Reinstatement of Tucker, Matter of, 94-BR-00902-SCT
| Decision Date | 20 April 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 94-BR-00902-SCT,94-BR-00902-SCT |
| Citation | 656 So.2d 799 |
| Parties | In re the Matter of the REINSTATEMENT OF James Russell TUCKER. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
James D. Holland, Upshaw Williams Biggers Page & Kruger, Jackson, J. Michael Tibbals, Arter Hadden Johnson & Bromberg, Dallas, TX, for petitioner.
Michael B. Martz, Jackson, for respondent.
En Banc.
I. PROCEDURAL HISTORY
James Russell Tucker's disbarment from the practice of law in this state was affirmed by this Court in March 1991. See Tucker v. Mississippi State Bar, 577 So.2d 844 (Miss.1991). This Court agreed with the Complaint Tribunal of the Mississippi State Bar that Tucker had violated DR1-102(A)(1, 4, 5 and 6), DR2-106(A), DR7-101(A)(1 and 3), and Miss.Code Ann. Sec. 73-3-35 (1972). Tucker, 577 So.2d at 848. On September 13, 1994, Tucker filed his Petition for Reinstatement pursuant to Rule 12 of the Rules of Discipline for the Mississippi State Bar. On November 21, 1994, the Bar filed its Answer to Tucker's Petition, opposing reinstatement.
II. THE FACTS SURROUNDING DISBARMENT
In September 1985, while an associate at the firm of Copeland, Cook, Taylor and Bush in Jackson, Mississippi, Tucker agreed to represent two individuals, Tollison and Clinard, in a claim against other individuals and the executors of Tollison's and Clinard's grandfather's estate. Tucker negotiated a settlement, pursuant to which Tollison and Clinard quitclaimed their shares of the estate to the executors in exchange for $68,575.00 for each share. In March 1986, Tollison and Clinard gave Tucker two $24,000.00 personal checks for his attorney fees, payable to Tucker, which he accepted and deposited into his personal checking account without informing his firm of his receipt of the funds.
From March 1986 through May 1986, total deposits to Tucker's checking account were $48,000.00--his fees from Tollison and Clinard. During this same quarter, Tucker wrote checks totalling $45,060.29 and was charged a $5.00 service fee. Prior to deposit of the fees from Tollison and Clinard, Tucker's account had a balance of $32.97. The checks written by Tucker and paid from his deposit of attorney fees were for personal expenses, primarily to credit card companies and student loan servicers.
In May 1986 the attorney for a timber company, which planned to purchase timber from the land quitclaimed from Tollison and Clinard to the estate, discovered a mistake in the quitclaim deeds' legal descriptions. The executors requested correction deeds from Tollison and Clinard, which Tucker attempted to obtain in June 1986. Tollison, however, was not cooperative, as she had reservations about Tucker's handling of the case and the amount of the fee charged. Tollison engaged another lawyer, Timothy Gowan, who approached the firm of Copeland, Cook, Taylor and Bush about Tucker's handling of this matter. The firm was unaware of the case and of Tucker's receipt of the fee until informed by Gowan. In October 1986 Tucker tendered to the firm two certified checks, each in the amount of $24,000.00. Shortly thereafter, Tucker left Copeland, Cook, Taylor and Bush. Tollison and Clinard filed suit against Tucker and his former firm; the case was settled out of court and dismissed with prejudice.
In late 1986 Tucker moved to Texas and began to practice law there in January 1987 with the firm of Goins, Underkofler, Crawford & Langdon. The grievance was initially filed against Tucker in Mississippi in October 1987. In June 1988, Tucker voluntarily left the Goins firm and joined the firm of Vetter, Bates, Tibbals, Lee & DeBusk in Dallas, Texas. In 1989 the Goins firm merged with Godwin & Carlton, P.C.. In 1992, Tucker voluntarily left this firm to begin his own practice.
III. POST-DISBARMENT CONDUCT
Tucker has continued to practice law in Texas since his disbarment in Mississippi. He was admitted to the State Bar of Texas in 1987 pursuant to the existent reciprocity between Texas and Mississippi. As a result of this reciprocity, Tucker is subject to pending reciprocal disciplinary action in Texas. At present, the Texas disciplinary action is stayed pending this Court's decision regarding Tucker's reinstatement. Tucker's response to the show cause order, filed in the District Court of Dallas County, Texas, in March 1992, arguing against reciprocal disbarment in Texas, is revealing. Some excerpts follow.
At long last, Respondent is finally able to present this disciplinary dispute before an impartial tribunal and have the opportunity to clear his name in connection with this matter once and for all.... Respondent was disbarred by three gentlemen who constituted what is commonly referred to in Mississippi now as the "hanging judge" panel, and the Mississippi Supreme Court, again without any evidentiary hearing or granting Respondent the opportunity to be heard by way of oral argument, issued a "rubber stamp" to the administrative tribunals' [sic] decision without even bothering to write its own opinion.... if the court [Supreme Court of Mississippi] had reviewed the record at all, it would have discovered that the order entered by the administrative tribunal was filled with conclusory allegations and suppositions which were never proven and could not be proven before a court of law or a jury.
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... there was such an infirmity of proof which purportedly established the misconduct as to give rise to the clear conviction that this Court [Texas court] could not, consistent with its duty, accept as final the conclusion of the Mississippi administrative tribunal.
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... the alleged misconduct, if it is assumed there was misconduct.... Here, Respondent did not steal any money from his clients, his law firm or from anyone.
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Respondent was disbarred in Mississippi for temporarily placing money in his personal account before delivering it to his law firm, and for charging and collecting a contingent fee in a case pursuant to an agreement which was voluntarily agreed to by both Respondent and the client and was the routine contingency fee agreement utilized by his law firm.
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Respondent's intention, of course, was simply to deposit the checks into his account, allow sufficient time for them to clear, and in turn, have checks made payable to the firm showing Tollison and Clinard as payors. Respondent, being an inexperienced attorney, only three years out of law school, and handling his first client that had come directly to him, saw nothing wrong with this for the obvious reason that he never intended to keep the money. He knew the firm would trust his judgment in handling the matter the way he did after disclosure of all facts.
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... what Respondent thought was only going to be a matter of a few days to resolve back in March when he received the attorneys' fees and the checks cleared (and he could give the firm the money and nobody would know anything about anything going wrong), he found himself in a situation where days turned into weeks and weeks into months before the matter could be resolved.
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Thus, Respondent was disbarred based upon supposition and no evidence whatsoever being presented as to Respondent's intent to take the money.
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The administrative tribunal was a total farce from the beginning as much of the testimony adduced was based on hearsay and many of the conclusions drawn in the Order of the tribunal were mere suppositions or based upon the opinions of members of the tribunal that Respondent "had to know" certain things at certain points in time with no proof whatsoever because there was none.
The unfortunate and ironic thing which has occurred in this matter is that Respondent is the only one who has suffered any consequence at all from what has happened in this case.
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Respondent submits that the reason these and other pertinent facts were not properly investigated by the State Bar of Mississippi is because the attorney for the general counsel's office had a personal vendetta against Respondent for some reason. It was very clear to Respondent and others involved in the proceedings that the attorney for the state bar handling this case had a chip on his shoulder due to a physical deformity which prevented him from practicing in private practice, and he resented Respondent's status having risen to making a lot of money in Texas by the time this matter came to trial.
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... there was a feeling among some that there was pressure upon the state bar to dish out the harshest sentence possible in order to set an example because no one had been disbarred in a while. The perfect situation was presented by Respondent in that because he was then practicing in Texas, they could disbar him and not have to "look him in the face" everyday and see the resulting destruction of a career first hand. It is always easier to do that to someone when you don't have to see or hear from them again.
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... certainly there are ways the trap in which Respondent was caught could have been avoided had he handled matters differently.
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In fact, the firm [Copeland, Cook, Taylor and Bush] was very supportive of Respondent after learning of the facts relating to this matter and the "white trash" that Respondent had represented in connection with this matter.
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... they [the administrative tribunal and the Supreme Court of Mississippi] appeared to resent the fact that Respondent had gone to Texas and started a new career and done very well for himself in the State of Texas. Respondent's attorney in Mississippi advised him many times that he thought one of Respondent's main problems was that the people setting [sic] on the administrative tribunal were earning a very small sum of money compared to the success Respondent had enjoyed in Texas.
Response to Order to Show Cause, pp. 1-35.
In September 1992 Tucker apparently amended...
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