‘Greed’ May Cost Lawyer His License Attorney Loses Suit Over 85-Year-Old’s Will That Left Him All Her Money

The year before she died, 85-year-old Mamie Rose Ottomeier signed a new will.

In an apparent change of heart, the Cheney woman ruled out all blood relatives and friends. She gave every penny of her $750,000 estate to the man who was caring for her, Steve Miller.

The problem: Miller was also her attorney, and he drafted the will.

Relatives sued, accusing Miller of taking advantage of a blind, frail and confused woman.

A judge agreed Friday, scrapping the disputed will and blasting Miller for exerting “undue influence” over Ottomeier in violation of rules of professional conduct.

“Greed has something to do with this case,” said Superior Court Judge Larry Kristianson.

Not only did Miller become sole beneficiary of the estate, but he helped himself to his client’s money to build a home, Kristianson said.

It started out as a $195,000 loan in the spring of 1993, but Miller wound up keeping the bulk of the money, saying Ottomeier made it a gift.

The judge said there was no evidence presented during the trial to support that contention.

Kristianson said misconduct in the case is so egregious he is compelled to detail his findings in a letter to the Washington State Bar Association.

That means Miller faces disbarment in addition to owing a large, unspecified amount of money to the Ottomeier estate, including legal costs.

Carol Eng, the Spokane attorney representing relatives, said the estate will now be divided among them.

“We’re terribly disappointed that the judge saw what he saw,” Miller, 50, said afterward.

He is the city of Cheney’s attorney and has been practicing law since 1975.

Ottomeier died last October. The bookkeeper never married and had no children. She lived frugally in a modest home with few luxuries or modern conveniences.

Over the years, she hired Miller to handle occasional legal matters.

That relationship changed dramatically in 1991, when she turned to him for help in leaving a Cheney nursing home, where she had been placed by a relative.

Grateful to be back in her own home and eager for companionship, Ottomeier began entrusting virtually all of her affairs to Miller, court documents show.

It went beyond managing her finances. Ottomeier was a diabetic and she needed Miller to prepare her daily insulin shots.

He starting going to her house every morning to fix her breakfast. After work, he’d make her dinner before going home to feed his own family. They spent holidays together.

“We were very good friends and we always had something to talk about,” he wrote in court documents.

Miller said he refused her initial requests to add him to the will as a beneficiary.

But in September 1991, he agreed to accept an estimated $500,000 chunk of the estate.

When that will was drafted a second time by Miller in February 1993, all of the money went to him. For the first time, there was nothing set aside for two of Ottomeier’s longtime friends.

Miller claimed he avoided a conflict of interest by having the wills examined by other lawyers, who questioned Ottomeier and approved the documents.

But Kristianson said a transcript of one of those discussions shows Ottomeier wasn’t fully aware of what she was doing.

Washington lawyers are prohibited under rules of professional conduct from drawing up a client’s will that makes them a substantial beneficiary.

, DataTimes