This disciplinary matter is before the Court on a Notice of Discipline filed by the Office of General Counsel of the State Bar of Georgia, at the direction of the Investigative Panel of the State Disciplinary Board. The State Bar seeks the disbarment of Craig Steven Mathis1 based on his handling of funds received in settlement of his client’s lawsuit. Although the State Bar personally served Mathis pursuant to Bar Rule 4-203.1 b 3 I, he failed to file a Notice of Rejection. As a result, Mathis violated Rule 9.3 of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct,2 is in default, has waived his right to an evidentiary hearing, and is subject to such discipline and further proceedings as may be determined by this Court. See Bar Rule 4-208.1b. Since November 22, 2010, Mathis has been suspended indefinitely from the practice of law in Georgia pursuant to this Court’s opinion finding him in contempt for his failure to appear for an earlier-ordered Review Panel reprimand that he had requested in a petition for voluntary discipline. See In the Matter of Mathis , 288 Ga. 311 702 SE2d 635 2010; In the Matter of Mathis , 286 Ga. 728 691 SE2d 202 2010.3 The facts in the disciplinary action before us are deemed admitted by virtue of Mathis’s default and show that a client hired Mathis to represent her in a personal injury action and Mathis filed a lawsuit which eventually settled for $60,000. Mathis received the settlement funds and, despite his client’s direction to pay $29,785 to satisfy outstanding medical expenses relating to her injury and treatment, he never did so. Instead, he promised to pay the providers and noted the payment on a settlement statement he furnished to his client, but kept the money for his own personal use despite having already received $12,000 in attorney fees from the settlement. The client, upon learning that the medical bills had not been paid when the providers began dunning her for payment, attempted to contact Mathis about his failure to pay the bills, but he failed to return her calls or otherwise explain why he had not paid the medical providers or what had happened to the portion of settlement funds meant for those providers. By these actions, Mathis violated Rules 1.2,4 1.3,5 1.4,6 1.15 I7 and II,8 and 8.4 a 49 of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct found in Bar Rule 4-102 d. Violation of most of these Rules allows for disbarment.
The Investigative Panel found no factors in mitigation of discipline and noted in aggravation that Mathis stole funds belonging to his client that were meant to satisfy the client’s outstanding medical bills, and that Mathis had a prior disciplinary history that reflected he had been issued a formal letter of admonition in June 2008 as well as the 2010 Review Panel reprimand that led to his indefinite suspension in 2010.
