Collecting
on
the
money
you
are
owed
is
one
of
the
most
important
aspects
of
running
a
successful
practice.
That
said,
there
are
a
few
times
when
trusting
that
the
money
will
get
back
to
you
is
actually
the
smart
move.
A
lawyer
from
Ohio
is
facing
an
ethics
complaint
after
handling
a
Zelle
typo
so
poorly
that
it
reads
more
like
a
Lonely
Island
song
premise
than
something
you’d
hear
a
reasonable
person
out
on.
The
ABA
Journal
has
coverage:
Christine
Baker
had
intended
to
send
$550
to
her
husband,
Zachary
Reynolds,
on
Sept.
19
and
20
in
2023.
Instead,
she
typed
an
address
that
apparently
differed
from
her
husband’s
by
one
character
and
sent
the
money
to
an
Illinois
resident
named
Zack
Reynolds,
the
ethics
complaint
says.
…
By
Sept.
22,
2023,
Baker
had
learned
Illinois
Reynolds’
cellphone
number,
address,
personal
address,
employer,
charity
affiliations,
wife’s
identity,
contact
information
for
his
wife’s
employer
and
his
wife’s
address.
Barring
some
Contract
restatement
that
makes
it
clear
typing
the
wrong
email
in
Zelle
entitles
you
to
lightly
stalk
your
victim,
it
seems
like
the
reasonable
thing
to
do
would
be
to
contact
your
bank,
inform
them
of
your
error
and
let
them
do
the
rectifying.
But
why
do
literally
nothing
when
you
could
do
the
most
instead?
Baker
decided
to
reach
out
to
Zack
Reynolds
(the
wrong
one)
and
pelt
him
with
orders
and
lawsuit
threats.
These
include
but
aren’t
limited
to:
•
A
text
to
Illinois
Reynolds,
telling
him
that
his
retention
of
the
money
is
“unlawful,”
and
if
he
did
not
return
the
money
in
24
hours,
“collection,
garnishment
and
all
available
recovery
methods
will
commence,
including
notifying
your
employer
of
your
conduct.”•
Another
text
threatening
to
sue
Illinois
Reynolds,
informing
him
that
he
is
a
“thief,”
threatening
to
tell
a
charity
affiliated
with
Reynolds
that
he
committed
a
“theft,”
and
saying
she
should
share
the
information
with
“anyone
with
a
basic
internet
connection.”•
Yet
another
text
telling
Illinois
Reynolds
that
he
and
his
wife
were
being
named
in
a
civil
action
for
unjust
enrichment.
The
text
included
an
address
thought
to
be
his
“in
an
effort
to
intimidate”
him
and
his
wife,
according
to
the
complaint.
If
you
are
going
to
shame
and
blackmail
someone
over
a
mistake
they
played
no
real
role
in,
it
should
be
over
way
more
than
$550!
Zack
Reynolds
was
advised
by
his
bank’s
fraud
department
and
his
attorney
to
let
his
bank
handle
it.
And
they
did
—
Baker
got
her
money
back
within
two
weeks
of
her
initial
screw-up.
It
should
have
ended
there,
but
she
filed
a
lawsuit
on
October
30th
this
year
arguing
that
she
is
owed
over
$15k
in
damages
that
ultimately
got
her
in
trouble.
The
next
day,
an
ethics
complaint
was
filed
that
alleged
she
filed
a
lawsuit
with
false
statements
without
basis
in
law
or
fact.
This
is
why
it
is
important
to
have
good
friends
who
you
can
bounce
ideas
off
of.
Hell,
a
quick
skim
of
the
Art
of
War
in
a
pinch.
Maybe,
just
maybe,
then
it
would
have
clicked
that
spending
more
value
in
man
hours
than
the
cost
of
the
thing
sought
is
a
waste
of
time
and
money.
That’s
time
you
could
have
spent
on
a
client’s
matter,
developing
your
book
of
business,
or
even
catching
up
on
SNL
cold
opens.
Getting
the
$550
back
in
early
October
was
a
prime
moment
to
deescalate
and
cut
losses.
You
might
not
have
gotten
your
vengeance,
but
you
could
have
had
peace
of
mind.
Now
you’ve
got
an
ethics
complaint
to
deal
with
—
something
people
would
easily
pay
a
couple
hundred
bucks
to
avoid
altogether.
Lawyer’s
Mistaken
Zelle
Transfer
Leads
To
Ethics
Complaint
[ABA
Journal]
Chris
Williams
became
a
social
media
manager
and
assistant
editor
for
Above
the
Law
in
June
2021.
Prior
to
joining
the
staff,
he
moonlighted
as
a
minor
Memelord™
in
the
Facebook
group Law
School
Memes
for
Edgy
T14s.
He
endured
Missouri
long
enough
to
graduate
from
Washington
University
in
St.
Louis
School
of
Law.
He
is
a
former
boatbuilder
who
cannot
swim, a
published
author
on
critical
race
theory,
philosophy,
and
humor,
and
has
a
love
for
cycling
that
occasionally
annoys
his
peers.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected] and
by
tweet
at @WritesForRent.