Chattanooga attorney's license suspended for nine months

Friday, August 9, 2013

Chattanooga attorney H. Owen Maddux's law license has been suspended for nine months for violating the Tennessee Rules of Professional conduct in his representation of two clients.

According to a release from the Tennessee Supreme Court, Maddux represented a Hamilton County mother and son in a dispute with a business associate. Maddux collected funds owed to the business by various customers, but before the legal case played out, Maddux released more than $35,000 of the funds to his clients without notifying other parties in the case.

Maddux failed to answer a petition filed with the Board of Professional Responsibility, but did appeal.

The court determined that the punishment was appropriate considering Maddux's violation of duties owed to his client, to the third persons and to the legal profession, as well as Maddux's experience, failure to answer the petition field against him, and his disciplinary history, which includes two prior suspensions of his law license, the release states.