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Warren lawyer faces complaint of lying to court
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
An attorney who handled the arraignment for a Southington woman charged with murder two weeks ago has been ordered to a hearing Jan. 5 to answer a complaint that he improperly handled three cases and lied to the Ohio Supreme Court.
The law license of John H. Large of Warren was suspended for one year May 6, 2009, because he failed to file income tax returns between 2000 and 2004 and failed to deduct income taxes or Social Security from his employees’ pay.
The license was reinstated Feb. 10, 2011, after he filed an affidavit with the Ohio Supreme Court, indicating he had complied with all orders of the Supreme Court tied to his suspension.
But the Trumbull County Bar Association, in a complaint it filed with the Ohio Bar Association Feb. 22, 2011, alleged that Large failed to properly represent three clients and failed to properly notify the parties and court in 2009 of the suspension of his law license.
Large also told the Supreme Court on Dec. 13, 2010, that there was no formal discipline pending against him.
In the complaint, however, the Trumbull County Bar Association said the three client complaints had been referred for prosecution against Large, and Large had been notified of the referral by Dec. 13, 2010.
Large is scheduled for the disciplinary hearing before the Ohio Supreme Court’s Board of Commissioners on Grievances & Discipline at 10 a.m. Thursday at the 7th District Court of Appeals on West Federal Street in Youngstown.
According to the Bar Association, Christina Ward retained Large for $2,000 on June 19, 2008, to represent her in a divorce in Lake County, Ohio, but Large failed to file the divorce papers and later failed to return the $2,000 or her records.
Jennifer Natali paid Large $500 July 21, 2008, toward a $1,400 fee to represent her in a bankruptcy case, the Bar Association said. She paid the rest of the money in April 2009 but was then unable to contact Large because he had been suspended from practicing law.
Large later admitted he did not have Natali’s $1,400 because he had not retained it in a trust account as required by Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct, the Bar Association said.
Robert J. Burk retained Large Jan. 15, 2009, for $475 to file a motion to terminate a child-support order. Large filed the motion March 16, 2009, and notified Burk of the June 16, 2009, hearing. But he didn’t communicate with Burk after that to tell him that his law license had been suspended, the Bar Association said.
Large, who began practicing law in 1997, pleaded guilty in June 2007 in federal court to four misdemeanor counts of failing to file personal income tax returns, and a judge placed him on a four-year probation.
Part of his punishment was six months in a community confinement center in Akron followed by six months of electronically monitored home confinement while continuing his legal practice.
Large appeared in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Dec. 16 to represent Sarah Kaiser, 29, of Southington, during Kaiser’s arraignment on murder, felonious assault and child-endangering charges relating to the death of a 3-month-old boy in June at the Newton Falls day-care center where Kaiser worked.
The Trumbull County office of the Ohio Public Defender is now listed as the attorney of record for Kaiser.