A Rock Island attorney accused of misappropriating $100,000 he was supposed to be holding in escrow and falsely representing that he was still holding the funds in connection with a real estate transaction in 2011 has been disbarred.
The ruling against Francis Joseph Coyle Jr. took effect Thursday and will remain in place until further order, according to the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission.
Disbarment, according to the disciplinary commission, is a determination that a lawyer has engaged in misconduct warranting the most serious sanction.
Coyle will not be allowed to practice law unless and until he has demonstrated his "rehabilitation, good character, and current knowledge of the law in a subsequent reinstatement case, which may not be filed until five years after the effective date of the disbarment,” according to the commission.
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Coyle could not be immediately reached Monday for comment. His license has been suspended since July 2016, according to commission records.
On June 8, 2015, an attorney for the commission filed a two-count complaint against Coyle. A hearing was held on Nov. 24, 2015, before a three-member hearing board panel.
According to a synopsis of the hearing board report and recommendation filed in March:
In 2011 and 2012, Coyle was affiliated with the Rock Island law firm of Coyle, Stengel, Bailey and Robertson. The firm maintained a client trust account at Wells Fargo Bank. Coyle was a signatory on the account.
In 2011, Coyle represented PVY Development LLC and its manager, David Requet, as the seller of a Walgreens in Davenport.
The buyer of the property was Bhupen D. Patel and Patel's company, WAG Davenport. On July 15, 2011, PVY and Patel executed a purchase and sale agreement, which required Patel to make two $50,000 earnest money payments to PVY. Patel made these payments through wire transfers to the Stengel firm trust account on Aug. 30, 2011, and Sept. 19, 2011.
A dispute arose between PVY and Patel, and the sale was never consummated. Starting around Sept. 19, 2011, Coyle or “someone acting at his direction” drew checks from the trust account. In all, Coyle issued checks to PVY in the amount of $53,000, Requet in the amount of $15,000 and himself in the amount of $32,000.
At no time did he have authority to use any portion of the earnest money for his own purposes or to distribute any of the earnest money to PVY or Requet.
Coyle knowingly made false statements to Patel’s attorney on two occasions that he was holding the entire amount of the earnest money he had received, when in fact, he knew he had taken and used a portion of the money without the authority to do so, according to the commission report.
The hearing board made the recommendation for disbarment to the Illinois Supreme Court. The high court accepted that recommendation Thursday.
Justice Thomas Kilbride, a former Quad-City attorney, did not consider the case, according to commission records.
PVY and Requet in October filed a complaint for legal malpractice, conversion and other wrongs against Coyle in Rock Island County Circuit Court.
The complaint also names the law firm of Stengel, Bailey and Robertson and partners William R. Stengel, Kathleen Bailey, Donovan Robertson, Jean Friemel and Sarah Gorham.
Coyle is no longer affiliated with the law firm.
In March 2015, River Eagle Investments, the owner of the former East Moline Case New Holland site, filed a lawsuit in Rock Island County against Coyle; the law firm; and Stengel, Bailey and Robertson.
In the lawsuit, River Eagle claimed that Coyle wrote checks to himself totaling at least $273,738, transferring the funds from River Eagle's bank accounts. River Eagle is seeking damages of at least $273,738 plus punitive damages, attorneys' fees and court costs.
The suit said because Coyle was a general partner with Stengel, Bailey and Robertson that "the partnership and each partner is jointly and severally liable for Coyle's actions." According to the suit, Coyle, other employees and partners of the law firm performed legal and other work on behalf of River Eagle.
Settlement talks were scheduled in April 2016, and a month later, the parties made a joint oral motion to dismiss the suit with prejudice, meaning that the plaintiffs are barred from refiling the suit at a later date.
Judge Thomas Keith filed an order dismissing the lawsuit in June, according to court records.
Coyle has not been charged with a crime in either state or federal court. Sharon Paul, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of Illinois, said she could neither confirm nor deny any criminal investigation being conducted.