Johnson, Matter of, 23280
| Decision Date | 01 August 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 23280,23280 |
| Citation | 397 S.E.2d 522,302 S.C. 532 |
| Court | South Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | In the Matter of John Land JOHNSON, Judge of the Probate Court for Lexington County, Respondent. . Heard |
Heyward E. McDonald, and James B. Richardson, Jr., Columbia, for respondent.
Atty. Gen. T. Travis Medlock, Deputy Atty. Gen. William K. Moore, and Asst. Atty. Gen. James G. Bogle, for examiner.
This is a judicial disciplinary action. We find respondent guilty of misconduct in two matters.
In April 1984, as Probate Judge for Lexington County, respondent signed an agreement between the Department of Mental Health (DMH) and the Lexington County Probate Court entitled "Contract for the Services of Lexington County Probate Court." The agreement provided that for a fee (essentially $100 per hearing) the Lexington County Probate Court would hold hearings for involuntarily committed DMH patients from outside the county at the facility where the patients resided in order to eliminate the need for DMH to transport these patients back to their counties of legal residence. The same basic agreement was signed each year and remained in effect through June 30, 1989.
An internal audit of the Lexington County Probate Court was conducted at the request of the County Administrator for the period of July 1, 1984, through September 30, 1989. The audit revealed that respondent received a total of $199,970.00 from DMH pursuant to the agreement. Of this amount, he remitted only $97,307.89 to the Lexington County Treasurer. At the time of the audit, $6,592.57 of the $102,662.00 that was not remitted to the county remained in a checking account in respondent's name entitled
Respondent spent $96,069.54 of the funds received from DMH at his own discretion. Some of the money was spent on donations ($769.00) and items relating to probate court matters such as "medical expenses for mental health patients: $2,530.78." Over half of the funds, however, were spent on less altruistic projects, including:
$18,555.00: supplements to respondent's salary;
5,074.00: respondent's automobile insurance and expenses;
27,113.07: respondent's travel expenses for conferences and meetings;
5,770.00: cash advances or cash withheld from deposits.
Over $8,000.00 remains totally unaccounted for.
Until its amendment in 1988, S.C.Code Ann. § 8-21-760 (1986) provided:
The probate judges of the several counties shall receive such salaries for performance of their duties as may be fixed by the governing body of the county, which shall not be diminished during their terms of office.
Such compensation shall not be measured or affected by the fees and costs received by such officers under the provisions of this article.
All such fees and costs received under the provisions of this article [Article 7 of Chapter 21] by such officials of any county shall be accounted for and paid into the general fund of the county as directed by the governing body thereof.
Respondent claims his failure to remit the DMH funds to the county was not unlawful under this section because the DMH funds are...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Skelton v. Eckstrom
... ... 1, 594 S.E.2d 473 (2004); In the Matter of Brown, 334 S.C. 44, 512 S.E.2d 114 (1999); In the Matter of Johnson, 302 S.C. 532, 397 S.E.2d ... ...
-
American Fire and Cas. Co. v. Johnson
... ... tort against the insurance company for breach of its duty of good faith and fair dealing in the payment of the county's claim, is a different matter that need not be answered by us at this time. Assuming our Supreme Court would approve such a cause of action, the facts of this case do not support ... ...
-
IN RE ANONYMOUS FORMER PROBATE JUDGE, 25794.
...358 S.C. 1594 S.E.2d 473In the Matter of an ANONYMOUS FORMER PROBATE JUDGE, Respondent ... No. 25794 ... Supreme Court of South ... into the county's general fund.2 The Committee noted that this Court, in In the Matter of Johnson, 302 S.C. 532, 397 S.E.2d 522 (1990), had held that (1) fees collected for services rendered by a ... ...