VENTURA, OXNARD : Lawyers Disciplined for Ethics Violations

A Ventura attorney who failed to tell clients that he was suspended from practice has been disbarred, and an Oxnard attorney was suspended for two years for diverting money from his clients, the California State Bar announced.

In actions handed down last month, the state Supreme Court barred Michael Patrick Haley, 51, from practicing law and suspended Carlos Carl Yanez, 36, for two years. Haley received a two-year suspension in June, 1990, after he told a client that a case was pending when it had actually been dismissed because of his inaction, said Bar spokeswoman Susan Scott.

After the suspension, Haley was required to notify clients that he was suspended and to return their fees and legal files, but he had failed to do so by March of this year, Scott said.

Haley’s failure to participate in the disciplinary hearing and maintain an address with the State Bar were “aggravating factors,” she said. Haley had practiced law for 17 years before he was disbarred.

Yanez was suspended for depositing $32,400 in his own firm’s checking account rather than in escrow accounts for two clients, and for misappropriating $7,317 for his own purposes, Scott said.

In 1988, the Ventura County Bar Assn. ordered Yanez to repay one of the clients $2,500 for expenses incurred because of the diversion.

Yanez, an attorney for seven years, had repaid the clients by the time of his October hearing, at which he was cooperative and remorseful, Scott said.