Discipline Summaries

Summaries from the California Bar Journal are based on discipline orders but are not the official records. Not all discipline actions have associated CBJ summaries. Copies of official licensee discipline records are available upon request.

August 6, 1999

FRANK BRUCE LEVY [#97684], 48, of Beverly Hills was disbarred Aug. 6, 1999, and ordered to comply with rule 955.

He was charged with 42 counts of misconduct in 11 matters.

Levy handled a large volume of personal injury cases and maintained 10 offices staffed by non-lawyers. He did not sign leases or pay rent for nine of the offices, and for the most part turned over control of the offices to non-lawyers. They accepted and settled cases, handled client funds, and at least one was a signatory on Levy's bank accounts.

"There was a pervasive carelessness in failing to give these employees any supervision and to oversee the trust accounts, which resulted in client funds being misappropriated," wrote State Bar Court Judge Carlos E. Velarde in a decision recommending disbarment.

Velarde found that Levy misappropriated about $15,000 in client funds, as well as another $16,000-plus which was not charged. Particularly egregious, said Velarde, was the re-hiring of an office manager who had earlier stolen funds from two clients.

In a matter handled out of Levy's Downey office, an insurance draft for $2,780 was cashed by the office manager but not deposited in any law firm accounts. The client had to pay the medical bill out of pocket. Levy testified he was unaware of the insurance check until notified about it by the bar.

Levy did not pay a medical claim of $8,999 for another client, and the balance in his client trust account fell below the required amount nine times and below zero three times. Levy blamed the Stanton office manager for the problem, but Velarde noted Levy's "gross non-involvement" with his clients.

Levy maintained a Wilshire Boulevard office for a time, sharing staff with another attorney. When the other attorney relocated, one of the staff attempted to steal a personal injury case from her. The employee, who had worked on the matter for the other attorney, offered the client $500 as an inducement to hire Levy. She was supervised by the office manager who had twice stolen funds from clients in two of Levy's other offices.

According to court papers, Levy paid the office manager, who then paid the staff based on the amount of work generated in the office. He also paid the manager a bonus based on a percentage of the gross amount of cases settled in that office. Velarde concluded that Levy was "guilty of gross lack of supervision" of the office.

He recommended disbarment, noting the totality of the misconduct, the "serious and inexcusable failure to supervise" and the fact that Levy's "purpose in maintaining multiple offices was motivated by personal gain."