Disciplinary Counsel v. Snaider

• Decision Date: 29 April 2014
• Docket Number: AC 35736
• Court: Connecticut Court of Appeals
• Parties: DISCIPLINARY COUNSEL v. BENSON A. SNAIDER

DISCIPLINARY COUNSEL v. BENSON A. SNAIDER

AC 35736

COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT

Argued February 7, 2014

Officially released April 29, 2014

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(Appeal from Superior Court, judicial district of New

Haven, B. Fischer, J.)

Ira B. Grudberg, for the appellant (defendant).

Suzanne B. Sutton, first assistant chief disciplinary counsel, with whom was Desi Imetovski, assistant disciplinary counsel, for the appellee (plaintiff).

Opinion

LAVINE, J. The defendant, Benson A. Snaider, formerly of the Connecticut bar, appeals from the judgment of the trial court rendered after the court accepted his resignation from the bar and imposed discipline pursuant to Practice Book § 2-47 (d). On appeal, the defendant claims that (1) the court's acceptance of his resignation constituted a final judgment and therefore the court (a) had no authority to impose discipline on him, and thereby (b) denied him due process of law, and (2) the court imposed discipline that is unfair and unreasonable given his age, namely, seventy-five years old. We disagree with the defendant and, thus, affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The following facts are relevant to our resolution of the defendant's appeal. On October 13, 2011, pursuant to Practice Book § 2-42,¹ the plaintiff, Disciplinary Counsel, acting through Attorney Suzanne B. Sutton, first assistant chief disciplinary counsel, applied for an order of interim suspension of the defendant's license to practice law, alleging that he had misappropriated the funds of a client. The defendant admitted that he had misappropriated his client's funds, but challenged the amount of the misappropriation. Following a hearing held on November 3, 2011, the court found that the defendant had committed professional misconduct by misappropriating the funds of a client and that he presented "a threat of irreparable harm to current and potential clients." The court suspended the defendant's license to practice law, appointed a trustee to protect the interests of his clients, and ordered the Statewide Grievance Committee to conduct an audit of his trustee accounts.²

On July 10, 2012, the plaintiff filed a request to amend its application from an interim order of suspension to a presentment complaint (presentment), pursuant to Practice Book §§ 2-40³ and 2-47.⁴ The presentment alleged two counts related to the defendant's misappropriation of his client's funds and was filed subsequent to a decision issued by the Statewide Grievance Committee and the defendant's felony conviction,⁵ both of which occurred after the defendant's license to practice law was suspended.

The court scheduled a hearing on the presentment to be held on November 16, 2012. On October 26, 2012, however, the defendant submitted to the Superior Court his resignation from the bar without conditions.⁶ The November 16, 2012 hearing was continued for unrelated reasons, and on November 21, 2012, the court accepted the defendant's resignation from the bar. The court continued the presentment proceedings to permit the parties to present evidence as to mitigating and aggravating circumstances regarding the discipline to be imposed. The defendant, however, argued that, becausethe court had accepted his resignation, the court lacked personal jurisdiction to discipline him for the misconduct alleged in the presentment. Counsel for the plaintiff disagreed. Thereafter, the parties submitted briefs on the issue of the court's jurisdiction over the defendant. On March 26, 2013, the court concluded that it had jurisdiction to determine when the defendant could apply, if ever, for readmission to the bar.

The parties appeared before the court on April 29, 2013. The plaintiff presented evidence of aggravating factors with regard to the defendant's misconduct and argued that he should not be permitted to apply for readmission for twelve years. The defendant presented no evidence but argued that, given his age and the fact that he had practiced law for fifty years without misconduct, he should be permitted to apply for readmission to the bar in five years. The court issued its order on May 8, 2013, prohibiting the defendant from applying for readmission to the bar for twelve years from April 29, 2013.⁷ The defendant appealed.

Before we address the defendant's specific claims on appeal, we set forth the overarching principles articulating the relationship between the Superior Court and members of the bar. "The Superior Court possesses inherent authority to regulate attorney conduct and to discipline the members of the bar. . . . The judiciary has the power to admit attorneys to practice and to disbar them . . . to fix the qualifications of those to be admitted . . . and to define what constitutes the practice of law. . . . In the exercise of its disciplinary power, the Superior Court has adopted the Code of Professional Responsibility [now Rules of Professional Conduct]." (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Massameno v. Statewide Grievance Committee, 234 Conn. 539, 553-54, 663 A.2d 317 (1995).

"Disciplinary proceedings are for the purpose of preserving the courts from the official ministration of persons unfit to practice in them." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Ex Parte Wall, 107 U.S. 265, 288, 2 S. Ct. 569, 27 L. Ed. 552 (1882). "The proceeding to disbar [or suspend] an attorney is neither a civil action nor a criminal proceeding, but is a proceeding sui generis, the object of which is not the punishment of the offender, but the protection of the court. . . . Once the complaint is made, the court controls the situation and procedure, in its discretion, as the interests of justice may seem to it to require. . . . [T]he power of the courts is left unfettered to act as situations, as they may arise, may seem to require, for efficient discipline of misconduct and the purging of the bar from the taint of unfit membership. Such statutes as ours are not restrictive of the inherent powers which reside in courts to inquire into the conduct of their own officers, and to discipline them for misconduct. . . . In proceedings such as those at issue, therefore, the attorney'srelations to the tribunal and the character and purpose of the inquiry are such that unless it clearly appears that his rights have in some substantial way been denied him, the action of the court will not be set aside upon review." (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Statewide Grievance Committee v. Rozbicki, 211 Conn. 232, 238-39, 558 A.2d 986 (1989).

I

The defendant first claims that, after it accepted his resignation from the bar pursuant to Practice Book § 2-52, the court improperly modified its judgment by disciplining him, i.e., ordered that he was not permitted to apply for readmission to the bar for twelve years, pursuant to Practice Book § 2-47 (d). We disagree, concluding that the court's order disciplining the defendant is consistent with the comprehensive disciplinary scheme established to safeguard the public and the court from unfit practitioners. See Massameno v. Statewide Grievance Committee, supra, 234 Conn. 554. Moreover, a presentment is justiciable if the alleged misconduct occurred prior to the attorney's suspension or disbarment on an unrelated matter. See Statewide Grievance Committee v. Burton, 88 Conn. App. 523, 524-33, 871 A.2d 380 (2005) (trial court had jurisdiction to adjudicate presentment of disbarred lawyer), aff'd, 282 Conn. 1, 917 A.2d 966 (2007).

"[A] challenge to the personal jurisdiction of the trial court is a question of law, and, therefore, our review is plenary." Investment Associates v. Summit Associates, Inc., 132 Conn. App. 192, 202, 31 A.3d 820 (2011), aff'd, 309 Conn. 840, 74 A.3d 1192 (2013).

The following additional facts are relevant to our resolution of this claim. During the November 21, 2012 hearing, the court accepted the defendant's resignation from the bar and stated: "The court will accept the resignation, and again, I'm going to hear argument as I understand it on when [the defendant] could apply for readmission . . . ."

After the court inquired whether there were questions, counsel for the defendant argued that, because the defendant had resigned from the bar, the court lacked jurisdiction to enter an order of discipline. Moreover, he argued, it is the responsibility of the Connecticut Bar Examining Committee to determine if the defendant may ever apply for readmission. The court stated that it would retain jurisdiction and that it would hear argument as to when the defendant could apply for readmission. The plaintiff was seeking a...