Md. Court of Appeals recommends that longtime Baltimore lawyer receive warning.

Byline: Alisa Bralove

A longtime Baltimore lawyer who did not disburse settlement funds to his client's third-party creditor escaped serious discipline yesterday as the Court of Appeals recommended that the proceeding against John B. Stolarz be terminated with a warning.

Stolarz's attorney, Andrew Jay Graham, said he was pleased with the court's decision, even though he would have preferred an outright dismissal.

"It was clear that Mr. Stolarz didn't act with any bad intent whatsoever. The only reason the loan wasn't paid out of the settlement process was simple inadvertence," Graham said. "Mr. Stolarz didn't gain at all from the mistake. I think his intentions were good but he just made the kind of mistake any human being can make."

Bar Counsel Melvin Hirshman, who initially recommended that Stolarz receive an indefinite suspension, said the sanction was lessened by the fact that he had no prior disciplinary history.

"This lawyer, as the court pointed out, had no prior record," he said. "He was cooperative."

In June, Baltimore City Circuit Judge Thomas E. Noel found that Stolarz, an attorney in Maryland for the past 23 years and a certified public accountant, violated Maryland Rule of Professional Conduct 1.15(b) (safekeeping of property) in handling the personal injury case of his client, Stephen Kreller.