Attorney disbarred for accepting settlement without client’s permission

Jul. 23--WENATCHEE -- An East Wenatchee attorney was disbarred earlier this month after she accepted a settlement without her client's permission.

Julie Anderson, operator of a private practice, was retained in 2010 by a mother and son involved in a vehicle collision, according to disbarment documents released Monday by the Washington State Bar Association.

The mother and son were seeking a settlement from Farmers Insurance Company, which provided coverage for the driver of the other vehicle involved in the collision. Anderson charged the two a fee of one-third of the settlement.

In July 2012, Anderson sent Farmers a letter offering to settle their claim for $35,000. Farmers made a counter-offer of $12,000, which Anderson accepted without contacting her clients, according to the bar association.

Anderson deposited the $12,000 into a bank account on July 16, 2012 and then the same day withdrew about $1,000 for herself, the documents said. Anderson's share of the settlement was $4,000. Her clients rejected the settlement.

Anderson withdrew nearly $3,000 from the settlement and threatened to sue her clients if they didn't accept the settlement, the documents said.

Anderson ultimately returned her clients' $9,000 share of the settlement to Farmers in 2013. She was ordered to return the $3,000 she'd withdrawn, as well. But because she didn't have $3,000 in her personal account, she used money from a recently retained client to pay Farmers.

However, Anderson was not at liberty to use that money because she wasn't yet the client's attorney of record and hadn't represented him in court, the documents said.

In September 2018, a bar association hearing examiner recommended Anderson be disbarred. Anderson was disbarred July 9, 2019 by the state Supreme Court.

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