A Hot Springs attorney received his second disciplinary action from a professional oversight panel since August, according to an Arkansas Supreme Court filing released Thursday.
Josh Q. Hurst of the Hurst, Morrissey & Hurst firm was reprimanded by the Arkansas Supreme Court's Committee on Professional Conduct and fined $50 for his handling of a property dispute in Montgomery County five years ago.
Hurst was not at his law office in Hot Springs when called for comment Thursday afternoon.
An Oklahoma man, Thomas Landis, was sued by a property owners association in Montgomery County. Because of his previous attorney's ongoing health problems, Landis drove from Oklahoma with his wife to Hot Springs in November 2009 to meet Hurst.
Hurst took the case for a $2,500 flat fee. But after that, Landis had trouble reaching his attorney.
After unreturned calls and messages, Landis drove back to Arkansas in January 2010 to look at his case file only to discover that nothing had been filed by his attorney, according to the commission.
He went to Hurst's office but was told that the attorney was unavailable and left with a promise that he would get a call. He did not.
A day later, Landis went to Little Rock and hired a different firm to handle the case for about $8,800.
The case was eventually settled and dismissed in Montgomery County Circuit Court.
In February 2010, Landis sued Hurst for the $2,500, as well as the cost of his travel to Hot Springs. In March 2011, the suit was settled for $1,935.
The Committee on Professional Conduct found that Hurst violated five professional rules of conduct, including a failure to act with "diligence and promptness," failure to keep a client "reasonably informed," and engaging in "conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice."
In August, Hurst was given an official letter of caution from the court's Committee on Professional Conduct for filing a lawsuit on behalf of a client even after the client fired him.
In that finding, the committee fined him $100.
Metro on 12/21/2014