In re Parsons

• Decision Date: 04 June 1907
• Citation: 35 Mont. 478
• Parties: In re PARSONS et al.
• Court: Montana Supreme Court

35 Mont. 478

In re PARSONS et al.

Supreme Court of Montana.

June 4, 1907.

Petition, on relation of W. H. Smead, for disbarment of H. H. Parsons and S. G. Murray. Dismissed.

C. B. Nolan, for accuser.

Wallace & Donnelly, J. B. Clayberg, Joyce & Mulroney, Edward Horsky, Frank H. Woody, and Charles E. Avery, for accused.

SMITH, J.

On October 8, 1906, W. H. Smead, of Missoula, filed in this court a petition for the disbarment of the above-named respondents, who are attorneys at law practicing in this state. The petition recites that the accused have been guilty of subornation of perjury, attempted subornation of perjury, and conspiracy. The substance of the allegations is as follows: That on or about the 1st day of May, 1905, the W. H. Smead Company for a valuable consideration purchased of one Jeanette M. Vandervoort a certain promissory note for $1,000, secured by a mortgage on real property in the city of Missoula. The note and mortgage were made and executed by one Ada H. Jones, who afterwards married E. H. Payne. That there was no written assignment of the mortgage securing said note, and thereafter, for the purpose of defrauding the Smead Company, the accused attorneys induced Mrs. Vandervoort, who at that time had no interest in either, to go to the county recorder's office and release the mortgage. That thereupon the accused advised Mrs. Payne to transfer said property to one J. W. Kennedy, a pretended innocent purchaser, which she did. That on the 4th day of January, 1906, the Smead Company filed a complaint in the district court at Missoula for the purpose of obtaining a decree annulling the satisfaction of the mortgage aforesaid, whereupon Mrs. Payne, by the advice of Parsons and Murray, filed an answer to the complaint, duly verified by her, in which she denied all of the allegationstherein, including the allegation as to the execution and delivery of the $1,000 note and mortgage, which denials were false, to the knowledge of the accused. That thereafter an amended complaint was filed in said cause, to which J. W. Kennedy was made a party, and the accused attorneys caused Kennedy to file a verified answer, in which he alleged that he purchased the property from Mrs. Payne for a valuable consideration, without any knowledge or notice of the mortgage, and in good faith. That thereafter the Smead Company took the depositions of Ada H. Payne, E. H. Payne, her husband, and J. W. Kennedy, before a notary public in the city of Missoula, which depositions were duly taken, and the witnesses sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and the said Parsons and Murray thereupon caused the said witnesses to testify willfully falsely regarding material matters at issue in said cause. That thereafter Parsons and Murray...