A legal fund set up to reimburse clients cheated by crooked lawyers is suing a disbarred Buchanan lawyer to collect an old debt.
The Lawyers’ Fund for Client Protection is demanding $73,358 that Christopher W. Meyers was supposed to pay ten years ago, plus 9% interest per annum for a total of $137,429.
Meyers was convicted of grand larceny in 2009, according to a Dec. 15 lawsuit filed in Westchester Supreme Court, “for the misappropriation of client funds held in his attorney escrow account.”
New York established The Lawyers’ Fund to reimburse losses caused by dishonest attorneys, thereby promoting public confidence in the courts and the legal profession.
Meyers was licensed to practice law in New York in 1989. He lived in Mamaroneck and ran a law office in Buchanan. Now he lives in Carmel, Putnam County.
He was disbarred in 2008 after admitting he had used trust funds for personal expenses instead of for an individual he represented for the Mental Health Association of Westchester. He also acknowledged a pending investigation of complaints by several clients who alleged professional misconduct.
In 2009, he pleaded guilty to grand larceny for stealing funds from four clients, and to filing false personal income tax returns, in a case brought by the Westchester District Attorney. He was sentenced to six months in jail.
Meyers paid nearly $300,000 in restitution to his clients. In 2016, a Westchester Supreme Court judge ordered him to pay $73,358 in restitution to The Lawyers’ Fund.
He has made no payments, according to the lawsuit. And while the original judgment is good for 20 years, a lien on personal property lasts only ten years. So The Lawyers’ Fund is asking the court to renew the lien for another ten years.
The Fund is represented by assistant state prosecutor Kathryn J. Blake.
