Walter Melvin Frazee III was admitted to the California Bar 16th December 1980, but has since been disbarred. Walter graduated from Western State University.
Lawyer Information
| Name | Walter Melvin Frazee III |
|---|---|
| First Admitted | 16 December 1980 (44 years, 6 months ago) |
| Status | Disbarred |
| Bar Number | 93933 |
Contact
| Phone Number | 949-661-3410 |
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Schools
| Law School | Western State University (CA) |
|---|---|
| Undergraduate School | University of Southern Calif (Los Angeles CA) |
Address
| Current Address | 24065 Windward Dr Dana Point, CA 92629 |
|---|---|
| Map |
History
| 22 November 2001 | Disbarred (23 years, 7 months ago) Disbarment 99-O-11659 |
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| 27 May 2001 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (24 years ago) Ordered inactive 99-O-11659 |
| 20 November 2000 | Not eligible to practice law in CA (24 years, 7 months ago) Ordered inactive 99-O-11659 |
| 6 September 2000 | Disciplinary charges filed in State Bar Court 99-O-11659 (24 years, 9 months ago) |
| 16 December 1980 | Admitted to the State Bar of California (44 years, 6 months ago) |
Discipline Summaries
November 22, 2001 WALTER MELVIN FRAZEE III [#93933], 46, of Dana Point was disbarred Nov. 22, 2001, and ordered to comply with rule 955. In a default proceeding, the State Bar Court found that Frazee committed misconduct in three matters.In the first, he was asked to file a petition for probate by the sister of a woman for whom he had prepared a will. The sister gave him $450. Although he promised to prepare the petition immediately, he never did so and did not return his client’s numerous phone calls.When the woman hired successor counsel and requested a refund and return of her file, Frazee did not respond. He also did not respond to the new lawyer or to the Orange County bar’s Client Relations Committee, with whom the client filed a complaint.In a second case, Frazee acted as attorney for a trust; the client’s nephew was a trustee and upon the client’s death, two women were to receive $10,000 each. When the client died, Frazee asked the trustee for a check for $20,000 to pay the two women. At the time, he was suspended from practice for non-payment of bar dues.Frazee deposited $15,000 in his client trust account, kept $5,000 in cash, but never paid the beneficiaries of the trust anything, retaining the funds for his own use and misappropriating $20,000. Over time, the balance in his trust account fell to a negative amount. The beneficiaries sued Frazee for fraud and intentional misrepresentation and each won a judgment of $28,934.Frazee did not pay the judgments until, in an attempt to sell his home, he agreed to settle the matters in order to remove liens against his property.In a third matter, Frazee represented a client in a personal injury matter stemming from a motor accident. He settled the case for $78,000, paid some medical bills and set aside about $3,700 to pay the balance of the doctor bills. However, he allocated that money to cost reimbursement rather than medical reimbursement and converted those funds to his own use. Because some of his client’s medical bills weren’t paid, the client was unable to refinance his home without paying a larger amount than anticipated.Frazee did not respond to registered letters from his client.The bar court found Frazee failed to perform legal services competently (two counts), communicate with clients (two counts), release client papers and property (one count), deposit and maintain funds in his trust account (one count) or pay medical providers at his client’s request. He also held himself out as an attorney while suspended and committed acts of moral turpitude that included willful misappropriation of $20,000, converting funds intended for a medical provider to his own use and cashing a check written to file a probate petition and never filing the petition. |