Van Buren attorney Gentry C. Wahlmeier reached a settlement Tuesday with his former clients who have developmental disabilities and alleged he charged them nearly $200,000 for basic work that should have taken at most a few hours.
The confidential settlement came two weeks before the multiday civil trial was set to start Sept. 17 in Crawford County Circuit Court.
Last year, Wahlmeier and his namesake law firm were sued in connection with charging “unconscionable” fees to siblings Larry Boatright and Loreva Boatright, both of Alma, for his work in creating two supplemental needs trusts for them, according to the siblings’ lawsuit.
“The Boatrights are pleased with the settlement,” their attorney Matthew R. House of James House Swann & Downing of Little Rock said in an email to Arkansas Business.
Wahlmeier’s attorney L. Kyle Heffley of Kutak Rock LLP in Rogers told Arkansas Business that “I make it a point not to comment on pending litigation. Or if they are settled, I certainly can’t comment on that, because that is governed by contract.”
In January, the Boatrights reached a confidential settlement with Citizens Bank & Trust Co. of Van Buren. The lawsuit had accused the bank of allowing nearly $200,000 of a $700,000 trust to be paid to Wahlmeier.
The bank also received an “excessive” administration fee of $26,483 from the trust, the siblings’ lawsuit said.
During a deposition in November, Wahlmeier said he didn’t have any regrets about the size of his fee and said that the $197,000 fee he earned was reasonable under the circumstances.
An ethics complaint has been filed against Wahlmeier with the Arkansas Office on Professional Conduct, which regulates the licenses for attorneys. The complaint is pending, according to documents in the court filing.
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