Richard John Papst was admitted to the California Bar 23rd June 1978, but has since been disbarred. Richard graduated from McGeorge SOL University of the Pacific.
Lawyer Information
| Name | Richard John Papst |
|---|---|
| First Admitted | 23 June 1978 (45 years, 10 months ago) |
| Status | Disbarred |
| Bar Number | 80503 |
Contact
| Current Email | [email protected] |
|---|---|
| Phone Number | 661-205-4346 |
Schools
| Law School | McGeorge SOL University of the Pacific (CA) |
|---|---|
| Undergraduate School | Arizona St University (Tempe AZ) |
Address
| Current Address | 1017 L St #792 Sacramento, CA 95814 |
|---|---|
| Map |
History
| 18 August 2010 | Disbarred (13 years, 8 months ago) Disbarment 06-O-10328 |
|---|---|
| 7 December 2008 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (15 years, 4 months ago) Ordered inactive 06-O-10328 |
| 17 August 2007 | Disciplinary charges filed in State Bar Court 06-O-10328 (16 years, 8 months ago) |
| 23 June 1978 | Admitted to the State Bar of California (45 years, 10 months ago) |
Discipline Summaries
August 18, 2010 RICHARD JOHN PAPST [#80503], 59, of Sacramento was disbarred Aug. 18, 2010, and was ordered to comply with rule 9.20 of the California Rules of Court. The State Bar Court review department upheld a hearing judge’s recommendation that Papst be disbarred for serious misconduct in two matters. He delayed filing a client’s application for disability retirement benefits for three years, actions that involved moral turpitude because he repeatedly lied to his client about the status of her disability case. The hearing judge found he acted incompetently. In a second matter, Papst misappropriated more than $125,000 belonging to several clients; he took the money to pay another client and then created and submitted to the State Bar false financial records to cover up his misconduct. His actions involved moral turpitude.Papst sought review, claiming disbarment was unwarranted in view of his 25 years of discipline-free practice. He said the delay in filing the disability application did not harm his client and that the misappropriation “can be attributed to nothing other than his inattention and sloppiness in client trust account record-keeping and control.†Although Papst told his client in December 2002 he would file her disability application the next year because changes in the law would be to her advantage, he did not file her claim until September 2005. He variously told the client that several hearings on her appeal had been delayed and that the process was slow due to a large backlog. At one point, he said the client’s appeal was successful and that her application had been approved. None of his statements was true.While Papst represented his client, she exhausted her deferred compensation and depended on her mother for financial assistance. He had her sign a petition to the county to compel the award of benefits. Although Papst knew the statements in the petition weren’t true, the client thought they were.In the second matter, Papst settled a case for $170,238.68. He wrote three checks to his client, but two bounced and the third was written against funds provided by other clients. The review panel found that Papst knew that none of the funds in his CTA belonged to his client, but he testified that he issued the checks because the client “needed the money to make payroll and other things for the company.†When the bar sought an explanation for the bounced checks, Papst admitted that he created financial records using false information in an effort to cover up his misconduct. “We find Papst’s propensity to commit fraud to avoid responsibility for his misconduct to be reprehensible,†the panel wrote. |