Taylor v. State Bar

• Decision Date: 01 May 1974
• Citation: 521 P.2d 470,113 Cal.Rptr. 478,11 Cal.3d 424
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: , 521 P.2d 470 Eugene P. TAYLOR, Petitioner, v. The STATE BAR of California, Respondent. L.A. 30208.

Page 478

113 Cal.Rptr. 478

11 Cal.3d 424, 521 P.2d 470

Eugene P. TAYLOR, Petitioner, v. The STATE BAR of California, Respondent.

L.A. 30208.

Supreme Court of California In Bank.

May 1, 1974.

Eugene P. Taylor, in pro. per.

Herbert M. Rosenthal and Ronald W. Stovitz, San Francisco, for respondent.

BY THE COURT.

This is a proceeding to review a recommendation of the Disciplinary Board of the State Bar of California that petitioner be suspended from the practice of law in this state for a period of three months. Petitioner was admitted to practice in California in 1965, ¹ and he has no prior record of discipline.

In an order to show cause, dated January 25, 1972, petitioner was charged with having accepted employment in or about February 1966 to pursue a personal injury suit on behalf of Richard Burton, the minor son of Mr. and Mrs. William Burton, and William Burton, and, after having filed suit and performed other acts, neglecting to pursue the case further and refusing to answer inquiries of the clients, thus, in effect, abandoning his obligations as an attorney at law in the matter (count 1), and with having violated an order of this court suspending him from the practice of law for nonpayment of an annual State Bar membership fee by filing a divorce action and appearing as attorney for the plaintiff at a hearing on an order to show cause in the domestic relations case of Goodkin v. Goodkin in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in June 1969 (count 2). ²

By an answer, dated September 19, 1972, petitioner denied failing to prosecute the Burton case or refusing to answer inquiries of the clients; and he denied intentionally violating the suspension order or wilfully misrepresenting his status as an attorney to the judge presiding in the Goodkin matter.

Between June 13, 1969, and April 4, 1971, petitioner was in active military service. During that period of time, no formal charge against him could be made, tried, or heard, with certain exceptions not here applicable.

A hearing was held before the local administrative committee on November 13, 1972. At the commencement of the hearing, petitioner made an objection, claiming that he had been prejudiced by the delay in the institution of the proceeding, because, he said, an earlier notice to show cause on the same counts, for hearing 30 days thereafter, had been served on him while he was on active duty with the military, which notice to show cause had been can celled, and that after leaving active service in 1971 he had inquired of the State Bar in San Francisco and been told that there were no proceedings pending against him and he had received from the State Bar a certificate of good standing. The prejudice claimed was that he thereafter dropped his contacts with a witness who, he stated, would have corroborated him by testifying to delivery of his file to the Burtons or their new attorney in July or August 1969. Information subsequently obtained shows that petitioner's claim of having been served with a prior notice to show cause is without evidentiary foundation. ³

The trial committee noted the evidence in rebuttal of facts alleged by petitioner with respect to the earlier notice to show cause claimed to have been served on him and found that petitioner had not exercised any diligence in trying to locate the witness and that the evidence offered to be shown by the witness would not affect the committee's findings, conclusions, and recommendations as to count 1.

On the merits, the trial committee found culpability on petitioner's part as to both counts 1 and 2 and recommended a one-year suspension on terms of probation, including actual suspension for 30 days. ⁴

Petitioner did not appear before the disciplinary board, but, instead, filed a written statement. The examiner likewise filed a written statement. The disciplinary board then, on June 14, 1973, by a vote of 11 to 0, adopted the findings of the trial committee (with a technical addition as to petitioner's various admissions to the practice of law) and adopted a resolution recommending that he be suspended for three months, without terms of probation. A further resolution was adopted, with one dissent, that if this court should follow the board's recommendation as to discipline, it should not require petitioner to comply with the provisions of rule 955, California Rules of Court.

In 1966, and at least until May 8, 1967, petitioner maintained an office for the practice of law at 315 South Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills. At a time which was fixed only approximately by the testimony, petitioner moved to a nearby office (hereinafter referred to as 'the new office'). He at first said he believed the move took place in February 1967; but he later said (after examining a copy of the complaint filed in the Burton matter) that he thought it was February 1968. The official roll of attorneys maintained by the State Bar showed the 315 South Beverly Drive location as petitioner's office address as of the date of his admission to practice. By an entry made August 9, 1967, the office address was shown to be 241 South Beverly Drive.

Petitioner testified that at the new office his law practice diminished as 'old' cases 'terminated.' At a time placed by petitioner as 'sometime in the beginning of 1968' and 'spring of 1968,' he went into business, as opposed to practicing law. He said that he was in business in a motion picture production company and a motion picture distribution company at the new office and that he had to do a great deal of traveling. He said that by the summer of 1968 he had no law practice except for the Burton matter and perhaps one or two others.

In June 1969, petitioner went on active duty with the military. He later returned temporarily to the Los Angeles area, but the time of his return is in dispute. In about September 1969, petitioner moved his residence to Northern California (Moraga) near San Francisco, where he was stationed in the military. Thereafter, he said he had no further participation in the office at 241 South Beverly Drive. He did not, however, at that time notify the State Bar of a change of his official address.

In April 1971, petitioner's active military service terminated. Through the San Francisco office of the State Bar, he paid delinquent membership fees for 1968, 1969, and 1970, plus penalties, as well as the then current fee. On May 12, 1971, the State Bar acknowledged such payments and advised this court that petitioner was entitled to active status. In connection with such 'reinstatement,' petitioner gave his Moraga address as his official address.

At the time of the trial hearing in November 1972, petitioner was employed in the Los Angeles area as associate counsel for a title insurance company.

Petitioner urges that the delay in the proceedings by the State Bar prejudiced his defense, that reasonable doubts should be resolved in favor of the accused attorney, and that the discipline recommended is too severe for the offenses charged. As pointed out by this court on innumerable occasions, however (see, e.g., In re Plotner, 5 Cal.3d 714, 716, 97 Cal.Rptr. 193, 488 P.2d 385(1); Mack v. State Bar, 2 Cal.3d 440, 443, 85 Cal.Rptr. 625, 467 P.2d 225(1)), the burden is on petitioner to show that the disciplinary board's recommendation is erroneous or unlawful; and petitioner has not met this burden.

Burton Personal Injury Matter--Alleged Violation by Petitioner of his Oath and Duties as an Attorney

In January 1966, Richard Burton, then about 15 1/2 years old, was severely injured while on a bicycle when he was struck by an automobile driven by a Mrs. Kennedy, who was then in her 80's. Richard's parents knew petitioner through church membership, and shortly after the accident petitioner was employed to handle the case on a contingent fee basis. On May 8, 1967, more than a year after the accident, petitioner filed a civil action through the firm of Gordon and Taylor. It sought damages for Richard's personal injury and, in a second count by Mr. Burton, a coplaintiff, recovery of hospital and medical expenses incurred. Some time after the initial conference with petitioner, the Burtons paid him $35 for the filing fee.

The Burtons would see petitioner after church, and they apparently both felt that the case was progressing well for about a year. They testified, however, that after petitioner moved to the new office, it was difficult to reach him and that they made various telephone calls and left messages, without success. Mr. Burton said that he took a day off from work in May or June 1968 to go to the new office in an effort to contact petitioner, but did not find him there and received no response to a note left on petitioner's desk requesting that petitioner call him.

Mrs. Burton testified that she and Richard had in August 1968 dropped in at the new office and found petitioner in. She said that petitioner assured them at that time that the case would be completed within a few months and that, as a result, their faith in petitioner was restored. After that visit, however, petitioner never contacted them.

Mr. Burton testified that in August 1969 he made an appointment over the telephone for the three of them to see petitioner on August 28, 1969, but that although they went to the new office at the time sat and waited half an hour, petitioner did not appear. He said that he left word for petitioner to call him, but he never heard or talked with petitioner after making the telephone appointment.

The Burtons then contacted the local bar association and were referred to the State Bar. Mrs. Burton said that they knew they were under a contract with petitioner to handle the case, and they did not want to do anything wrong.

In October or November 1969, Mr. Burton obtained a new attorney, who was substituted as plaintiffs' counsel. On July 15, 1970, the case was concluded by approval of a minor's compromise for $6,700. Of this amount, $1,938.61...