Ex parte Miller

60 P. 999, 37 Or. 304, 1900 Ore. LEXIS 79
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedMay 12, 1900
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 60 P. 999 (Ex parte Miller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ex parte Miller, 60 P. 999, 37 Or. 304, 1900 Ore. LEXIS 79 (Or. 1900).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

This is a proceeding for the disbarment of the defendant, who is a regularly licensed attorney of this court.' The information charges him with a violation of his official oath, a willful disobedience of the order of the court, and of willful deceit and misconduct in [305]*305his profession. The specifications, briefly stated, are as follows: That a judgment was given and rendered in the Circuit Court of the State of Oregon, for Umatilla County, in favor of one Emma M. Kenney and against Frank Rivers, the husband of the relator, for $850 ; that execution was issued thereon March 23, 1895, by virtue whereof the sheriff levied upon certain money of the judgment debtor in the hands of Rangdina Rivers, and on June 20, 1895, judgment was entered against her as garnishee for the sum of $365.50 in favor of the said Emma M. Kenney ; that on July 23 execution was issued on the garnishee judgment, and such supplementary proceedings were had' in aid of said execution as that the Circuit Court of the State of Oregon, for Umatilla County, made an order requiring the said Rangdina Rivers to attend before it on the twenty-fourth day of July, 1895, at 7:30 o’clock P. M., to be examined touching her property; that by the same order she was enjoined and restrained from making or suffering any transfer of, interference with, or other disposition of her property until the further order of the court; that this order was served upon the defendant July 24, 1895 ; that the said Rangdina Rivers appeared at the time directed, with the defendant, J. E. Miller, as her attorney, and the examination was continued until July 27, 1895; that on the last-named date another continuance was had until the twenty-ninth of July, 1895 ; that at the time of these continuances the judge, in the presence of defendant, further ordered and directed that the said Rangdina Rivers should not dispose of any of her property, or leave the County of Umatilla, State of Oregon, and-should appear for further examination on the twenty-ninth of July, 1895, at the hour of 9 o’clock A. M., which orders, in the presence and hearing of the judge of the court, she promised to [306]*306.observe, and was thereby relieved of .the necessity of giving bail for her appearance ; that the defendant was her attorney in all of these proceedings ; that on the night of July 27, 1895, while said orders were in force, the defendant went to her house and told her that she must not appear in said court on July 29, 1895, as directed, but that she should leave the county and state at once, and that she should not pay said garnishee judgment; that, if she appeared in said court at the time mentioned, she would be asked three questions, the answers to which would convict her of a great crime and send her and her husband to the state penitentiary ; that she was alarmed by said advice, and, acting in obedience thereto, she left the state upon the night of July 27, 1895, and went to Nelson, British Columbia, where she took an assumed name, as advised by the defendant; that'the defendant agreed to send her certain personal property which she had left in his possession ; that prior to her departure the defendant went to Walla Walla, and advised her husband, Frank Rivers, to leave the state at once, for the purpose of avoiding the service of a warrant then out for his arrest; that the said Miller did knowingly, willfully, fraudulently and unlawfully procure the absence of the said witness, Rangdina Rivers, on the twenty-ninth of July, 1895, with intent to unlawfully violate the orders of the circuit court, and to compass a failure of justice ; that the said Miller, instead of sending the personal property as he had agreed, divided the same between himself and others, and at divers times refused to send the same, or any part thereof, to her, and held it for ransom, exacting $30, which she did not owe him ; that said advice by Miller was given with intent to prevent said Rangdina Rivers from paying the garnishee judgment, and to convert her property to his own use ; that, while absent from the state by his advice, he wrote her a letter unbe[307]*307'coming an attorney and unprofessional in tone, for the purpose of blackmailing, intimidating and coercing her, through fear, to pay him money that she did not owe, and of preventing her from returning to Pendleton and repossessing herself of said property.

Analyzed, the charges consist (1) of unlawfully procuring the absence of the relator, an execution debtor, contrary to the order of the court requiring her to appear for examination at a time stated, with intent to cause a failure of justice; * (2) of willfully and unlawfully obtaining from the said Rangdina Rivers the personal property described in the complaint, with intent to defraud her thereof and to wrongfully convert the same to his own use; and (3) of endeavoring to extort money from her which she did not owe. The proofs having been submitted, we áre to determine whether these charges, or any of them, have been established.

It appears by the records of the court, introduced in evidence, that Emma M. Kenney obtained a judgment in the Circuit Court of the State of Oregon, for Umatilla County, against Frank Rivers, for the sum of- $760.20, with attorney’s fees and costs, on March 23, 1895. Execution was subsequently issued, and a garnishee notice served upon the relator. On July 12 the execution creditor filed the following allegations and interrogatories, viz.: “That the said Rangdina Rivers on or about the twenty-ninth day of June, 1895, received of the defendant Frank Rivers the sum of $365.50, which sum of money was placed in the possession and keeping of the said [308]*308Rangdina Rivers by the said Frank Rivers, and which money was the property of the said Frank Rivers ; that the said Frank Rivers received the said money from the sale of a certain wheat receipt to one W. S. Byers, in the City of Pendleton, Umatilla County, State of Oregon, on or about the' twenty-ninth day of June, 1895. The garnishee defendant, Rangdina Rivers, is requested to answer the following interrogatories : (1) Did you receive the sum of «$365.50 on or about the twenty-ninth day of June, 1895, from the defendant Frank Rivers? (2) Did you not testify upon direct examination before T. G. Hailey, referee, in supplementary proceedings to execution in this action, that you received the said sum of $365.50 from the defendant Frank Rivers? (3) What have you done with the said sum of $365.50 which you so received from the said Frank Rivers? (4) Is the said sum of $365.50, or any part thereof, now in your possession or under your control? If so, where is it?” On July 13 Mrs. Rivers made answer, under oath, as follows : To interrogatories No. 1 and No. 2 : “Yes.” To interrogatory No. 3 : “I had the money in my home, as I testified to in answer to one of your interrogatories on direct examination before Referee T. G. Hailey. That said money was in the house at the time I so testified, but has since been removed by some person other than myself, and without my authority or license, and I am unable to answer whether my husband, Frank Rivers, took the money from the house or not.” To interrogatory No. 4 : “No ; I have not the said sum of $365.50, mentioned and described in plaintiff’s interrogatories filed herein, or any part thereof. That I have not in my.possession now, nor since July 9, 1895, said sum, or any part thereof, or any other moneys, goods, wares or chattels belonging to said defendant Frank Rivers. That I first discovered that the said money ($365.50) was gone from the [309]*309place where I kept it on July 8,1895.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
60 P. 999, 37 Or. 304, 1900 Ore. LEXIS 79, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ex-parte-miller-or-1900.