Fargo Attorney Gets Six Months Suspension Due to Misconduct

An Attorney from Fargo has been suspended for six months and a day by the North Dakota Supreme Court after multiple reports have been filed against him

Jesse Matson, an attorney practicing in Fargo, has been suspended after the court came to a conclusion that the attorney did not act with reasonable diligence and promptness in terms of dealing with clients. As it turns out, Matson has also failed to return some of the money that his clients gave him.

The North Dakota Supreme Court accepted the recommendation of the state's disciplinary board that concerns Matson, as he was found practicing misconduct in three separate cases.

In one of Matson's cases, a client was deployed for army duty in a different country while the client was also involved in a divorce case with parental responsibility. The high court later found out that the attorney did not respond to his clients on time when they had questions and inquiries. Matson also did not show up for a trial until it was about to begin.

Aside from the tardiness and failure to respond to his client's questions, Matson failed to fully understand the military compensation system, which ultimately affected the case. Matson's failure to secure knowledge about the details of the compensation resulted in error in child support. Matson then lied to his client, saying that he would get the result he wanted. Matson also stopped sending the client important rulings on the case before he quit on his client without notice on January 24.

In another case that Matson handled, a client sought his services with a $2,000 worth of retainer. Matson then became MIA, and the client did not hear from him or receive any updates of the document drafted for the case. When the client hired another lawyer, Matson was unable to transfer any of his work, nor refund her money, the Bismark Tribune reported.

According to Wday.com, Matson did the same for the third case. A client paid the attorney $4,000 in retainer fees, with a rate of $200 per hour to represent her in a divorce case. The money was deposited to Matson's personal account and not the trust account. It was also found out that Matson and his lawfirm did not have a trust account.

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Fargo, attorney, Jesse Matson, suspension, malpractice, misconduct

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