NEW ORLEANS (Louisiana Record) – Alexandria attorney George A. Flournoy faces possible suspension following a recommendation issued Sept. 21 by a Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board (LADB) hearing committee over allegations in three client matters.
LADB Hearing Committee No. 6 recommended Flournoy be suspended for 18 months, with all but 60 days deferred, followed by two years of conditional probation.
The committee found Flournoy violated professional conduct rules, including those regarding fees, responsibility for nonattorney assistants and professional misconduct, according to the 11-page recommendation.
"(Flournoy) violated duties owed to a client, the legal system and the profession," the recommendation said. "He acted in part negligently and in part knowingly. (Flournoy)'s misconduct cause actual and potential harm." The actual harm had been in accepting an unreasonable fee, the recommendation said.
"The committee recognizes that the client apparently did not feel harmed but a client's mere acceptance of a fee does not make it reasonable," the recommendation said. "More concerning to the committee were (Flournoy)'s actions violating his duty to the legal system and profession by not only failing to adequately supervise but by corrupting the signing of an authentic act. This could have led to significant harm but fortunately no such harm has occurred."
The recommendation was signed Sept. 19 by committee Attorney Member Zebulon M. Winstead. Committee Chair Andree B. Leddy and Public Member Andrew W. Vanchiere concurred with the recommendation.
Allegations against Flournoy arose in part from representation of a client who had been injured on the job in March 2004. In that case, Flournoy allegedly allowed his client's signature to be forced to a satisfaction of judgment. Other allegations stemmed from Flournoy's representation of a client in a workers' compensation case and from which he allegedly took 41 percent of the settlement, rather than the 20 percent allowed in the settlement.
In a third client matter, in which Flournoy represented a couple injured in a December 2008 auto accident, Flournoy allegedly failed to promptly communicate with his clients regarding the status of their case.
Flournoy was admitted to the bar in Louisiana on Oct. 2, 1974, according to his profile at the Louisiana State Bar Association's website. Flournoy had no prior discipline before the state bar, according to the hearing committee's report.