NEW ORLEANS (Louisiana Record) — Deridder attorney Mitchel M. Evans II faces possible permanent disbarment following a recommendation issued Aug. 16 by a Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board (LADB) hearing committee.
Evans allegedly collected an unreasonable fee and failed to provide a written statement showing the remittance to his former client, who filed the complaint against him in the proceeding, according to the nine-page recommendation issued by LADB Hearing Committee No. 7. The committee also found Evans engaged in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.
Allegations against Evans stemmed from a workers' compensation case in which Evans retained a fee of more than $40,000 of his client's $55,000 settlement, according to the recommendation. Evans told the workers' compensation court that his fee had been based on past indemnity benefits that his client had received on a weekly basis, according to the recommendation.
A workers' compensation judge ordered Evans to return the fee to his client, according to the hearing committee's recommendation. "Rather than return the fee as ordered, [Evans] then filed what amounts to several frivolous 'appeals' of the workers' compensation judge's order," the recommendation said.
As of the date of the hearing committee's recommendation, Evans has not returned the fee, according to the recommendation. "It is unknown if [Evans], currently suspended from the practice of law in Louisiana, still resides or is located in Louisiana," the recommendation said.
The recommendation was signed Aug. 14 by committee chair Terrence D. McCay. Attorney member Bradley J. Gadel and public member Richard A. Hinton concurred in the recommendation.
Evans was admitted to the bar in Louisiana on April 28, 1989, according to his profile. Evans currently is under a suspension handed down by the Supreme Court in late 2016.
The committee's recommendation also referred to previous allegations against Evans. In June, the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board (LADB) split in its recommendation to the state Supreme Court over disciplining Evans. In that proceeding, Evans had allegedly failed to comply with his clients instructions in a 2015 case.