Ligon v. Stilley

2010 Ark. 418, 371 S.W.3d 615, 2010 Ark. LEXIS 504
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedNovember 4, 2010
DocketNo. 08-73
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 2010 Ark. 418 (Ligon v. Stilley) 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
Ligon v. Stilley, 2010 Ark. 418, 371 S.W.3d 615, 2010 Ark. LEXIS 504 (Ark. 2010).

Opinion

RONALD L. SHEFFIELD, Justice.

I, Stark Ligón, Executive Director of the Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct (“the Committee”), brings this original action to disbar attorney Oscar Amos Stilley, Ark. Bar No. 91096. Our jurisdiction is pursuant to Arkansas Supreme Court Rule 1 — 2(a)(5) (2010). We adopt the findings of fact and conclusions of law entered by the special judge and agree that the appropriate sanction is disbarment.1

I. Procedural History

hOn October 29, 2004, then Circuit Judge James R. Marschewski referred Stilley to the Committee for possible ethics violations (CPC No.2006-067, “the Marschew-ski Complaint”). On December 14, 2007, after hearing the matter, Panel B of the Committee voted to initiate disbarment proceedings against Stilley. The panel members also voted to place him on interim suspension pending the conclusion of such proceedings. An order of suspension was filed with the clerk of this court on December 27, 2007.

Ligón subsequently filed a petition for disbarment on January 16, 2008, and alleged twenty-eight violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct (“Rules”). The petition raised two additional allegations related to Stilley’s “overall fitness” to hold a law license. Stilley responded to the petition on March 3, 2008.

By per curiam order on April 15, 2008, we appointed Special Judge John Line-berger to hear the disbarment petition and to provide the court with findings of fact, conclusions of law, and recommendation of an appropriate sanction. Ligon v. Stilley, 373 Ark. App’x 675, 283 S.W.3d 185 (2008) (per curiam).

On June 20, 2008, Panel B authorized disbarment proceedings related to a subsequent complaint filed against Stilley by Circuit Judge Stephen Tabor (CPC 2007-062, “the Tabor Complaint”). On June 27, 2008, Ligón filed a first amended/supplement petition for disbarment based on the Tabor Complaint. The amended petition raised nine additional counts for disbarment and ten additional allegations related to Stilley’s fitness to hold a law license.

Throughout the proceedings before the special judge, Stilley filed numerous motions,_J^which will be addressed in this opinion as they are relevant. On April 22, 2009, following a three-day hearing on December 8, 9, and 10, 2008, at which he heard testimony and received evidence, the special judge entered findings of fact and conclusions of law. The order was one hundred and nineteen pages in length and found that Ligón had met his burden of proof with respect to the thirty-two counts charged in the petition for disbarment and the amended petition for disbarment.

On May 21, 2009, the special judge heard testimony and received evidence relevant to a determination of the appropriate sanction. On August 6, 2009, an order recommending disbarment was filed. We are now considering the recommendation of disbarment.

II. Standard of Review

The authority to regulate the practice of law arises from the Arkansas Constitution, specifically amendment 28 and amendment 80, section 4. The power to regulate the practice of law is also an inherent power of the courts. See, e.g., Ligon v. McCullough, 2009 Ark. 165A, 303 S.W.3d 78; see also In re Anderson, 312 Ark. 447, 851 S.W.2d 408 (1993); Hurst v. Bar Rules Comm., 202 Ark. 1101, 155 S.W.2d 697 (1941); Beene v. State, 22 Ark. 149 (1860). The Procedures Regulating Professional Conduct (“Procedures”) were promulgated by this court and govern attorney discipline. See Ark. Sup.Ct. P. Regulating Profl Conduct § 1(A) (2010) (“These Procedures are promulgated for the purpose of regulating the professional conduct of attorneys at law and shall apply to complaints filed and formal complaints instituted against attorneys.”).

Under section 13 of the Procedures, the process for a disbarment action, as relevant to |4the instant matter, is as follows:

(A) An action for disbarment shall be filed as an original action with the Clerk of the Supreme Court. Upon such filing, the Arkansas Supreme Court, pursuant to Amendment 28 of the Arkansas Constitution, shall assign a special judge to preside over the disbarment proceedings .... In disbarment suits, the action shall proceed as an action between the Executive Director and the respondent. Proceedings shall be held in compliance ■with the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure and the Arkansas Rules of Evidence, and trial shall be had without a jury.
(B) The judge shall first hear all evidence relevant to the alleged misconduct and shall then make a determination as to whether the allegations have been proven. Upon a finding of misconduct, the judge shall then hear all evidence relevant to an appropriate sanction to be imposed, including evidence related to the factors listed in Section 19 and the aggravating and mitigating factors set out in the American Bar Association’s Model Standards for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions, §§ 9.22 and 9.32 (1992). See Wilson v. Neal, 332 Ark. 148, 964 S.W.2d 199 (1998).
(C) The judge shall make findings of fact and conclusions of law with respect to the alleged misconduct of the respondent attorney and the imposition of sanctions, including the factors discussed in subsection 13(B).... The judge shall make a recommendation as to the appropriate sanction from those set out in Section 17(D). ■
(D) The findings of fact, conclusions of law, and recommendation of an appropriate sanction shall be filed with the Clerk of the Supreme Court along with a transcript and the record of the proceedings. Upon the filing, the parties shall file briefs as in other cases. The findings of fact shall be accepted by the Supreme Court unless clearly erroneous. The Supreme Court shall impose the appropriate sanction, if any, as the evidence may warrant. In imposing the sanction of suspension, the attorney may be suspended for a period not exceeding five (5) years. There is no appeal from the decision of the Supreme Court except as may be available under federal law.

Id. § 13.

Section 1(C) of the Procedures states that attorney disciplinary proceedings are neither civil nor criminal in nature but are sui generis, meaning of their own kind. See id. § 1(C); see also Ligon v. Dunklin, 368 Ark. 443, 247 S.W.3d 498 (2007). We will accept the judge’s | ¡¿findings of fact unless they are clearly erroneous, and we impose the appropriate sanction as warranted by the evidence. Ark. Sup.Ct. P. Regulating Profl Conduct § 1(C); see also McCullough, 2009 Ark. 165A, 303 S.W.3d 78. A finding is clearly erroneous when, although there is evidence to support it, the reviewing court on the entire evidence is left with a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed. McCullough, 2009 Ark. 165A, 303 S.W.3d 78; see also Ligon v. Stewart, 369 Ark. 380, 255 S.W.3d 435 (2007).

Because the special judge’s findings are not clearly erroneous, we adopt them in full.

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Bluebook (online)
2010 Ark. 418, 371 S.W.3d 615, 2010 Ark. LEXIS 504, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ligon-v-stilley-ark-2010.