New Jersey lawyer suspended for 1 year over large unsecured loan from client
In one of the harshest penalties ever imposed on a New Jersey attorney for borrowing money from a client, the state supreme court has suspended William Torre for 12 months.
Quadrupling the disciplinary penalty sought by the state Office of Attorney Ethics, the state’s top court called the former Hasbrouck Heights mayor’s conduct egregious, the Record reports.
“A one-year suspension is warranted to protect the public and guard against elder abuse by lawyers, and to help preserve confidence in the bar,” the court said in its unanimous written opinion (PDF).
Torre, a Republican, served as mayor of Hasbrouck Heights from 1996 to 2004.
The supreme court said he borrowed $89,000 in 2008 from an 86-year-old woman for whom he held a power of attorney. The amount represented 70 percent of her assets, and the loan was unsecured.
The loan was supposed to be repaid within two months, but after a year Torre had repaid only $10,000, the opinion says. The unidentified woman sued to collect, and was awarded a judgment of about $90,000 shortly before her death in 2009.
To date, Torre has repaid about $44,500. He told the supreme court he intends to pay the rest of the amount by the end of 2017, the newspaper reports.
Attorney Raymond Flood represented Torre in the legal ethics case. He said he and his client “understand and accept the decision of the Supreme Court, and he intends to repay the money that he borrowed.”
