In re Allen

379 N.E.2d 431, 269 Ind. 129, 1978 Ind. LEXIS 746
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 31, 1978
DocketNo. 772S93
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 379 N.E.2d 431 (In re Allen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Allen, 379 N.E.2d 431, 269 Ind. 129, 1978 Ind. LEXIS 746 (Ind. 1978).

Opinions

Pivarnik, J.

This cause is before us on a petition for reinstatement to the practice of law in the State of Indiana by Nola Arlene Allen, filed on December 29, 1975. Petitioner was suspended from the practice of law in the State of Indiana for a period of two years on June 26, 1973. In re Allen, (1973) 260 Ind. 528, 297 N.E.2d 429. She brings this petition pursuant to Ind. R. Adm. & Dis. 23 § 4.

The Disciplinary Commission filed its petition with this court pursuant to Ind. R. Adm. & Dis. 23 § 18 (b), requesting that a Hearing Officer be appointed to hear Nola Allen’s petition for reinstatement and to make written findings of fact and recommendations to the Commission. On March 6, 1976, Myron J. Hack was appointed Hearing Officer. He conducted a hearing on Petitioner’s petition for reinstatement on June 15, and 16, 1976, and on March 31, 1977.

Hearing Officer Hack filed his report, including his Findings of Fact, with the Disciplinary Commission, which [131]*131findings we summarize as follows. Petitioner Allen was 44 years of age at the time of the evidentiary hearings, and a resident of the city of South Bend, Indiana. She was admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of Indiana on December 8, 1954, and was thereafter admitted to practice, apparently on foreign license, in the State of Michigan. Pursuant to these admissions, she was admitted to practice in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Seventh and Sixth Circuits. From and after June 26, 1973, pursuant to the Order of the Supreme Court of Indiana, the petitioner was and remained suspended from the practice of law in the State of Indiana. In the disciplinary proceeding that led to her suspension, the petitioner was charged with seven counts of violations of the Code of Professional Responsibility. The first hearing officer, who had presided at these disciplinary hearings, found against petitioner Allen on five counts. In its Order of June 26, 1973, the Supreme Court of Indiana adopted that hearing officer’s Findings as its own. Among the five counts which were found against petitioner was Count 6, as to which this court quoted the first hearing officer’s report as follows in Allen, supra, 260 Ind. at 534, 297 N.E.2d at 432:

“AS TO COUNT 6. That the Respondent, Ñola A. Allen, was attorney for the estate of one Nellie Johnson, of which estate Genevieve Coleman was the duly appointed Administratrix and that, in such capacity as counsel for the estate, the Respondent did receive a check from the Administratrix, Mrs. Coleman, for the amount of Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00), which was to be used to pay the Indiana inheritance tax; the Respondent did not pay, nor did Respondent attempt to pay, the inheritance tax to the proper authorities prior to the initiation of these proceedings, neither did she return the money to Mrs. Coleman; that said estate was not closed by the Respondent and Mrs. Coleman had to secure additional counsel to close said estate, and that such conduct on the part of the Respondent involves moral turpitude and violates D.R. 1-102 (a) (3, 4, 5 & 6), D.R. 6-101 (a) (3) and D.R. 9-102 (b) (4), Code of [132]*132Professional Responsibilities for Attorneys at Law, Indiana Annotated Statutes (Special Supplement 1971).”

The Order of the Supreme Court of Indiana under date of June 26, 1973, concluded at 260 Ind. at 536, 297 N.E.2d at 433, that the petitioner:

“should be disbarred from the practice of law in this state for a period of two (2) years beginning from the date of this order, and the Clerk of this Court is directed to strike her name from the Roll of Attorney’s admitted to the practice of law in this state.”

Despite the language of this Order, Hearing Officer Hack correctly concluded that petitioner was not in fact disbarred but was rather suspended for a period of two years, beginning June 26, 1973. This discipline imposed on the petitioner was unrelated to physical or mental illness, or infirmity, or to the use of or addiction to intoxicants or drugs.

Hearing Officer Hack further found that petitioner’s Petition for Reinstatement was filed more than two years subsequent to the date of her 1973 suspension, which term of suspension had elapsed. He found that she desired in good faith to obtain restoration of her privileges to practice law in the State of Indiana, and that she had not practiced law in this state or attempted to do so since the date she was disciplined. The Hearing Officer found that with the exception of the payment of costs of her disciplinary proceeding, which were by the Order of the Supreme Court of Indiana taxed against her, petitioner Allen had complied fully with the terms of the Order for discipline. The record in the reinstatement hearings was silent on the issue of payment of costs. Hearing Officer Hack found that petitioner’s conduct since the discipline had been exemplary and above reproach, and that her attitude toward the misconduct for which she was disciplined was one of genuine remorse. Though petitioner did not express remorse concerning alleged misconduct at the time of her original disciplinary hearings, Hearing Officer Hack stated that this did not affect his find[133]*133ing that petitioner had an attitude of remorse for two reasons: petitioner denied such misconduct, and in any event she was clearly not disciplined for it. However, applying the clear and convincing evidence test set forth in Ind. R. Adm. & Dis. 23 § 4 (a), the Hearing Officer found that:

“[T]he only issue arising on the record as to which there is question concerns the Petitioner’s present understanding of and attitude toward the standards that are imposed upon members of the bar, requiring a determination of whether she will conduct herself in conformity with such standards, and imposing upon the Hearing Officer the burden of finding as a fact whether the Petitioner can safely be recommended to the legal profession, the courts and the public, as a person fit to be consulted by others and to represent them and otherwise act in matters of trust and confidence, and in general to aid in the administration of justice as a member of the bar and an officer of the courts. . . . [T]he Hearing Officer now finds that the Petitioner does not have a proper understanding of and attitude toward the standards that are imposed upon members of the bar, finds that there is grave doubt that she will conduct herself in conformity with such standards if she is reinstated, and concludes that she cannot safely be recommended to the legal profession, the courts and the public, as a person fit to be consulted by others and to represent them and otherwise act in matters of trust and confidence, and in general to aid in the administration of justice as a member of the bar and an officer of the courts, all of which Findings stem from the determination that the Disciplinary Commission proved at the evidentiary hearing by clear and convincing evidence that, at those evidentiary hearings, the Petitioner knowingly gave false testimony concerning her involvement in the manufacture, fabrication, and use of corrupt and false evidence in making her defense to the charges brought against her by the Commission that led to the discipline imposed upon her by the Supreme Court of Indiana.”

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Related

In re Allen
379 N.E.2d 431 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1978)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
379 N.E.2d 431, 269 Ind. 129, 1978 Ind. LEXIS 746, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-allen-ind-1978.