People v. Egbune.

No. 22PDJ029. 3/21/2023. Opinion Imposing Sanctions.

August 11, 2023

A hearing board suspended Chuck Odifu Egbune (attorney registration number 26022) for three years, effective June 9, 2023. Before he petitions to reinstate his law license, if at all, Egbune must satisfy the judgment of attorney fees and costs awarded against him in a civil case in which he engaged in misconduct resulting in his discipline in this proceeding.

Egbune launched a nine-year litigation odyssey to collect attorney fees from a client. During the course of this campaign, Egbune filed duplicative claims in different counties, lodged vexatious and baseless claims, submitted motions that contained unsupported procedural assertions, neglected to respond to motions and communications, and failed to comply with a pretrial order. He also filed with a court an obviously faulty return of service to prove he had purportedly served a named defendant. Finally, Egbune failed to appear for trial, never having moved to continue the trial or alerted the court that he would not appear.

Through this conduct, Egbune violated Colo. RPC 3.4(c) (a lawyer must not knowingly disobey an obligation under the rules of a tribunal); Colo. RPC 8.4(c) (it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation); and Colo. RPC 8.4(d) (it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct that prejudices the administration of justice).