SC suspends lawyer for dishonesty
The Supreme Court has suspended a lawyer for three years after he was found guilty of dishonesty in handling an inheritance case.
The high tribunal, voting unanimously, imposed the penalty on lawyer Dennis Acorda even though the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) had dismissed the case against him following the withdrawal of the complaint by his client, Dominic Paul Lazareto.
“[Acorda’s] action was a transgression not only of what was due Lazareto as a client but also of the profession and the nation that expects lawyers to live up to the highest standards of performance in this noble profession,” the high court said in a resolution released last week.
The court scolded the IBP, saying, “How [Acorda] was able to extricate [himself from] what he did is reprehensible and casts doubt on the integrity of the IBP and its commissioners.”
“What to us comes out in bold relief in reading through the records of this case is a web of deceit and negligence perpetrated by [Acorda] against the complainant and his family, to their prejudice and to the prejudice of the profession that has now been brought to disrepute by the respondent’s ‘sharp’ practices,” the justices said.
They said that Acorda “should be made to answer for his dishonest dealings with Lazareto and his family, as well as for his negligence in the handling of the task Lazareto had entrusted him with.”
Article continues after this advertisementSupreme Court spokesman Theodore Te said that Acorda was engaged by Lazareto and his family to extrajudicially settle the estate of his late father, who had died intestate or without a last will and testament.
Article continues after this advertisementAcorda was paid and also received documents pertinent and relevant to the intended action but he failed to perform the tasks he was engaged to perform. Te did not provide other details of the inheritance case.
Te said that in the course of the administrative proceedings before the IBP’s commission on bar discipline, Acorda managed to convince Lazareto to settle the matter, which resulted in the complainant filing an affidavit of desistance and causing the dismissal of the complaint.
After subsequent proceedings, the IBP ordered Acorda suspended from law practice for one month. Acorda moved for reconsideration of the penalty, arguing that the complainant had desisted. Lazareto, however, said that he was not fully heard on matters that came to light after he had been persuaded to settle the case.
But the IBP board of governors agreed with Acorda, granting his motion for reconsideration and ordering the dismissal of the case.
The Supreme Court justices disagreed with the IBP’s action, describing it as “improvident.”
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