In re Hoffman
Citation | 704 N.W.2d 810,2005 ND 171 |
Decision Date | 18 October 2005 |
Docket Number | No. 20050162.,20050162. |
Parties | In the Matter of the Application for Reinstatement of Randall L. HOFFMAN. Randall L. Hoffman, Petitioner v. Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of the State of North Dakota, Respondent. |
Court | United States State Supreme Court of North Dakota |
Randall L. Hoffman (pro se), Elgin, N.D.
Paul W. Jacobson, Bismarck, N.D. for respondent.
[¶ 1] Randall L. Hoffman petitioned for reinstatement to the bar and challenged the Disciplinary Board's recommendation that he not be admitted to the bar at this time. We adopt the recommendation of the Board and deny Hoffman's petition for reinstatement.
[¶ 2] On October 23, 2003, this Court suspended Hoffman from the practice of law for one year beginning December 1, 2003, and ordered that he pay the costs of the disciplinary proceeding because of his violations of N.D.R. Prof. Conduct 1.12(a), 3.4(d), 4.2 and 4.4. See In re Hoffman, 2003 ND 161, ¶ 33, 670 N.W.2d 500
. The disciplinary action was based on three incidents of attorney misconduct. In the first incident, the Toltzman matter, Hoffman, while sitting as a district judge, granted a default judgment in favor of the wife in a divorce action. Id. at ¶ 2. After Hoffman resigned as district judge, he represented the husband in the Toltzman divorce action without the consent of the wife and moved to amend the divorce judgment. Id. at ¶ 3. In the second incident, Hoffman attempted to settle a visitation dispute with Ray Remmick, the father of the child of Hoffman's fiancée without Remmick's consent to the discussion being held outside the presence of his attorney. Id. at ¶¶ 4, 5. Hoffman threatened that if Remmick did not sign a document indicating his consent and discuss visitation without his attorney being present, Remmick would not receive visitation with the child that night. Id. at ¶ 5. When Remmick refused, he was denied visitation. Id. In the third incident, Hoffman harassed Remmick with numerous discovery requests in the visitation proceedings seeking facts intimate to his sexual relationship with Hoffman's fiancée.
[¶ 3] In October 2004, Hoffman filed a petition for reinstatement under N.D.R. Lawyer Discipl. 4.5. Following a March 11, 2005, hearing before a hearing panel appointed by the Board, the Board recommended that Hoffman not be currently reinstated to the practice of law because he had failed to meet his burden of demonstrating his qualifications for reinstatement under N.D.R. Lawyer Discipl. 4.5(F)(3) and (5). The Board also recommended that Hoffman pay the costs of the reinstatement proceeding in the amount of $1,558.10.
[¶ 4] Hoffman raises numerous challenges to the Board's findings, conclusions and recommendation.
[¶ 5] "A court which has the power to suspend or disbar an attorney also has the power to reinstate, upon proper and satisfactory proof that, as a result of his discipline, he has become a fit and proper person to be intrusted with the office of an attorney." Application of Christianson, 202 N.W.2d 756 Syll. ¶ 1 (N.D.1972). Reinstatement is not a matter of right. Application of Christianson, 253 N.W.2d 410, 413 (N.D.1977). Rather, the petitioner has the burden of establishing the averments of his application for reinstatement or readmission by clear and convincing evidence, and the proof must be "of a satisfactory character and of sufficient weight to overcome the former adverse judgment as to the petitioner's character." Application of Christianson, 215 N.W.2d 920, 923 (N.D.1974). We review proceedings for reinstatement de novo on the record and accord due weight to the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the hearing panel as adopted by the Board. In re Montgomery, 2000 ND 127, ¶ 5, 612 N.W.2d 278. Each case must be judged on its own facts and merits. In re Montgomery, 1997 ND 148, ¶ 5, 566 N.W.2d 426.
[¶ 6] The Board determined that Hoffman failed to demonstrate he met the qualifications for reinstatement listed under N.D.R. Lawyer Discipl. 4.5(F)(3) and (5), which provide:
[¶ 7] The Board made the following relevant findings and conclusions in support of its recommendation to deny Hoffman's petition for reinstatement:
[¶ 8] Hoffman challenges the Board's finding that he engaged in disparaging and demeaning communications over the Internet with Remmick and his wife during the period of his suspension.
[¶ 9] Hoffman argues that his involvement in the visitation dispute was not, as the Board found, a "large part" of the reasoning for his suspension because he had originally been offered "a $500 cost assessment and 90 day suspension" if he had admitted all of the facts in the prior suspension proceeding. Obviously, Hoffman's involvement in the visitation dispute was a "large part" of the conduct leading to his suspension. Two of the three incidents of attorney misconduct were directly related to the visitation dispute. See In re Hoffman, 2003 ND 161, ¶¶ 4-6, 670 N.W.2d 500
. Any past offer by the Board to settle the misconduct charges is irrelevant in this proceeding.
[¶ 10] Hoffman objects to the Board's finding that he "engaged in communication" with Remmick, one of the victims of Hoffman's previous misconduct, and Remmick's wife. The Board gave Remmick notice of Hoffman's petition for reinstatement under N.D.R. Lawyer Discipl. 4.5(F) and allowed Remmick to submit comments and other information concerning the petition for reinstatement. Remmick submitted a letter complaining about Hoffman's continuing "har[ ]assment" in their visitation dispute and copies of legal documents relating to that dispute filed in the district court. Remmick also submitted approximately 20 copies of 2004 entries from Hoffman's personal "Profile" on an Internet web page that can be viewed by others. In one entry, Hoffman states, "My stepdaughters have plenty of sunshine in their lives . . . except for the stupidity of their natural dads and step-mom." Another entry states, Yet another entry contains a picture of Hoffman's family and states, The other entries contain similarly disparaging and demeaning remarks.
[¶ 11] Hoffman argues he was not communicating with Remmick because the comments were directed at Remmick's wife and she had to seek out Hoffman's "Profile" on the Internet to view the comments. During the hearing, Hoffman admitted that he knew Remmick's wife would find the entries on his Internet "Profile" and that he was "communicating with her." The only reasonable inference to be drawn from Hoffman's communications...
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Disciplinary Bd. of the Supreme Court of N.D. v. Hoffman (In re Hoffman), 20120284.
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