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BAR ACTIONS Discipline Note: Approximaely 14,970 persons are eli- gible to practice law in Oregon. Some of them share the same name or similar names. All discipline reports should be read carefully for names, addresses and bar numbers. BRENDA S. WHITELEY OSB #891170 Coos Bay Form B resignation By order dated Jan. 14, 2016, the Or- egon Supreme Court accepted the Form B resignation of Brenda S. Whiteley. Whiteley, who had practiced in Utah since 1994, had resigned in that state with discipline pending. In her Utah resigna- tion, effective September 2015, she ad- mitted that she misappropriated $12,000 in personal injury settlement proceeds she had received for two minors and that, when their conservator inquired as to the status of the funds, she made misrepresen- tations about the funds. CURTIS CHARLES CALDWELL OSB #113470 Salem Public reprimand Effective Feb. 18, 2016, the disciplin- ary board approved for stipulation for discipline publicly reprimanding Salem attorney Curtis Charles Caldwell for vio- lation of RPC 4.4(a) (knowingly using methods of obtaining evidence that vio- late the legal rights of third persons). The Fair Credit Reporting Act al- lowed Caldwell to obtain credit reports for clients “in accordance with the writ- ten instructions of the consumer to whom the report relate[d].” For purposes of obtaining credit re- ports for bankruptcy clients, Caldwell was a member of the Online Credit Report- ing Corporation (“OCRC”). Caldwell’s OCRC membership allowed him to re- quest individual consumers’ credit reports using those consumers’ protected personal 40 OREGON STATE BAR BULLETIN • MAY 2016 information. Caldwell’s contractual ser- vice agreement with OCRC required Caldwell to only run credit reports for “permissible purposes.” This agreement obligated Caldwell to determine what purposes were permissible. OCRC also required that when Caldwell requested a client’s credit report, the request must be authenticated by correct responses to three questions to which only the cli- ent would likely know the answer. To request a credit report for a husband and wife, each spouse was required to consent. Caldwell was specifically required to pro- vide authentication information and cer- tify that the request was being made for the proper purpose under the law. In October 2013, Caldwell met with a friend at his law office to assist her in ob- taining financial evidence that she could use in her anticipated dissolution of mar- riage and to support a petition for spousal support. Caldwell requested and obtained a joint credit report through OCRC for both his friend and her husband, with- out the husband’s knowledge or consent. Caldwell utilized the husband’s protected personal information to authenticate the request for the husband’s credit report, and falsely certified that he was requesting the credit report for a permissible reason, in violation of the husband’s legal right to maintain the privacy of his credit history. The stipulation recited that Caldwell’s conduct was aggravated by his selfish mo- tive and the vulnerability of his victim, but mitigated by his absence of prior dis- cipline, his cooperation in the underlying procedure and the imposition of other penalties and sanctions. JENNIFER L. LUPTON OSB #960867 Medford Six-month suspension, stayed; one year probation Effective Feb. 23, 2016, the disciplin- ary board approved a stipulation for dis- cipline suspending Medford attorney Jen- nifer L. Lupton for six months, all stayed pending successful completion of a one- year term of probation for violations of: RPC 8.4(a)(2) (criminal act reflecting adversely on trustworthiness as a lawyer); RPC 8.4(a)(3) (conduct involving dis- honesty); and ORS 9.527(1) (acts that should have resulted in a denial of appli- cation for admission). While an inactive member of the bar, Lupton obtained a real estate license and opened and operated a property manage- ment business and property maintenance company. In managing the two busi- nesses, she maintained a trust account pertaining to tenants’ security deposits and a trust account pertaining to property management. Upon learning of a significant short- fall in the tenant trust account, she did not report the trust account deficit to the Oregon Real Estate Agency (OREA) as required by statute, or notify the prop- erty owners. She secured training for her bookkeeper but made no other changes in the way the accounts were managed. Ap- proximately a year later, she learned that an additional, larger sum had been trans- ferred from both trust accounts without her authorization in order to cover ex- penses and shortfalls in the maintenance company’s account. She terminated her bookkeeper but still did not report the sit- uation to OREA or the property owners. Some months later, after being no- tified of an upcoming audit by OREA, Lupton reported the shortfall to OREA. A receiver was appointed to manage the businesses, with whom Lupton cooper- ated. She also borrowed money to help balance the accounts. In December 2013, Lupton entered into a stipulated order with OREA in which she acknowledged violating statutes governing real estate licensees regarding: the management of trust accounts; fiduciary obligations owed to property owners; and requirements of competence, trustworthiness and honest conduct. The stipulation recited that Lupton’s conduct was aggravated by a selfish mo- tive, a pattern of misconduct, and mul-