NCSB Journal Summer 2026

BAR UPDATES

Client Security Fund Reimburses Victims

At its April 21, 2026, meeting, the North Carolina State Bar Client Security Fund Board of Trustees approved payments of $51,000 to five applicants who suffered financial losses due to the misconduct of North Carolina lawyers. The payments authorized were: 1. An award of $5,000 to a former client of Juan A. Arreola of Wilson. The board de termined that the client retained Arreola to assist with his immigration process to get an Adjustment of Status by filing for parole in place and filing for permanent residency. The client paid a total of $6,600. He completed the first step of filing the parole in place request for which he collected $1,600.00 but failed to provide any meaningful legal services for the $5,000 paid to file the permanent residence application. Arreola transferred to Disability Inactive Status by Consent Order on Decem ber 10, 2024. The board previously reim

bursed 18 other Arreola clients a total of $79,534. 2. An award of $4,500 to a former client of Juan A. Arreola. The board determined that the client retained Arreola to assist with his immigration process and filing for an adjust ment of status. He charged and collected a $4,500 flat fee. Arreola failed to provide any meaningful legal services for the fee paid. 3. An award of $20,000 to former clients of Eddie L. Meeks of Gastonia. The board determined that a client and her mother re tained Meeks to represent her brother on a first degree murder charge and other related criminal matters. He charged and collected a $20,000 flat fee. Meeks failed to provide mean ingful legal services for the fee paid prior to his disbarment. Meeks was disbarred on June 23, 2025. 4. An award of $21,000 to a former client

of Eddie L. Meeks. The board determined that the client retained Meeks to represent her son on first degree murder and other related crim inal charges. He charged and collected a $21,000 flat fee. Meeks failed to provide mean ingful legal services for the fee paid prior to withdrawing without notifying the client and subsequently being disbarred. 5. An award of $500 to a former client of Mary L. Rogers of Charlotte who retained Rogers to represent her on criminal charges. Rogers collected $500 towards the $1,500 quoted fee. She failed to provide any mean ingful legal services for the fee paid prior to dropping the matter. Rogers’ license was sus pended on December 5, 2025. The board pre viously reimbursed two other Rogers’ clients a total of $70,629. Funds Recovered It is standard practice to send a demand letter to each current or former attorney whose misconduct results in any payment from the fund, seeking full reimbursement or a confes sion of judgment and agreement to a reason able payment schedule. If the attorney fails or refuses to do either, counsel to the fund files a lawsuit seeking double damages pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. §84-13, unless the investiga tive file clearly establishes that it would be use less to do so. Through these efforts, the Fund was able to recover a total of $12,898.67 this past quarter. n

In Memoriam

Garry Stephen Rice Raleigh, NC Edgar M. Roach Jr. Chapel Hill, NC Marvin Roy Short Jr. Gastonia, NC Charles Moon Tighe Hampstead, NC Bruce William Vanderbloemen Lenoir, NC William Marion Wilcox IV Greensboro, NC Lonnie B. Williams Jr. Wilmington, NC Kenneth Ray Youngblood Fletcher, NC

Dylan Cade Bunn Greenville, NC Susan Kay Burkhart Raleigh, NC Cheryl Kiel David Greensboro, NC Terry Richard Hutchins Sr. McColl, SC Cowles Liipfert Winston-Salem, NC Nancy Stewart Litwak Charlotte, NC John Garrett Ludlum Warsaw, NC John Porter Paisley Jr. Burlington, NC James Edward Ragan III Oriental, NC

Thank You to Our Quarterly Meeting Sponsor Lawyers Mutual Liability Insurance Company for sponsoring Lawyers Mutual is sponsoring our Councilor Picnic.

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THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE BAR JOURNAL