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Warren attorney faces possible discipline over complaint he berated client
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
A certified complaint has been filed with the Ohio Supreme Court against Atty. Raymond J. Masek, of 183 W. Market St., over allegations that he berated a client in front of a judge.
The complaint was investigated by the Trumbull County Bar Association, which referred it to the Ohio Supreme Court. Masek now has the opportunity to file an answer to the complaint.
The complaint says a man hired Masek in February 2012 to represent him in a case alleging wrongful termination from the client’s job. The client paid a $5,000 retainer and $240 court filing fee. The client did not, however, retain Masek to represent him in his request for unemployment compensation, saying he couldn’t pay the additional $2,000 for that. He got a lawyer from Community Legal Aid Services to do it.
Masek claims he had authority from the client to settle the case for $7,000, so he extended that offer to the company even though it didn’t provide for the client getting his job back. But the client said he made it clear his only goal was getting his job back.
The client rejected the settlement when he learned of it, the complaint says, but the company filed a motion asking the court to enforce the offer Masek made. The client filed his complaint with the bar association against Masek on Sept. 5, 2012.
On Sept. 18, 2012, while Masek was still representing the client, Masek attended a hearing before federal magistrate Nancy A. Veccharelli regarding the motion to enforce settlement. Masek “became adversarial” toward his client, criticizing him and complaining about his client’s not hiring him to represent him in the unemployment claim, the complaint says.
“Then during the course of the hearing, without any forewarning” to his client, Masek made an oral motion to withdraw as attorney, the complaint says.
The complaint alleges Masek’s behavior violates several codes of conduct, including ones requiring an attorney to provide competent representation, avoid a conflict of interest and not disclose private information without his client’s permission.
Masek, who became an attorney in 1977, has no previous disciplinary history, according to the Ohio Supreme Court website.