Kentucky Bar Ass'n v. Collis

• Decision Date: 09 May 1975
• Citation: 535 S.W.2d 95
• Parties: KENTUCKY BAR ASSOCIATION, Complainant, v. John W. COLLIS, Respondent.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky

Page 95

535 S.W.2d 95

KENTUCKY BAR ASSOCIATION, Complainant, v. John W. COLLIS, Respondent.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

May 9, 1975.

Rehearing Denied June 27, 1975.

Certiorari Denied Jan. 12, 1976. See 96 S.Ct. 775.

Gentry E. McCauley, Jr., Versailles, Leslie G. Whitmer, John T. Damron, Kentucky Bar Ass'n, Frankfort, David T. Enlow, Lexington, for complainant.

R. J. Turley, Turley, Savage & Moore, Lexington, for respondent.

PER CURIAM.

This is a disciplinary proceeding in which the Board of Governors of the Kentucky Bar Association found respondent guilty of unprofessional conduct and recommended that he be permanently disbarred from the practice of law.

A six-count charge was filed against respondent by the Kentucky Bar Association. A trial committee appointed in accordance with the rules heard the testimony of witnesses and after finding the respondent guilty on all counts recommended a reprimand. The Board of Governors at a subsequent meeting considered the record, found the respondent guilty on all counts, and recommended that the respondent be permanently disbarred from the practice of law. In response to the rule issued in accordance with the recommendation of the Board of Governors, respondent moved for an extension of time to file a supplemental brief after the taking of additional evidence and issued a subpoena duces tecum served on the secretary of the Kentucky Bar Association to produce all records relating to the disciplinary proceeding against the respondent, including the minutes of the meeting of the Board of Governors together with a notice to the secretary of the Kentucky Bar Association to take his deposition. A motion to quash the subpoena and notice was granted by this court.

Respondent alleges that some sinister influence was at work because of the wide disparity between the recommendation of the trial committee and that of the Board of Governors. We consider the taking of further evidence and examination of the records of the meeting of the Board of Governors as to the reasons, if any, for the disparity between the recommendation to be irrelevant. We again point out that 'the report and recommendations of the trial committee are only advisory to the Board of Governors, as are the Board's recommendations to this court. * * * This means, of course, that in the end this court must be judge of the factual as well as the legal issues and of the final action to be taken.' Kentucky State Bar Association v. Stivers, Ky., 475 S.W.2d 900, 903 (1972).

We review the record and arrive at our own conclusion as to the proper disposition of the case. The record here is voluminous and covers in minute detail every aspect of the counts contained in the charge. Without a tedious detailing of the facts, the record clearly discloses that in three c...