* Paul Chernak of Cumming was injured in a car accident in 2006.
* Chernak hired Ralston’s law firm in 2008.
* Chernak’s complaint claims that from 2009 to 2013, there were 10 separate weeks available for his case to go to trial in Gilmer County. It says that in seven of those weeks, Ralston requested “legislative leave” to postpone the case. (Legislative leave allows lawmakers to have court cases postponed when their duties as officeholders require them to be elsewhere.) In two of the other weeks, Ralston had other criminal cases that were previously set.
* Ralston claims that the lawyer for the defendant in Chernak’s case submitted leaves of absence for at least six of those 10 weeks.
* The complaint also accuses Ralston of sending Chernak $22,000 via 12 separate checks to help him pay for living expenses. The complaint states that the money came from other clients, third parties and Ralston’s personal accounts.
*Ralston said the money he gave Chernak came from “earned, but previously undisbursed legal fees from an unrelated case. Mr. Ralston denies that he said funds belonged to his other clients or third persons.”
* The State Bar’s investigative panel declared Nov. 1 that there was probable cause to show Ralston violated the rules that all lawyers must follow.
* The panel forwarded its findings to the State Bar’s lawyers, and on Thursday the official complaint was filed with the Supreme Court, which has the power to punish lawyers.
* The Supreme Court has appointed Mark F. Dehler of Hiawassee to investigate the allegations against Ralston.
* Ralston has called for the case to be dismissed.
* What’s next: The investigation could be a time-consuming one. If Chernak’s claims prove to be true, Ralston could face disbarment.
House Speaker David Ralston, who faces possible disbarment over a State Bar of Georgia complaint, on Wednesday said he violated no rules and urged the Georgia Supreme Court to dismiss the case.
Lawyers for Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, in their response to the complaint, said Ralston diligently represented his client and sought only to help him provide for his family.
Meanwhile, Ralston on Wednesday also e-mailed his fellow House Republicans and vowed to fight the charges while continuing his work as speaker.
“My actions were open, honest and sincere regarding my representation of this client and my efforts to help his family,” Ralston said.
Ralston is accused of violating nine State Bar rules and of allowing his duties as a legislator “to adversely affect his representation” of his client. The court has appointed a lawyer to continue the investigation and eventually present findings to the court, which has ultimate power to discipline a lawyer. Possible punishment ranges from acquittal to public reprimand to disbarment.
Ralston, in his response, denies the charges.
Paul E. Chernak hired Ralston’s law firm after he was injured in a 2006 car accident. Chernak was not at fault. According to Chernak’s complaint with the State Bar complaint, forwarded to the Supreme Court in June, Ralston personally became involved in the case in 2008. Chernak filed a lawsuit in 2008 claiming injury and damages from the accident.
Ralston is also accused of sending Chernak $22,000 via 12 separate checks to help Chernak pay for living expenses. The complaint claims the money came from other clients, third parties and Ralston’s personal accounts. It is generally the most serious of the charges Ralston faces.
Wednesday, however, Ralston’s attorneys — Robert Ingram of Marietta and Jim Spence of Decatur — said the complaint is simply wrong.
Instead, they said, Ralston used money from his “earned, but previously undisbursed legal fees from an unrelated case. Mr. Ralston denies that he said funds belonged to his other clients or third persons.”
Lester Tate, a former Georgia Bar Association president and chairman of the Bar’s panel that investigates complaints against lawyers, said that if what Ralston argues is true, it would blunt the complaint against him.
There remains, however, the fact that Bar rules prohibit attorneys from loaning money to clients. But, Tate said, “That’s not quite so serious.”
Ralston, in his response, admits to not having been aware of that rule.
“His conduct resulted from unfamiliarity, rather than a conscious, deliberate decision to violate the Rule,” according to his response. “Moreover, Mr. Ralston believed that in advancing funds to Mr. Chernak under the circumstances set forth above, and on terms to his own obvious financial disadvantage, he was performing humane acts toward Mr. Chernak and his family.”
In a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Ingram said Ralston has practiced law in north Georgia for 34 years and has never before faced a formal Bar complaint.
“Mr. Ralston has spent more than three decades building his professional reputation and he is disappointed that the State Bar chose to bring formal public charges rather than work to resolve the matter informally as is customary,” Ingram said.
After Chernak filed his complaint, the State Bar’s investigative panel pursued the case and on Nov. 1 declared there was probable cause to show Ralston violated the rules that all lawyers must follow. The panel forwarded its findings to the State Bar’s lawyers, and in June the official complaint was filed with the Supreme Court, which has the power to punish lawyers.
Spence and Ingram will square off with Mark F. Dehler of Hiawassee, whom the Supreme Court appointed as special master. Dehler is married to Cathy Cox, a former Democratic secretary of state and gubernatorial candidate who is now president of Young Harris College.
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