Former city attorney facing possible suspension

By BETHANY ROLFSON

The Western News

Former Libby City Attorney David Tennant could be facing an indefinite suspension of at least seven months and may have to retake a portion of the Montana Bar exam, after the Office of Disciplinary Counsel objected to the original recommendations given by the Commission on Practice of the Montana State Supreme Court.

The state Office of Disciplinary Counsel originally filed seven counts of professional misconduct against Tennant in April 2016, after he allegedly put a lien on a client’s two-lot property for nonpayment of fees, pursued foreclosure and then anonymously bought the property for well below market value.

On May 2, 2016, Tennant resigned during a Libby City Council meeting after the public and council questioned his knowledge of the pending state complaint prior to being sworn in as the city’s legal adviser.

A formal complaint by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel was held before an Adjudicatory Panel of the Commission of Practice on Oct. 20, 2016. The findings of facts recommended that the court require Tennant to provide his current and former clients with copies of all future attorney liens, and that Tennant provide Office of Disciplinary Counsel with copies of all attorney liens, civil complaints, judgments and assignments of judgments filed or obtained by Tennant or his firm against former clients for a period of three years and the imposition of costs.

The complaint also urged a court order of a public censure, and to quit claim one of the two lots to the previous client.

Deputy Disciplinary Counsel John Moog did not find the recommendations sufficient, and formally objected to the findings, conclusions and recommendations, and urged the court to “require that [Tennant] be held to full account for his misconduct.”

Moog wrote in his objection that Tennant made unethical debt collection practices, culminating in his purchase of a client’s property at sheriff’s sales upon foreclosure for attorney fee liens. Moog objected to the commission’s findings that Tennant was truthful with his client, because Moog claims that an uncontested testimony during a hearing revealed that Tennant did not disclose with his client his intentions of purchasing the property. The objection also alledges Tennant of not telling the Office of Disciplinary Counsel the truth regarding his property transaction,

“Instead of telling the [Office of Disciplinary Counsel] the truth concerning his property transaction with his client via a sheriff’s sale, [Tennant] obfuscated his role as the actual purchaser. He didn’t admit to bidding on the property or acquiring title after the period of redemption ... and he doubted the property was worth that much money as of the date of his response, but each lot was listed for sale at $65,000 at the time of the hearing,” the objection said.

The Office of Disciplinary Counsel said that Tennant allegedly filed a lien for $34,000 against two residential lots near Columbia Falls that were awarded to the client in the divorce case. He then allegedly illegally added to the lien a $2,300 bill for fees the client owed him from an earlier case. Tennant then allegedly billed his client $3,200 for attorney fees incurred while he tried to collect his fees in the divorce case.

Tennant won the foreclosure suit in May 2013 with a $34,000 judgment, the complaint alleges.

The Office of Disciplinary Counsel argues that Tennant used inside information about his client’s financial circumstances, and created a limited liability corporation to buy his client’s property for $34,000 in September 2013. The lots were put up for sale for $65,000 each. If the lots sell, the disciplinary council claims Tennant will have charged an excessive fee in addition to those already billed against the client.

The formal objection recommended that Tennant receive an indefinite suspension of at least seven months, and retaking a portion of the Montana Bar exam, specifically the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam. As per conditions set by Moog, Tennant would be reinstated as a lawyer upon returning equity of residential property to a former client, which he received after he represented the client in a dissolution of marriage case.