| ► Attorney Thomas W. Watkins of Stow, OH; despicable crook |
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Attorney Thomas W. Watkins of Stow, OH; despicable crook
The state of Ohio provided Thomas Wesley Watkins with a law license in 1992 after he graduated from the University of Akron Law School.
The Akron Bar Association found Tommy guilty of the following misconduct:
Tommy'sfee gouging took place while he was acting as the trustee of a client’s revocable living trust. Irene Radabaugh a stroke victim, asked Tommy to look after her financial affairs. Tommy then had Irene execute a power of attorney making him attorney-in-fact over her finances, healthcare, and a living revocable trust naming Tommy as trustee.
Tommy had never served as a trustee before; nevertheless he saw fit to oversee Irene’s trust assets of approximately $198,000. Tommy had the audacity to charge Irene $46,294 for his alleged services over a 20-month period of time while she was being cared for in a nursing home.
Subsequently, Irene fired Tommy and hired another attorney to assist her in selling her home and to perform other necessary estate planning needs.
The trust only allowed an hourly rate of $150, but only for extraordinary services. Tommy the Crook charged Irene $112.50 on 137 occasions for $15,412.50 for the simple act of picking up Irene’s mail.
Expert witnesses employed by the Akron Bar said that Tommy overcharged (bilked) Irene in an amount of $28,344.22. Tommy also paid himself $11,800 from Irene’s trust as a advance for future fees.
Tommy’s Hyperbolic (BS) Defense to Ripping-Off Irene
Tommy had the chutzpah to defend his unconscionable billing of a disabled senior citizen by claiming he tried to get others to do the menial task of picking up Irene’s mail, but that they left it up to him to do it. Clearly Tommy missed his calling as a standup comedian.
As a consequence of his misconduct, the apologists for Attorney Misfits sitting on the Ohio Supreme Court punished Thomas by gifting him with a complimentary stayed six-month suspension of his law license.
In truth, the comedians sitting on the Ohio Supreme Court didn't mete out any meaningful punishment to Tommy.
How in the world is it possible that the Supreme Court allowed someone of Tommy's ilk to retain his law license? Apparently they didn’t feel it would be fair to deny him the opportunity to earn a dishonest living as an attorney.
As we speak (ca. May 2012) Tommy practices his brand of law at 3393 Churchill Downs in Stow, Ohio which is a suburb of Akron.
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