The Lawyers of St. George » trustee

Most Recent Court Order re Graff Law Firm Documents

admin — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 23:14:43 +0000

Pursuant to court order, all remaining files from the offices of Matthew T. Graff and Associates have been transferred to the Utah State Bar for further handling. The Trustee will no longer handle any mail for Matthew T. Graff and Associates and any requests for information should be directed to the Utah State Bar.

Court Order Regarding Unclaimed Files in Graff Matter

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:33:27 +0000

On October 30, 2009, Judge Robert Faust reviewed the First Trustee’s Report of Timothy B. Anderson, the court-appointed Trustee for the former clients of Matthew T. Graff & Associates and entered an order providing as follows:

The Trustee is authorized to destroy those client files for which two notification letters have been sent with no response from the file’s owner. Such files may be destroyed 30 days after the second letter is sent.
Files that appear to have been closed, with no activity for four or more years, may be destroyed by the Trustee.

Files will be destroyed by a commercial shredding operation. We urge you to contact Sheila Berger at 435 628-1627 if you have received a notification letter from the Trustee and have not made arrangements to pick up your file.

Help for Former Graff Clients Available

admin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 03:29:21 +0000

As a service to the former clients of Matthew T. Graff & Associates, Steven Sullivan of Robert J. DeBry & Associates has collected names of attorneys who are willing to provide help under the terms set out below. Many thanks to Steve for spearheading the formulation of guidelines for participation, and for soliciting help from members of the bar. Thanks also to the volunteers shown below who constitute the panel of attorneys willing to take on cases in these circumstances.

GUIDELINES FOR PARTICIPATING ATTORNEYS:

Panel members will take on at least one case pro bono (without payment) within the limitations set out below.
Panel members will commit to providing twenty hours pro bono services on accepted cases. The lawyer will review the case and in the event more than twenty hours may be required to bring the case to a conclusion, an agreement with the client will be entered as to how fees will be handled for work beyond the first twenty hours.
Panel members agree, in any case accepted having time sensitive issues of a jurisdictional nature, to take needed action timely to silence all such issues.
Panel members must have malpractice insurance in force through his or her own law firm.
Panel members have the right to review the proposed case and accept or reject the situation, but will at least provide advice and counsel to the client as to how the client might proceed.
Panel members who accept one or more cases, under the terms set out above, will also be placed on a list of lawyer names that will be distributed at the discretion of the Trustee to former clients of Matt Graff. The lawyer may accept or reject any potential clients contacting the lawyer and the lawyer may charge customary fees to such individuals.

PANEL MEMBERS

First Name	Last Name	Firm	Address	Phone
Robert M.	Anderson	VanCott, Bagley, Cornwall & McCarthy	36 S. State Street, Ste 1900, Salt Lake City, UT 84111	801-532-3333
Ronald C.	Barker	Barker Law Office, LLC	2870 S. State Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84115-3624	801-486-9636
Brett L.	Benson	Gregory & Swapp, PLLC	P.O. Box 709390, Sandy, UT 84070	801-990-1919
Lawrence D.	Buhler	Lawrence D. Buhler Law Office	10 West Broadway, Ste 800, Salt Lake City, UT 84101	801-363-1059
Jonathan	Cavender	Howard, Lewis, & Petersen, PC	P.O. Box 1248 Provo, UT 84603	801-373-6345
Ronald J.	Kramer	Attorney at Law	12357 South 450 East, Suite 1, Draper, UT 84020	801-553-8840
D. David	Lambert	Howard, Lewis & Petersen, PC	120 East 300 North, Provo, UT 84603	801-373-6345
Bryan A.	Larson	Larson, Turner, Dalby & Ethington, LC	1218 W. S. Jordan Pkwy, Ste B South Jordan, UT 84095	801-446-6464
Tanya Noreen	Lewis	Howard Lewis & Peterson, PC	120 East 300 North, Provo, UT 84603	801-373-6345
Kenneth	Parkinson	Howard, Lewis & Petersen, PC	120 East 300 North, Provo, UT 84603	801-373-6345
John D.	Ray	Fabian & Clendenin, PC	215 S. State Street, Ste 1200, Salt Lake City, UT 84111-2323	801-531-8900
Jonathan T.	Remmel	Mainor Eglet Cottle	400 S. Fourth Street, Ste 600, Las Vegas, NV 89101	702-450-5400
G. Steven	Sullivan	Robert J. DeBry & Associates, PC	4252 South 700 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84107	801-262-8915
J. Wayne	Turley	J. Wayne Turley, P.C.	P.O. Box 655, Salem, UT 84653	801-423-2462 or 480-246-6505
Antonio Jason	Velez	Robert J. Debry & Associates, PC	243 E. St. George Blvd., St. George, UT 84770	435- 656-0198

Tim Anderson Appointed Trustee in Graff Matter

Marianne Sorensen — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 23:33:36 +0000

As a result of the interim suspension of attorney Matthew T. Graff, the Fifth District Court for Iron County has ordered that a trusteeship be imposed over the law practice of Matthew T. Graff & Associates. At the request of the Utah State Bar’s Office of Professional Conduct, the court has appointed Tim Anderson to act as the trustee on behalf of clients of Mr. Graff’s Cedar City and St. George offices, with the responsibility of taking possession of all client files, notifying Mr. Graff’s clients of the situation, and returning their files to them. Returning funds that belong to Mr. Graff’s clients is also a part of the duties of the trustee.

As part of this process, we here in the St. George office of Jones Waldo are inventorying all files. Any matters in which Jones Waldo has a conflict of interest are being directed to Lowry Snow of Snow, Jensen & Reese, who has been designated by Tim Anderson to act as the “conflicts trustee” for such matters. In addition, Josh Little of the Durham Jones & Pinegar law firm has been appointed to be an back-up conflicts trustee in the event there is a conflict with both the Jones Waldo and Snow Jensen firms). We are preparing to notify the Graff firm’s clients by mail when their files will be available for them to pick up in person. In order to obtain their files, we will require them to provide picture I.D. and sign a release or affidavit, after which they will be able to take their cases to an attorney of their choice. Due to our involvement in the trusteeship, Jones Waldo will not be taking on any cases that we review and deliver to Graff clients.

Our goal is to process the huge number of files in a short time period so that deadlines are not missed and statutes of limitations problems are averted. Former clients of Mr. Graff who know that they have upcoming court hearings or other deadlines may contact Sheila Berger at 435 986-2101 to alert us to their situation, and we will maintain a list of files that are particularly urgent and try to expedite the process of getting them to their owners.

Watch for further information here.