Ohio Supreme Court receives complaints against 2 Trumbull attorneys

Staff report

COLUMBUS

The Ohio Supreme Court’s Board of Commissioners on Grievances & Discipline has received certified complaints regarding two Trumbull County attorneys, William R. Biviano of Warren and Robert L. Johnson of McDonald.

Typically, a public hearing is scheduled in several months from the certification. If the board finds that a lawyer or judge has engaged in professional misconduct, the board will file a report with the Ohio Supreme Court that includes a recommended sanction.

The Supreme Court is responsible for reviewing the case record and imposing discipline, according to a Supreme Court press release.

In the case of Biviano, whose office is at 108 Main Street SW, the Trumbull County Bar Assocation filed the complaint Monday, saying it investigated a complaint from a client who said Biviano failed to respond to her repeated requests for return of the part of her $4,500 payment that was not used.

The client, Jamie Smith, paid Biviano a $4,500 retainer in 2010 to represent her in Trumbull County Juvenile Court. In January 2012, Smith emailed Biviano asking that he close the file and return the unused portion of her retainer, the Trumbull County Bar Association reported.

She contacted Biviano several more times in the coming months but didn’t receive her money. The Trumbull County Bar Association began an investigation in September 2012. It found that Biviano’s conduct violated the Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct, the Bar Association reported.

Biviano did not return a phone call from The Vindicator seeking comment.

The other case involves Johnson, former Girard Municipal Court prosecutor, who was issued an “interim default suspension” of his law license in March that required him to cease and desist from practicing law.

That resulted from complaints investigated by the Lorain County Bar Association involving three clients, two of them from Lorain County and one from Trumbull County.

No current phone number for Johnson, who formerly had an office in Warren, could be found.