Summary: A Chappaqua, New York attorney has been disbarred for mishandling the funds of a nursing home client.
Five appellate court justices voted to disbar a Chappaqua attorney after the mishandled the funds of a nursing home client. Steven B. Cottler was disbarred on October 11 for professional misconduct.
The disciplinary actions against Cottler began in 2015 when he stopped paying the bills for his client who was a patient at Bainbridge Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in the Bronx. The nursing home stepped in to petition the Bronx Supreme Court to appoint a new guardian that could better protect the patient’s matters.
The Supreme Court agreed and appointed someone else to oversee the patient. Cottler was found to have breached his fiduciary duty. He had no excuse as to why he nursing home bills were unpaid for several months. They also found that he was collecting $700 each month when he was only entitled to $500 per month for his duties.
The matter was forwarded to the area’s attorney grievance committee. They found that Cottler was using the trust account for his personal and business expenses. During the investigation and hearings, Cottler repeatedly asked for delays and failed to submit requested documents. He claimed he intended to cooperate but had health issues that made it difficult to do so. He says he was hospitalized four times for cardiac and respiratory problems.
Cottler started out as a nursing home and hospital administrator before practicing law. He has since focused his law practice on Medicaid, long-term care, guardianships, wills, and nursing home issues. He called his approach of helping clients with these matters as “hands on.”
His law license was suspended in February by the appellate court until a disciplinary hearing could take place. The court ruled that even with his “good intentions and his various hospitalizations,” Cottler posed an “immediate threat to the public interest.”
The grievance committee filed a number of more formal charges against Cottler. The charges include his use of the trust account for personal expenses, not ensuring there were adequate funds for deposit, making improper cash withdrawals from the account, collecting excessive fees, commingling personal funds with trust funds, failing to cooperate with the investigation, and failing to account for guardianship funds.
The panel of five-judges found that the committee had properly established the charges against Cottler and he defaulted from any argument against his charges by not responding.
Evidence suggests that Cottler has been struggling with his finances, specifically paying her personal income taxes. There are five federal tax liens filed against him in Westchester County for a total of $341,266 between 1999 and 2015. One tax lien for nearly $20,000 had been satisfied.
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To learn more about attorneys that have been caught taking advantage of elderly clients, read these articles:
- Lawyer Accused of Stealing $600,000 from Elderly Clients
- Former Attorney Sentenced to 5 Years Probation for Stealing From Elderly Client
- West Virginia Lawyer Steals from Elderly Woman
Photo: weewestchester.com