David Beckwith wondered if he would ever walk again after falling through the floor of a building he was inspecting.
He needed a Pennsylvania personal injury attorney and found the since-disbarred lawyer, Mark Frankel, on the back of a local telephone book.
Beckwith eventually learned of Mark Frankel's reputation as arrogant personal injury lawyer who was known to get his client's good results. Beckwith was permanently disabled and wanted the best personal injury lawyer from one of the biggest law firms in York County Pennsylvania.
In the end, Frankel obtained a sizeable personal injury settlement for his client Beckwith. When it was time for Beckwith to receive his money he was put off for about a year.
In October 2004, he learned the York County District Attorney's Office had frozen the Pennsylvania personal injury law firm's assets of more than $1 million in missing client funds.
In November, Frankel was convicted of 58 felony counts of theft. He and his son, Stephen Frankel, were also found guilty of misapplication of entrusted property, a misdemeanor.
According to Pennsylvania court records, Beckwith's settlement was $325,000 and the law firm received $108,333.33 in fees and $4,500 in reimbursement costs. He was paid his $147,166.67 share in September 2003, but the law firm did not pay a $65,000 worker's compensation lien.
Beckwith later recovered his $65,000 from the Pennsylvania Lawyers Fund for Client Security, an insurance fund set up through the Pennsylvania Bar Association.
"I hope they throw the book at him for what he did to all these people. I got all the money owed to me. I feel terrible for people who may never see that money," said Beckwith.
Reference:
"Victims say disbarred attorney belongs in jail," The York Daily Record, Mike Hoover, November 2006.
