- Joined
- Oct 27, 2021
I was not in the least suggesting any sort of actual or planned impropriety, merely speaking to nature of the things.Yes. But in this case, the IOLTA account is receiving donations (gifts) from third parties for the purpose of paying legal expenses. If Null said gib me dats, Hardin has to say yes, but Null also would have to be careful crossing all the t's and dotting all the i's after receipt from Hardin, or he could get in some shit. Which he isn't going to do to himself lol
And no, Hardin doesn't have to "say yes," in the sense of agreement; an attorney must return unearned funds when requested. The attorney has no say in what the client does with their own money - unless there's some other kind of arrangement or trust involved, of course (but if a trust owns the funds and requests returns of funds in the CTA, that money goes to the trust regardless of who has what role in it). But if Josh decided to engage a different lawyer, in the absence of some other unknown arrangement, he could certainly tell any attorney with his money in a CTA that he wants anything unearned returned to him and then place it with another lawyer...or do whatever.
That said, what you're talking about is at most a private action by donors vs a donee who did not use donated funds as originally expressed - a civil claim, and not likely a good one. Otherwise, afaik, there's no 501c3 or other tax-advantaged organization involved, and as mentioned, small gifts from donors wouldn't typically trigger a tax impact to a recipient (individual, corporation, or an llc/ its sole member, as the case may be). Again, broadly speaking.
Nick's 5k donors who have not received their Mystery Gift would have a much better claim. Not that I'm saying they have a likely or worthwhile one, but better.