Brown v. Legal Foundation of Wash., 538 U.S. 216, 11 (2003)

Page:   Index   Previous  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  Next

226

BROWN v. LEGAL FOUNDATION OF WASH.

Opinion of the Court

stitutional taking of property without due process or just compensation." Id., at 1104. Like other State Supreme Courts that had considered the question, it distinguished our decision in Webb's Fabulous Pharmacies, Inc. v. Beckwith, 449 U. S. 155 (1980), on the ground that the new " 'program creates income where there had been none before, and the income thus created would never benefit the client under any set of circumstances.' " 102 Wash. 2d, at 1108 (quoting In re Interest on Trust Accounts, 402 So. 2d 389, 395 (Fla. 1981)).

Second, it rejected the argument that it was unethical for lawyers to rely on any factor other than the client's best interests when deciding whether to deposit funds in an IOLTA account rather than an account that would generate interest for the client. The court endorsed, and added emphasis to, the response to that argument set forth in the proponents' reply brief:

" 'Although the proposed amendments list several factors an attorney should consider in deciding how to invest his clients' trust funds, . . . all of these factors are really facets of a single question: Can the client's money be invested so that it will produce a net benefit for the client? If so, the attorney must invest it to earn interest for the client. Only if the money cannot earn net interest for the client is the money to go into an IOLTA account.'

"Reply Brief of Proponents, at 14. This is a correct statement of an attorney's duty under trust law, as well as a proper interpretation of the proposed rule as published for public comment. However, in order to make it even clearer that IOLTA funds are only those funds that cannot, under any circumstances, earn net interest (after deducting transaction and administrative costs and bank fees) for the client, we have amended the proposed rule accordingly. See new CPR DR 9-102(C)(3). The new rule makes it absolutely clear that the enumer-

Page:   Index   Previous  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  Next

Last modified: October 4, 2007