In a legal career that began between the Miami Dolphins’ two Super Bowl victories in the 1970s, Hallandale Beach attorney Roger Davis said he had never faced a grievance committee before the current accusations that he misappropriated $15,229.
As of May 22, Davis will be suspended.
The state Supreme Court Granted Florida Bar’s Petition for Emergency Suspension last week, a petition that included two complaints. Judge James Sherman of the 15th Judicial Circuit in West Palm Beach was appointed referee in the case.
Davis, 76, said the State Bar froze all of his accounts on Tuesday. He feels he “scammed” the wrong person and both issues were originally filed with the Attorney Consumer Assistance Program, a Florida Bar program that allows consumers to resolve attorney conduct issues without filing an official Bar complaint of Lawyers.
“The first instance, which spans 45 years, was dismissed with the indication that there was no disciplinary or ethical violation,” Davis said. “The second complaint was fully resolved in Tallahassee and then filed again at the Florida Bar office in Fort Lauderdale.”
Davis joined the Bar on October 18, 1973. He met William Storen almost three years later.
William Storen
Davis said Storen was a visiting client at Davis’ downtown Miami office in 1976 who refused to be represented by Davis’s partner because the partner was black. Davis became 26-year-old Storen’s legal guardian that year.
The Bar petition says Davis lost contact with Storen, who was declared a man Davis described as a “dangerous paranoid schizophrenic” who was declared disabled. Storen died on January 9, 2018.
The Bar’s complaint says Davis learned of Storen’s death in 2019 from Susan Capri, Storen’s niece, when she asked Storen’s family about him.
In a telephone interview with the Miami Herald, Davis said he agreed with Capri to receive one-third of the money in Storen’s account as legal fees. But after a disagreement when Capri asked for accounting records, Capri filed a complaint with the State Bar and Davis said he told her he would take all of her share and “would distribute it to worthy causes.”
The Bar petition says Davis “refused to provide Capri with an accounting of the funds held in Storen’s name,” so Capri filed the complaint.
The Florida Bar said that as of May 13, 2019, there was $13,933 in the account Davis maintained with Storen’s money.
That money remained there plus “nominal interest” until May 25, 2022, the Bar Association petition said. That day, according to the Bar’s chief auditor, Carl Totaro, there was a $5,000 transfer from the Storen account to Davis’ personal account and a $1,000 payment from Zelle to Galetti Keith.
Six days later, the Order’s petition said, there was an online transfer to Davis’ personal account and, on June 7, 2022, a Zelle payment, each in the amount of $1,000. On June 23, a Tele-Transfer moved $2,200 from the Storen account to Davis’ trust account. That same day, a $3,500 check from Davis’ trust account was cashed “made payable to Roger B. Davis.”
Three online transfers of $1,000 each left the Storen account on June 28, June 29, and July 1, 2022. A $500 Zelle disbursement went to a “Downing Mary” with the order to “Use in good health ”. On September 16, 2022, the account balance was $102.94.
Only one of the last seven transfers from the Storen account exceeded $300, but the final total was $13,837. The Bar’s auditor said at least $9,630 went into Davis’ personal account.
The Bar’s petition says Davis claimed the money counted as legal fees and said he even included them in his gross taxable income, but “did not provide evidence to support these funds as earned legal fees.”
Additionally, the Bar said Davis failed to file an annual accounting under his watch for Storen from 2014 to 2018.
Miami Motors money
The issue of the other $1,392 involves Miami Motors, a company run by Henry Rose in the Country Walk area of Kendall. The Bar petition says Rose paid Davis $350 upfront, but they never reached a fee agreement. Rose alleged that Davis did not receive Rose’s full $3,500 share after the case was resolved in 2023.
Davis, the Bar’s petition says, did not put the settlement check into his trust account on March 21, 2023, but into his personal account, mixing business and personal money. On March 31, the Bar petition says, Davis’ personal account dropped to $182.90 after Davis made payments to Citibank, American Express, Capital One, Target and Florida Power & Light.
Davis paid Rose $1,575, the Order says, from his trust account in four payments from April 10 to May 4. But that plus the $182.90, by the Order’s math, still leaves Davis $1,392.10 short.
Furthermore, “one cannot use client money received today for a lawyer’s personal purposes, gambling that it will be replaced in time for a client payment in the future,” the Order said.
