Brooks v. Board of Certified Court Reporter Examiners

200 S.W.3d 900, 360 Ark. 296
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJanuary 13, 2005
Docket04-828
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 200 S.W.3d 900 (Brooks v. Board of Certified Court Reporter Examiners) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brooks v. Board of Certified Court Reporter Examiners, 200 S.W.3d 900, 360 Ark. 296 (Ark. 2005).

Opinion

Jim Gunter, Justice.

This appeal arises from an order revoking the certificate of a court reporter. On May 8, 2003, appellee, the Board of Certified Court Reporter Examiners (“Board”) revoked the certificate of appellant, Iris L. Brooks, for her failure to prepare a trial transcript in the case of Hamilton v. Jones, 351 Ark. 382, 93 S.W.3d 694 (2002) {‘‘Hamilton 2”). We affirm the Board’s findings.

Attorney S. Butler Bernard, Jr. filed a notice of appeal on behalf of his client, Richard Hamilton, and we granted appellant’s petition for writ of certiorari, requesting that we direct appellant Brooks to complete the record on September 5, 2002. On September 24, 2002, we granted a final extension with a deadline of December 8, 2002. On December 6, 2002, Mr. Bernard filed a motion for extension of time, stating that Ms. Brooks would not have the record ready to file until the following week. On December 19, 2002, we issued a per curiam opinion ordering Ms. Brooks to show cause why she should not be held in contempt of court for failing to prepare the record on time. Id.

A partial record, which consisted of approximately five-hundred pages, was tendered by Ms. Brooks to the clerk of our court on January 9, 2003.

On January 16, 2003, we held the show-cause hearing. Ms. Brooks pleaded guilty and offered mitigating circumstances, including that she worked long hours, was too ill and tired to continue working, and had two disabled children for whom she provided care. We issued a per curiam order on January 23, 2003, and entered a contempt citation with a fine of $100.00. We referred the matter to the Board of Certified Court Reporter Examiners. See Hamilton v. Jones, 351 Ark, 561, 95 S.W.3d 809 (2003) (“Hamilton II’).

In Hamilton v. Jones, 352 Ark. 569, 102 S.W.3d 479 (2003) (“Hamilton III'), dated April 10, 2003, we issued a writ of certiorari directing Ms. Brooks to complete the record within thirty days of our per curiam order. In response to our order, Ms. Brooks filed a motion for clarification, as she was no longer licensed to work as a court reporter and could not perform the duties as we directed in our order. On April 24, 2003, we revised Hamilton III, entered an order granting clarification, and directed Ms. Brooks to deliver all the records and tapes of the underlying case to Circuit Judge Victor Hill for delivery to the present court reporter, Mr. William Kisselberg, to complete the record within sixty days. See Hamilton v. Jones, 352 Ark. 569, 102 S.W.3d 479 (2003) (order granting clarification) (“Hamilton IV”).

On July 22, 2003, we granted Mr. Kisselberg an additional sixty days to complete the record and denied the appointment of a new court reporter. On September 4, 2003, we issued a writ of certiorari establishing November 3, 2003, as the deadline for submitting the completed record in the underlying Hamilton case.

On October 31, 2003, Mr. Hamilton through his attorney, Mr. Bernard, filed another writ of certiorari, requesting that his briefing schedule be suspended until the complete trial transcript was prepared, and that we issue a new writ of certiorari to Ms. Brooks to complete the record. Mr. Hamilton filed an affidavit with his motion in which Donna Palmer, a Crittenden County clerk, stated that she had not received anything from Ms. Brooks.

In Hamilton v. Jones, 355 Ark. 257, 132 S.W.3d 724 (2003) (“Hamilton V”), we noted that we had ordered Mr. Kisselberg to complete the record. We further noted that a record had been tendered to our court, but that Mr. Kisselberg had not certified the record because he was not present at the proceedings. We directed the attorneys of record to review the record within thirty days of our per curiam opinion to determine what portions of the record, if any, were omitted and to certify to our court by an affidavit that the record was true, accurate, and complete. Id.

Meanwhile, pursuant to our order in Hamilton II, supra, the Board conducted a hearing on April 5, 2003, to determine if disciplinary action against Ms. Brooks was warranted for her failure to prepare the record in this case. At the hearing, Ms. Brooks testified that, notwithstanding our order in Hamilton II, she had not yet prepared and submitted the final transcript. She estimated that there was an additional 1,000 to 1,500 pages left to prepare. She also testified that she had been paid $5,000.00 in advance to prepare the transcript, but that she used the money to purchase a car after having been involved in an accident. She also admitted that she failed to pay the $100.00 fine imposed by our court in Hamilton II, supra, following her plea of guilty to contempt. She explained to the Board her reasons for failing to prepare the transcript and for failing to pay her fine. She testified that she had “farmed out” the typing of the transcript to someone else, but she had not proofread it.

The Board made the following findings of fact:

1. Ms. Brooks’ failure to prepare the transcript in Hamilton v. Jones, supra, was without excuse or justification, and constituted gross incompetence or habitual neglect of duty and intentional violation of, noncompliance with, or gross negligence in complying with any rule or directive of the Arkansas Supreme Court.
2. Ms. Brooks’ failure to pay the $100.00 fine levied by the Arkansas Supreme Court for contempt within a reasonable time was without excuse or justification, and constituted intentional violation of, noncompliance with, or gross negligence in complying with any rule or directive of the Arkansas Supreme Court.

In making these findings, the Board concluded that Ms. Brooks violated sections 19(d) and 19(c) of the Regulations of the Board of Certified Court Reporter Examiners and that her reporter’s certificate should be permanently revoked. Ms. Brooks was ordered to deliver all court records and tapes in her possession to Circuit Judge Victor Hill’s present court reporter.

On June 4, 2003, Ms. Brooks timely filed her notice of appeal with the Pulaski County Circuit Court. On February 24, 2004, Ms. Brooks, the Board and separate appellees filed a joint motion to certify the case to our court. On March 3, 2004, the Pulaski County Circuit Court entered an agreed order, stating that “this matter should properly be certified directly to the Arkansas Supreme Court for review” as provided by our October 30, 2003, per curiam opinion that amended Section 7 of the Rules Providing for Certification of Court Reporters to require review of appeals of suspensions and revocations to be made by our court rather than the circuit court. Ms. Brooks brings her appeal from the Board’s findings.

At the outset, we note that Ms. Brooks urges our court to use two standards of review: a “clearly erroneous” standard and a “substantial evidence” standard. We review bar admission, reinstatement, and disbarment cases de novo and will not reverse the findings of fact of the Law Examiners unless they are clearly erroneous.

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Related

Flynn v. Board of Certified Court Reporter Examiners
279 S.W.3d 75 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2008)

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Bluebook (online)
200 S.W.3d 900, 360 Ark. 296, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brooks-v-board-of-certified-court-reporter-examiners-ark-2005.