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NOTICE: This opinion is subject to motions for rehearing under Rule 22 as well as formal revision before publication in the New Hampshire Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter, Supreme Court of New Hampshire, One Charles Doe Drive, Concord, New Hampshire 03301, of any editorial errors in order that corrections may be made before the opinion goes to press. Errors may be reported by E-mail at the following address: reporter@courts.state.nh.us. Opinions are available on the Internet by 9:00 a.m. on the morning of their release. The direct address of the court's home page is: http://www.courts.state.nh.us/supreme. THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE ___________________________ Original No. LD-2006-002 YOUNG'S CASE Argued: September 13, 2006 Opinion Issued: November 21, 2006 Landya B. McCafferty, of Concord, on the brief and orally, for the professional conduct committee. Daschbach, Cooper, Hotchkiss & Csatari, P.A., of Lebanon (Joseph F. Daschbach on the brief and orally), for the respondent. GALWAY, J. On February 14, 2006, the Supreme Court Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) filed a petition recommending that the respondent, David A. Young, be disbarred. We order the respondent disbarred. The PCC found the following facts. On August 30, 1998, J.L. was employed by Developmental Services of Sullivan County, Inc. (DSSC) as a caregiver for DSSC's patients. While J.L. was working that evening at DSSC, a developmentally disabled patient physically and sexually assaulted her. She sued DSSC and other defendants to recover for injuries resulting from the assault. The respondent represented J.L. in her suit, and filed a writ in the superior court on September 28, 1998, alleging the following: Shortly after she began her shift, at 5 p.m., [J.L.] was violently raped by [a DSSC patient]. [The patient] pinned [J.L.] to a couch,

and assaulted her by biting, licking and touching her on her face, breast and arms. He pulled his pants down and put his hand inside [J.L.'s] shorts. He digitally fondled her. [The patient] punched, hit and bit [J.L.], and attempted to have sexual intercourse with her by twisting her wrist and pinning her arms behind her, then by forcing his weight upon her. The respondent also represented J.L. in related workers' compensation and whistleblower's claims. In December 1999, DSSC settled the workers' compensation claim for $85,000. DSSC disbursed the settlement to the respondent in two installments: a payment of $15,000 on December 23, 1999, and a payment of $70,000 on January 11, 2000. The respondent deposited the $15,000 disbursement into his law office operating account as "fees earned" and deposited the $70,000 disbursement into a trust account at Claremont Savings Bank (Trust Account). As of January 12, 2000, the Trust Account carried a balance of $70,400. Of that amount, the defendant held $70,000 in trust for J.L. On January 16, the respondent disbursed $54,116.99 from the Trust Account to one of his other clients, leaving less money in the account than was owed to J.L. On January 18, the Trust Account received a deposit of $78,000. On that same day, the respondent wrote a check to J.L. for $17,300 and wrote "full settlement" on the check. Considering the $17,300 disbursement, as well as an advance given to J.L. and additional fees, the respondent still held $41,500 in trust for J.L. on January 18. As of March 13, the respondent had made no further disbursement to J.L. On that date, he transferred $40,000 from the Trust Account into two of his operating accounts, leaving a balance of $1,975.56 in the Trust Account. The respondent had one other trust account, an IOLTA account at Fleet Bank, but this account carried a total balance of only $100.94 from March 12 through March 31. On April 3, the respondent transferred $3,500 from one of his operating accounts to his Fleet IOLTA account and marked the $3,500 as a refund to J.L. for unneeded legal fees and expert witness fees, thus increasing the total money owed to her to $45,000. On April 13, the respondent transferred $30,800 from one of his operating accounts into his Fleet IOLTA account. He then wrote J.L. two checks from the Fleet IOLTA account: one for $35,000 and another for $10,000. At approximately the same time that the respondent disbursed the $45,000 to J.L., she terminated her attorney-client relationship with the respondent. She subsequently hired David Cole and James Mulligan as cocounsel and filed a PCC complaint against the respondent. Approximately one year later, in April 2001, the respondent informed Mulligan that he intended to pursue a lien in the amount of $45,000 against J.L. Mulligan repeatedly requested documentation, such as invoices, to support the lien claim, but the respondent failed to supply such documentation. In a letter dated November

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21, 2001, addressed to Mulligan, the respondent stated that he also intended to file a lawsuit against J.L. based upon "her knowing and willful participation in a fraud." The letter alleged that J.L. had fabricated the sexual nature of the assault that occurred at DSSC. The letter stated that J.L. did not tell her supervisor, Deborah Dow, her boyfriend, Chris Hohn, or multiple other people close to her about "any sexual overtones of the [patient's] attack" until she met with the respondent's former co-counsel, Kenneth Gordon. Gordon and J.L. had met privately in late September 1998, a few days before the respondent filed the writ in superior court alleging that J.L. suffered a sexual assault while working at DSSC. In early December 2001, Mulligan filed a motion in superior court to determine the nature of the attorney's lien. The respondent filed an objection on December 14, in which he included allegations similar to those in his November 21 letter. Paragraph five of the objection stated, "It was only after a meeting attended only by [J.L.] and Gordon did the instance of sexual abuse come to light." Paragraph six implied that Gordon and J.L. fabricated the sexual nature of the assault: "Prior to that meeting, [J.L.] had not told her good friend, Heather Bressette, Chris Hohn, her boyfriend and soon to be fianc

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