Office of Disciplinary Counsel v. France

On June 5, 2000, relator, Office of Disciplinary Counsel, filed a complaint charging respondent, John Stephen France of Toledo, Ohio, Attorney Registration No. 0014846, with violating five Disciplinary Rules in his representation of Patricia Weatherholtz. Respondent answered and the matter was referred for hearing to a panel of the Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline of the Supreme Court (“board”).

The panel found that in 1996, while in the county jail, Patricia Weatherholtz retained respondent to defend her in a criminal trial for a flat fee of $5,000. Weatherholtz executed a…