In the Matter of Austern
District of Columbia Court of Appeals
524 A.2d 680 (1987)

- Written by Darius Dehghan, JD
Facts
Attorney David Austern (defendant) represented Milton Viorst in selling condominium units owned by Viorst. The purchasers agreed to go to closing if Viorst deposited $10,000 into the escrow account. Viorst wrote the check but informed Austern that there were no funds in the account upon which the check had been written. Austern signed the escrow agreement without disclosing this information to the attorney representing the purchasers. The District of Columbia’s Board on Professional Responsibility (the board) found that Austern’s conduct violated the Code of Professional Responsibility, and it recommended a sanction of public censure. Austern subsequently appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Pryor, C.J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.