People v. Berge

Attorney William Berge (defendant) represented Allen Stephenson in various matters for nearly 20 years until Stephenson’s death. Ten years before Stephenson’s death, Berge prepared a will leaving two-thirds of the residue to the Denver Dumb Friends League (DFL) and one-third to Angel Memorial Animal Hospital (the animal hospital). A year after executing the first will, Stephenson asked Berge to prepare a new will leaving part of the residue to Berge. Berge declined to draft the will and recommended two attorneys. Stephenson rejected them, requesting someone in Berge’s firm. Berge recommended Smith, an independent practitioner who rented space in Berge’s law office and regularly interacted with Berge. Stephenson agreed. Immediately after, Stephenson met with Smith, and Smith drafted a new will. The meeting lasted 15 minutes. Smith offered no substantive advice to Stephenson. Under the new will, Stephenson reduced the gift to the DFL to $25,000, canceled the gift to the animal hospital, and left 53% of the residue to Leon DuCharme and 47% to Berge. A few days later, Berge acted as a witness to the will’s execution. Smith prepared the will as a favor to Berge and did not charge Stephenson. Ten years later, Stephenson died. The probate court designated DuCharme special administrator, and DuCharme named Berge as his attorney. DuCharme and Berge inventoried Stephenson’s estate, which totaled nearly $600,000. Berge informed the DFL that it would receive $25,000 rather than two-thirds of the estate and misrepresented the estate’s total value as $250,000. The DFL retained an attorney to investigate. The residuary beneficiaries under the first and second wills reached a settlement in which the DFL and the animal hospital divided one-third of the residue and DuCharme and Berge divided the remaining two-thirds. After taxes and expenses, Berge received more than $113,000. A grievance was filed, and the grievance committee (plaintiff) initiated disciplinary proceedings.