SPRINGFIELD - A hearing board of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission is recommending the Illinois Supreme Court suspend Thomas Maag of Wood River for two years and until further order.
Maag represents one of the groups challenging the Illinois weapon ban in U.S. district court.
Commission board members Laura Beasley of Belleville and Rebecca McDade and Brian Russell of Chicago found suspension until further order would protect the public until Maag demonstrates he is willing and able to ethically practice law again.
They found they wouldn’t have recommended such a severe sanction if he had accepted responsibility for neglecting clients Michael and Laura Ambrose.
They also took into account a 60 day suspension the Supreme Court ordered in 2019.
According to the ARDC, the Ambroses testified at a hearing in March that they retained Maag for three matters: they sought redress for a faulty hot tub and concrete it damaged; they sought to resolve a dispute with a jewelry store about a diamond ring and they sought to resolve a dispute with a financial company about life insurance.
The Ambroses paid Maag $1,545 for filing and service fees and they agreed on 33% for his fee.
Michael testified that he understood Maag would send demand letters to all three companies.
Michael said Maag requested the ring appraisal and Laura sent it right after the meeting.
The ARDC hearing board found that according to the Ambroses, Maag never asked for more information about the three matters.
Michael testified he never received a copy of any demand letters and the hot tub was replaced because of the Ambroses’ communications with the hot tub company.
Maag testified that he conducted internet searches about the corporate name and location of the jewelry company after he and Michael discussed that it might have changed names.
He said he did not send a demand letter or pursue the issue because he found no liable party.
Michael said the jewelry company operated under a different name as of March 2024.
Maag testified that he did not send a demand letter about the insurance policy because he didn’t receive authority to settle for a specific amount.
He said he did not work on this matter in the first half of 2022 because of his poor emotional state due to family medical issues and his father’s death.
Michael testified he requested updates by phone, email, and mail for more than three years.
Maag testified he did not receive the requests or didn’t respond because of personal matters.
Michael testified that Maag said no one responded to the demand letters so he filed lawsuits on all three cases.
Michael said he went to Madison County courthouse and checked Missouri court records but found no cases under his name.
He said he left a message with Maag’s office and followed up with email requesting his files.
He said he wrote, “I have not heard from anybody in well over a year regarding these cases and have not received any updates.”
He said another attorney assisted him in drafting a certified letter that terminated Maag and asked Maag to return all his files and Maag did not respond.
The Ambroses complained to state regulators who notified Maag of an investigation in December 2022.
Days later the Ambroses found a bag in their mailbox that didn’t contain files but contained a damaged envelope with a letter stating it contained all the files.
The hearing board found no direct evidence that Maag or someone on his behalf placed the bag in the mailbox but abundant circumstantial evidence supported this finding.
They found:
- Maag stated Michael didn’t send a jewelry appraisal and Laura credibly testified that she emailed it to him in September 2019.
- Maag stated Michael didn’t give him the life insurance paperwork when Michael sent it by email in March 2020.
- A conversation Maag said he had with Michael did not occur and Maag fabricated and backdated a related memo.
- That even if Maag wasn’t aware of attempts to reach him, a lawyer has an affirmative duty to keep clients informed.
- His poor emotional state in the first half of 2022 accounted for only six months out of more than three years he represented the Ambroses.
- He demonstrated untruthfulness in their proceeding by falsely testifying that an email was a true and correct copy of the original when it was not.
- The Supreme Court suspended him for 60 days in 2019 because he took title to a client’s house as payment without advising the client he created a conflict of interest.
- He compounded the conflict by attempting to evict the client while representing her in other legal matters.
“This should have heightened his awareness of his ethical obligations,” they wrote.
They found his lack of remorse and failure to take responsibility for his conduct did not inspire confidence that he was ready to meet the ethical expectations of the profession.
Rachel Miller represented the commission and Maag represented himself.