 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
JUDICIAL DISCIPLINE v. THOMPSON5/10/2000
one or more identifiable trust accounts in the state where the lawyer's office is situated, or elsewhere with the consent of the client or third person. The lawyer or law firm may not deposit funds belonging to the lawyer or law firm in any account designated as the trust account, other than the amount necessary to cover bank charges, or comply with the minimum balance required for the waiver of bank charges.
It is undisputed that, sometime after January 1993, Judge Thompson allowed his attorney's trust account to elapse, but he maintained a personal or what he specifically referred to as an "operating account" in order to "clean up" his debts.
In handling the Ford and Gant settlements, Judge Thompson conceded that he deposited the settlement checks or drafts in his operating account, and disbursed checks to his clients. However, Judge Thompson suggested his failure to use a trust account to deposit the Ford and Gant funds was not his usual practice, and he only did so to complete his prior law business. On cross examination, however, Judge Thompson was shown a number of checks made out to him and other clients prior to when he took office. The checks bore the names of Bertha Chambers, Vivian Lamini, Gertie Mason, Irma Reshada, Diana Cross, and Diana Brickman, and he admitted those checks were deposited in his operating account and he had "technically" commingled his clients' monies with his. Based on this evidence and Judge Thompson's admissions, we must conclude that he violated Model Rule 1.15, and such violation will be considered by this court in the Commission's recommendation to remove Judge Thompson from office.
We have thoroughly discussed and decided the seven findings and Code violations the Commission has made, but before we address the Commission's recommendation bearing on Judge Thompson's removal, we must consider Thompson's due process arguments.
Thompson first contends that his due process rights were violated because his discipline hearing was held before a three-person panel rather than the full nine-member Commission. Citing Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319 (1976), he argues generally that procedural due process requires a hearing before an impartial decision maker be provided at a meaningful time and in a meaningful
manner, prior to a governmental decision which deprives individuals of a liberty or property interest. He suggests that he was not offered a fair opportunity to be heard at a meaningful time or manner because all nine members did not hear the evidence first hand. He also claims he was somehow prejudiced because five of the nine Commission members, due to their term expirations, had departed the Commission, so their replacements on the Commission (when the Commission made its final findings and recommendations) were not present earlier when the probable cause and factfinding hearing rulings were made. In other words, Thompson says he was denied a fair and meaningful hearing because the five new commissioners were not privy to all of the proceedings that previously had transpired in his case.
The Commission rejoins by stating Judge Thompson has no protected property interest in the judicial office he holds, so due process is not an issue. Although we do not totally agree with the Commission's response, we do agree that neither Judge Thompson nor the Commission offers sufficient citation of legal authority or convincing argument for us to decide this question. See Womack v. Foster, 340 Ark. 124, 8 S.W.3d 854 (2000); Ellis v. Price, 337 Ark. 542, 990 S.W.2d 543 (1999). In oral argument, Judge Thompson agreed that he had no legal authority suggesting the three-member panel hearing utilized by the Commission in an
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Arkansas Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|