reported. However, he later admitted that he had deliberately tried to mislead the commission by submitting inconsistent records.

Davis’ license was suspended for a year.

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Love’s case began in September when the Disciplinary Committee filed a complaint against him, The Indiana Lawyer reported. It was about the representation of two plaintiffs by Love in a separate personal injury proceeding.

After a settlement was negotiated, defense insurer The General wrote four checks to Love: $ 9,000 for one plaintiff, $ 5,000 for the other, and two checks for $ 1,000 payable to plaintiffs’ insurer, GEICO.

Love asked his customers to sign all four checks and cash them at his own bank, The Indiana Lawyer reported. However, he did not notify GEICO of his two checks and did not send them the money. When GEICO found out about the funds, they tried to contact Love for months before he admitted he owed them money.

Love did not cooperate with the investigation in a timely manner, according to the Indiana Supreme Court. He has already been disciplined twice, once in 1996 and once in 2014.

Love’s license was suspended for 180 days.