On Thursday, March 23, 2023, the Disciplinary Counsel filed disciplinary charges against attorney William Evan Price before the Board of Professional Conduct of the Supreme Court of Ohio for the respondent’s failure to inform clients about case developments and failure to file relevant documents on their behalf.

The case is entitled “Disciplinary Counsel v. William Evan Price, Esq.” with case no. 2023-004.

The charges cited Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct 1.3, 1.4(a)(3),1.4(a)(4), 3.3(a)(1), 8.4(d) which state:

A lawyer shall act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing a client.

A lawyer shall keep the client reasonably informed about the status of the matter.

A lawyer shall comply as soon as practicable with reasonable requests for information from the client.

A lawyer shall not knowingly make a false statement of fact to a tribunal,

It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice.

The Rules of Professional Conduct can be found here.

Around 2018, the respondent represented on a contingency basis a company named O’Donell Medical Industries, Inc. (OMI), in a lawsuit against Animal Reference Pathology, LLC (ARP). Over the course of the proceedings, the respondent allegedly failed to respond to a motion for summary judgment. It was alleged that the respondent never informed his clients about the said motion nor requested the court for an extension of time to file a memorandum in opposition to the motion. At the status conference, the respondent even falsely told the court that he cannot reach his clients in an attempt to justify his inaction.

The filing states:

“On February 21, 2020, the deadline to file a memorandum in opposition to the Motion for Summary Judgment, the respondent exchanged text messages and had a phone call with Flynn and DeMaio. Respondent did not inform Flynn or DeMaio about ARP and ZN’s Motion for Summary Judgment in the text messages or during the phone call. After February 21, 2020, the respondent did not exchange any more text messages with Flynn or DeMaio. On February 25, 2020, Battle sent the court a letter requesting that the court grant the Motion for Summary Judgment since OMI did not file a memorandum in opposition.”

The filing continues:

“To date, Flynn and DeMaio have the same phone numbers and email addresses that they originally provided to the respondent in July-August 2018, but after February 21, 2020, the respondent never attempted to contact them again. On January 8, 2021, still having received no response to the motion, the court granted ARP and ZN’s Motion for Summary Judgment and terminated the case.”

The filing further states:

“Flynn asked whether the respondent was still representing OMI because many things in the case changed since they last spoke. Flynn expressed concern that he recently learned about ARP and ZN’s Motion for Summary Judgment and Motion for Attorney Fees and Costs. Flynn stated that he also recently learned that the respondent failed to file a response to those motions. Respondent never responded to Flynn’s December 7, 2021 email. Subsequently, Flynn hired Attorney Bradley McPeek (“McPeek”) to investigate this matter.”

In consideration of the alleged facts of the case, the relator requested that the respondent be found in violation of the Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct and be sanctioned accordingly.

As of today, Mr. Price is listed as the owner of the Law Office of W. Evan Price, LLC. He attended the University of Florida- Fredric G. Levin College of Law, graduating in 1991. He practices in Colombus, Ohio. He is licensed in Ohio. Mr. Price’s info can be found on Linkedin.

A copy of the original filing can be found here.