Santa Ana : Lawyer, 62, Disbarred; Misappropriated $9,700

Santa Ana lawyer James L. Hartman, 62, has been disbarred by the state Supreme Court for misappropriating $9,700 in clients’ funds and lying to California State Bar investigators about the case, State Bar spokeswoman Anne Charles said.

Hartman, who was reprimanded by the court in 1981 for failing to communicate with clients, wrote a will for a woman and then, after her death, instructed her heirs to deposit all money they held with her in joint accounts into a trust account, Charles said Monday.

Hartman distributed only $22,000 of the money in that account, leaving $9,700 unaccounted for, Charles said, and refused requests for an accounting while falsely claiming to State Bar investigators that one of the heirs had spent the funds on medical care for the woman.

The disbarment order was issued in September and was effective Oct. 10.

The high court disciplined 186 lawyers in 1985, including 18 who were disbarred. Thirty-four lawyers resigned from the bar while charges were pending against them. Eighteen lawyers have been disbarred this year, according to Charles.