In Re King

322 P.2d 1095, 7 Utah 2d 258, 1958 Utah LEXIS 135
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 19, 1958
Docket8652
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 322 P.2d 1095 (In Re King) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah 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 King, 322 P.2d 1095, 7 Utah 2d 258, 1958 Utah LEXIS 135 (Utah 1958).

Opinions

PER CURIAM.

This case involves a review of the record in a disciplinary hearing which was commenced after a complaint had been filed with the Utah State Bar Association [259]*259charging petitioner with unprofessional conduct in a civil suit in which he was attorney for one of the parties, and involves a review of a recommendation of the Board of Commissioners of the Association, after referral of the matter had been made by that Board to an Investigating Committee of five members of the Bar. The Investigating Committee recommended that petitioner be disciplined for conduct out of line with the Revised Rules of the Utah State Bar governing professional conduct, which conduct will be discussed later in this opinion. Under the customary procedure in such cases, the Bar Commission appointed a Disciplinary Committee to hear the charge against petitioner, and appointed two resident lawyers to prosecute the same. A hearing was had after which written findings and conclusions were filed to the effect that during the course of a civil trial in which petitioner was counsel for one Schnitzer, the latter, on June 10, 1954, testified falsely under oath as to the dates and places when and where a waiver of notice of directors’ meeting and a resolution of a board of directors of his company had been prepared and signed; that petitioner knew of the falsity of such testimony and that of another witness, Hutchinson, but that petitioner failed to disclose such perjury to the court or opposition counsel until June 21, although he could have done so at any time during the two dates; and that said documents were actually prepared by the witness Hutchinson, (not at a remote time and place) in the petitioner’s office on the morning before the trial on June 10. The Disciplinary Committee concluded “That the said' Dwight L. King violated the Provisions of Rule III, Sec. 32, Sub-paragraphs 15 and 41 * * * of the rules governing professional conduct and discipline,” and reported its hearing and results to the Board of Commissioners of the Utah State Bar, which Board recommended to this Court that petitioner be suspended from the practice of law for six months and until he is recommended for reinstatement by the Board of Commissioners of the Utah State Bar Association.

Petitioner has sought a review of the matter by this court, asserting that he did not unreasonably delay in divulging the perjury to the trial court and opposing counsel and that he did not violate the disciplinary rules, pointing to the record in support of his contentions.

The record in this case is rather voluminous and the matter has been heard by an investigating committee of five, a disciplinary committee of three and a Board of Commissioners of seven, and there appears to have been no dissent voiced nor any minority report of any kind filed which would indicate that those hearing the matter did not join in a unanimous conclusion that disciplinary action was called for in this case. Even so, we are aware of the [260]*260principle that a member of our profession should not be disbarred or suspended unless it is clear from the evidence and record that his conduct has constituted a breach of the rules promulgated for professional conduct, or that his conduct inherently has breached the traditional precepts with respect to relationship between counsel, client and court. We are also aware that we cannot lightly turn our backs on a studied, unanimous conclusion reached by those appointed to seek out the facts, unless it appears that they have misconceived the nature of such relationship between counsel, client and court, or have misinterpreted the facts. We review the record to determine if it clearly supports the conclusions which have been reached by those mentioned. We do this although we are not bound by the conclusions or recommendations made.

Without reporting all of the details and testimony of the lengthy record, we think the following resume of certain salient, significant facts is sufficient to illustrate and substantiate our decision in this matter.

Prior to June 10, 19S4, a microphone was installed in a hotel room by an agent of Schnitzer’s opponent in a lawsuit where Schnitzer was a defendant and where the petitioner was his attorney. On June 9, a conversation was monitored, wherein it was decided to have petitioner go to breakfast with Schnitzer and Hutchinson the next morning, Thursday, June 10, before the trial commenced. It was decided that a resolution and waiver of notice of the Board of Directors of Schnitzer’s company be drawn up, and to do this, they adjourned to petitioner’s law office where Hutchinson and Schnitzer were allowed to use petitioner’s stenographer and typewriter to prepare the documents. However, at the trial, in the morning session, Schnitzer, upon examination by opposing counsel, falsely testified that the waiver of notice was prepared and signed in Portland, Oregon, on April 1, 1953, although under intense examination he did admit that he had signed the resolution in Salt Lake City that morning before trial. He and Hutchinson later were convicted of perjury for having given the false testimony.

There seems to be no question but what petitioner knew the testimony to be false at the time it was given. He asserted that while he and his clients were at lunch that day, he reprimanded Schnitzer for giving the false testimony and they both agreed that it should be corrected. He asserted that both he and Schnitzer cautioned Hutchinson, who was expected to testify in the afternoon, to testify truthfully concerning the facts surrounding the preparation and execution of the waiver and the resolution. When Hutchinson testified at the afternoon session, however, he also perjured himself by repeating what Schnitzer had already testified in the morning. In the face of this false testimony, and notwithstanding the warning asserted [261]*261to have been given, the petitioner still failed to apprise the court or opposing counsel of the falsity or his knowledge of it. At the hearing before the Investigating Committee, petitioner asserted that he apprised no one of the true facts because he considered that his duty to protect his client was greater than his duty to the court to disclose the perjury. At the hearing before the Disciplinary Committee he changed his position somewhat and asserted that although he made no disclosure at the time, he intended to do so at the first opportunity he had and at a time when he considered it most advantageous to his client and his case.

No disclosure was made of the perjury on June 10 or on Friday, June 11, although on one occasion on the latter date, petitioner was permitted to call Mr. Hutchinson to the stand to testify as to a particular matter, but having done so, made no effort to have him recant. There was no effort to disclose the false testimony on the next court day which was the following Monday, nor on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday of that week. On Thursday, however, the opposition had produced a handwriting expert who testified to the effect that the waiver of notice and the resolution were written and signed about the same time on the same kind of paper, and a photographer was called to substantiate such conclusion. On Friday, the next day, a police officer who had installed the microphone in Schnitzer’s room, testified as to conversation which took place in Schnit-zer’s room, which conversations he monitored and which he recorded on a tape recorder, and he produced a number of tapes on which the conversations had been recorded. On the next court day, which was the following Monday, June 21, both Schnitzer and Hutchinson confessed to the perjury.

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In Re King
322 P.2d 1095 (Utah Supreme Court, 1958)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
322 P.2d 1095, 7 Utah 2d 258, 1958 Utah LEXIS 135, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-king-utah-1958.