Charlotte woman had no idea she was divorced. Turns out, her lawyer was skipping court
After taking on a Charlotte woman’s divorce case, attorney John Snyder chose what might be described as a hands-off approach toward representing his client.
According to court documents filed by investigators with the N.C. State Bar, the former Union County district attorney skipped mandatory court hearings. He missed deadlines. He also failed to sign one filing, rendering it inadmissible.
All the while, Snyder told his client, identified in court filings only by the initials L.B., that he had matters under control, documents show.
Until the day in late November 2016 when L.B. checked her mail.
“John, I just received a letter ... saying that I am divorced,” L.B. texted Snyder. “How could that happen w/o any court hearing or discussion with me?”
In fact, those hearings actually took place, documents allege, but Snyder never told her about them. When she tried to learn the status of her case, according to bar investigators, Snyder frequently did not respond.
Snyder’s actions are now the subject of a disciplinary proceeding before the state bar, one of a half dozen involving Charlotte-area attorneys with charges ranging from professional misconduct and drug abuse to sexual improprieties with a client.
The state bar has accused Snyder of fraud, dishonesty and deceit. His disciplinary hearing has not been scheduled.
“I screwed up,” Snyder told the Observer last week. “After helping thousands of people over a 20-year career, I missed a couple of important hearings. I have to own this.”
Snyder was elected Union County district attorney in 2006, then re-elected in 2010. But he resigned from office before he could be sworn in for his second term to go into private practice.
In July 2016, he agreed to take on L.B. as a client, two weeks after her husband filed for divorce. Snyder’s response to the husband’s divorce complaint was due Aug. 5, 2016. Snyder didn’t file one, the state bar alleges. Nor did he respond when the husband filed an amended complaint that September.
The judge on the case handed down a ruling in the divorce on Nov. 22, 2016. L.B., according to the bar, was never notified by Snyder that there was a hearing. Two days later, she texted the attorney seeking an update on the proceedings. She criticized Snyder’s communication and asked if she needed to find another attorney, the bar says.
“I’ll handle,” Snyder texted back.
The judge’s ruling arrived in the mail four days later.
Snyder told his client that he had not been notified of the decision but that it was OK because child custody/child suport and the distribution had not been addressed, documents show. In fact, according to the state bar, Snyder knew that the custody/child support issues already had been settled.
Snyder filed a counter divorce action, which was dismissed because he failed to sign it or show up at a hearing to argue for it, the state bar says.
When he filed a motion to have the judge reconsider the dismissal, documents allege, Snyder did not tell L.B. about the May 2017 hearing or bother to show up to argue in behalf of his filing. His motion was thrown out.
“John, I just sent you an email from (my ex-husband). Apparently you missed another court date,” L.B. texted on May 25, 2017, according to documents. “I am extremely disappointed in the service I’ve been getting from you.”
She filed a complaint with the bar on Jan. 28. After being notified he was being investigated, Snyder again missed deadlines and filed false or misleading answers about his actions, the state bar alleges.
Snyder told the Observer on Wednesday that he wants to get the matter behind him. “I am fully cooperating with the bar to get this resolved,” he said. “I have nothing to hide.”
His former client? She fired Snyder in June 2017. According to the bar complaint, she had to spend $3,500 on another attorney to take over her case.
Sex, drugs and the state bar
Several other Charlotte attorneys are the subject of pending state bar disciplinary hearings:
▪ Charlotte attorney David Hefferon is accused of practicing law without appropriate boundaries. In April 2017, he offered to help a homeless woman suffering from mental health and substance abuse issues — identified in court documents by the initials K.T. — get through her divorce, court documents show. He also put her up in a hotel.
On June 28, 2017, two days before the woman was due in court for a child-custody hearing, Hefferon let himself into the woman’s hotel room, court documents show. He brought a bottle of wine for her and a six-pack of beer for himself. He then began to kiss and fondle the woman.
When the woman later retained another attorney, Hefferon recommended they keep their professional relationship secret, understanding that “she was likely to divulge (Hefferon’s) misconduct and lack of appropriate boundaries,” the bar complaint says.
Hefferon’s hearing before the state bar has been rescheduled.
“We are negotiating with the state bar and expect to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution in this matter,” said his attorney, Lane Williamson of Charlotte.
▪ In April 2018, when he was pulled over by Waxhaw police, Gaston County Assistant District Attorney J. Brandon Graham insisted he was not carrying drugs.
When police searched Graham’s car, they found a syringe filled with narcotics in the passenger side of his Honda Accord, according to police reports and a state bar complaint.
They kept searching. Eventually they found what they believed to be a white belt used as a tourniquet, along with 11 more syringes. Six of them were filled with a brownish liquid; three more contained a liquid that was clear, documents allege.
All 11 tested positive for both heroin and methamphetamines, documents say. “Accordingly, Graham’s statement to police that he did not have drugs ... at the time of the traffic stop was untruthful,” the state bar alleges.
He was charged with felony possession of heroin and methamphetamine, misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, along with the traffic offenses that resulted in the stop. Under an agreement with prosecutors, Graham pleaded guilty in October 2018 to felony possession of meth. The other charges were dropped, the bar said.
His law license was also suspended pending the outcome of his Feb. 24 disciplinary hearing before the state bar.
Graham could not be reached for comment.
