In re Selleck

• Decision Date: 03 December 1912
• Citation: 168 Mo. App. 391,151 S.W. 743
• Parties: In re SELLECK.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

151 S.W. 743

168 Mo. A. 391

In re SELLECK.

St. Louis Court of Appeals. Missouri.

December 3, 1912.

Rehearing Denied December 14, 1912.

1. ATTORNEY AND CLIENT (§ 57) — PROCEEDINGS FOR DISBARMENT — FINDINGS OF COMMISSIONERS — CONCLUSIVENESS.

Where, in proceedings to disbar an attorney, the evidence is conflicting, the court will defer to the findings of the special commissioners appointed to hear the testimony, and report findings of fact and conclusions of law.

2. ATTORNEY AND CLIENT (§ 45) — DISBARMENT — MISCONDUCT OF ATTORNEY.

An attorney who devised a scheme resulting in the execution of a false bill of sale and notes, and who directed a party thereto to give perjured testimony in litigation involving the validity of the instruments, and who unlawfully obtained possession of papers of a decedent and converted them to his own use with the intention of depriving the true owners of their property, was guilty of misconduct justifying disbarment.

Proceedings for the disbarment of Ellroy V. Selleck, an attorney. Judgment of disbarment.

Walter H. Saunders, Thomas B. Harvey, and McDonald & Taylor, all of St. Louis, for relator. John Talty, of St. Louis, for respondent.

NORTONI, J.

This is an original proceeding for disbarment of the respondent, Ellroy V. Selleck, Esq., instituted in this court at the instance of the St. Louis Bar Association, acting through its committee on grievances. Upon the respondent's appearing at the bar in person and by counsel, after notice and citation were duly served upon him, the court appointed Charles W. Bates, Esq., and George E. Smith, Esq., members of the St. Louis bar in good standing, as special commissioners to sit together, hear the testimony, and make report of their findings of fact and conclusions of law thereon with respect to the several charges preferred. The commissioners were duly sworn and qualified to act in that behalf, and in due time proceeded upon the discharge of the duties as such.

It appears that all parties interested appeared before the special commissioners in person and by counsel and introduced volumes of evidence, both oral and documentary. The special commissioners sat 18 days hearing testimony, and there were examined before them in all 85 witnesses. The record accompanying their report to this court consists of 4 volumes, containing in all 1,843 pages, besides an additional volume of documentary evidence alone in the form of exhibits introduced at the hearing. Together with this voluminous record the special commissioners filed here the following report, setting forth their findings of fact and conclusions of law:

"State of Missouri, City of St. Louis — ss.:

"In the St. Louis Court of Appeals, March Term, 1912.

"In the Matter of Ellroy V. Selleck.

No. 13,209.

"Special Commissioners' Report.

"George E. Smith and Charles W. Bates, special commissioners appointed by this honorable court on November 20, 1911, to jointly take the testimony offered by the parties, relator and respondent, and to report the same, together with findings of fact and conclusions of law, as more fully appears by the copy of the order of appointment hereto attached and made a part hereof, after duly taking the oath of office on said day, which oath is hereto attached and made a part hereof, did by consent of parties, Messrs. Thomas B. Harvey and Walter N. Saunders appearing for relators, and Mr. John A. Talty appearing for respondent Selleck, after due notice and by consent of parties, begin the hearing of said cause on the 27th day of December, 1911, and continued to hear the same from time to time and from adjournment to adjournment as by consent of all parties until the 5th day of July, 1912, when both parties concluded the testimony desired to be heard by them, respectively. That your commissioners held sixteen (16) sessions of entire days and two (2) sessions of half days, and heard the testimony of eighty-five (85) witnesses.

"Your commissioners further report that they file herewith and make a part hereof transcript of the proceedings had before them, the testimony appearing in eighteen hundred and forty-three (1,843) pages, and the written documents in evidence as exhibits appearing in a large separate volume. After hearing counsel, Messrs. Harvey and Saunders on behalf of relators, and Mr. Talty on behalf of respondent, your commissioners report as follows:

"The charges against respondent Ellroy V. Selleck are presented by the Bar Association of the city of St. Louis, seeking the disbarment of said Selleck. These charges are five in number, as appears from the charges filed in this court on the 30th day of September, 1911.

"Charge First.

"Your commissioners find the issues in favor of respondent, Ellroy V. Selleck, upon this charge.

"Charge Second.

"Your commissioners find the issues in favor of respondent, Ellroy V. Selleck, upon this charge.

"Charge Third.

`Your commissioners find the issues in favor of respondent, Ellroy V. Selleck, on this charge.

"Charge Fourth.

"Your commissioners find the issues against Ellroy V. Selleck on this charge, and find him guilty as charged. Further upon this charge your commissioners find: That said Ellroy V. Selleck was in the year 1906 duly admitted to practice law and licensed to practice law in the courts of the state of Missouri by the Supreme Court of Missouri, and from that time continuously up to the present time he has been engaged in the practice of law as an attorney and counsellor. That in the months of November and December, 1908, one Charles Mathew Kotzaurek was conducting two hat stores in the city of St. Louis, one at 603 Pine street and one at 907 Pine street, and that the said Kotzaurek was indebted to various persons for rent of the said stores and for hats purchased and contracted for. That in his employ at that time was one Bertha Henkel. That at...