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Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Court Hopeful Faces Ethics Charges
By Mike Gallagher
Copyright © 2010 Albuquerque Journal
Journal Investigative Reporter
State Court of Appeals candidate Dennis W. Montoya stands accused of multiple acts of professional misconduct that include lying to a court, failing to account for client money and otherwise engaging in fraud and deceit.
The charges against Montoya, a Rio Rancho attorney, by the Disciplinary Board of the State Supreme Court were filed April 30 and made public Tuesday. They stem from a series of legal actions after a one-vehicle accident near Tucumcari claimed the life of oil rig worker Cody Utley in November 2002.
Montoya represented Utley's girlfriend Tresa Kosec, their son and Kosec's daughter from a prior relationship in various actions. They included a life insurance claim, a workers compensation claim and filing a lawsuit alleging there was a defective tire on the pickup truck Utley was driving.
The Disciplinary Board, which investigates allegations of attorney misconduct, charged Montoya with a pattern of misconduct it said displayed a selfish and dishonest motive. The charges were unsealed after Montoya received them. He has 20 days to respond.
Montoya is running against current Court of Appeals Judge Linda Vanzi in the Democratic primary and said late Tuesday that he plans to continue his campaign.
It was Vanzi who as a District Court judge in Albuquerque reported Montoya's alleged misconduct to the board in 2008, triggering the process that resulted in charges last week.
She had been asked to oversee the settlement between the tire manufacturer and Montoya's clients. Questions arose about who was Utley's legal heir and Vanzi appointed a guardian for his son. In early 2008, after an investigation by the guardian, Vanzi filed a lengthy complaint against Montoya with the Disciplinary Board.
The legal landscape in the case is complex.
Between 2003 and 2004, Montoya collected life insurance proceeds and settled a workers compensation case resulting from Cody Utley's death. In 2005, he instituted a wrongful death lawsuit alleging the tire on the truck Utley was driving failed due to improper installation and a defect in the tire.
In legal proceedings in state court, Montoya's attorney Charles Vigil has argued Montoya acted in good faith in representing Kosec and her children. Vigil didn't return calls seeking comment.
The Disciplinary Board complaint accuses Montoya of a series of misrepresentations in several legal actions and misleading Kosec on the fee arrangements.
Among the charges:
• Montoya knowingly made false statements to and misled the Probate Court in Farmington and the Workers Compensation Court, claiming Utley and Kosec were married when they were not and that Kosec's daughter was Utley's child.
• Montoya, in the wrongful death lawsuits over Utley's death, knowingly made false statements and engaged in conduct involving fraud, deceit, dishonesty and conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice.
• Montoya made false statements to the court-appointed guardian of Utley's child.
• Montoya had a conflict of interest in representing Utley's girlfriend and their child, who legally was sole heir to Utley's estate.
• Montoya failed to account for funds received from settlements made on behalf of Kosec and the two children and failed to safeguard his clients' funds.
Prior to Vanzi's involvement in the case, Montoya settled three claims for a total of more than $226,000 without any money being set aside for Utley's son, according to the board's complaint.
Vanzi in her complaint said it was a situation in which the child needed protection from his own lawyer.
The Disciplinary Board also alleges Montoya's cost log in representing Kosec and the children showed expenses of $40,000 that had never been paid and that Montoya used several sets of fee agreements with Kosec to his own benefit.
Vanzi was appointed to the Court of Appeals in the fall of 2008. Montoya announced his challenge earlier this year.
He has appealed Secretary of State Mary Herrera's decision to deny his campaign public financing to the state court in Santa Fe.
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