Machado v. Statewide Grievance Committee

Incarcerated client Scott Adams hired attorney Arthur Machado (plaintiff) for a bankruptcy proceeding and instructed him to communicate through Kendra Cihocki, who delivered the bankruptcy retainer but then separately directed Machado to instead obtain a tax-lien release for a business she and Adams owned; Machado depleted the retainer on the tax-lien work and, once the funds ran out, took no further action on the bankruptcy without ever informing Adams of this change or that he had closed his law office. Adams's repeated attempts to reach Machado by phone and mail went unanswered, and he filed a grievance complaint; the Statewide Grievance Committee (the committee) (defendant) reprimanded Machado, the trial court dismissed his appeal of that reprimand, and Machado appealed further.