State ex rel. Currin v. Commission on Judicial Fitness & Disability

815 P.2d 212, 311 Or. 530, 1991 Ore. LEXIS 49
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 25, 1991
DocketSC S37117
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 815 P.2d 212 (State ex rel. Currin v. Commission on Judicial Fitness & Disability) 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
State ex rel. Currin v. Commission on Judicial Fitness & Disability, 815 P.2d 212, 311 Or. 530, 1991 Ore. LEXIS 49 (Or. 1991).

Opinion

GILLETTE, J.

This is an original mandamus proceeding. Relator is a judge of the District Court of Umatilla County. Defendants are the Commission on Judicial Fitness and Disability and its Executive Director (hereafter collectively referred to as “the Commission”). Relator is the subject of a disciplinary proceeding instituted by the Commission, in which it is alleged that Relator, while discharging his duties as a judge, “engaged in conduct which tends to erode public confidence in the integrity of his court by on at least two occasions deciding traffic infraction cases before him by flipping a coin. ’ ’ Relator has requested, and the Commission has refused to provide, copies of any written complaints against him and an opportunity to depose the complainants. Relator also has requested, and the Commission has denied, a subpoena for the Executive Director of the Commission and a subpoena for a copy of the Commission’s file concerning Relator.

Relator brought the present original proceeding in this court, seeking to compel the Commission to comply with his requests. We issued an alternative writ directing the Commission to vacate its decision “insofar as it denied Relator’s request to supply Relator copies of complaints filed against him and an opportunity to depose the person or persons who filed the complaints.”1 The Commission declined to change its decision. We now determine that Relator is entitled to a modified version of the relief that he seeks.

We note at the outset that this case presents some contrast between what, at bottom, Relator is entitled to and what he seeks. What Relator without question is entitled to in this case is notice, i.e., information sufficiently specific to permit Relator to understand precisely where, when, how, and before whom he is alleged to have committed acts tending to erode the confidence of the public in him as a judge. Such notice is necessary to permit Relator to prepare a defense to the charge against him.

[533]*533Adequate notice is a necessary component of due process of law. Memphis Light, Gas & Water Div. v. Craft, 436 US 1, 13, 98 S Ct 1554, 56 L Ed 2d 30 (1978)(citing Mullane v. Central Hanover Tr. Co., 339 US 306, 314, 70 S Ct 652, 94 L Ed 865 (1950)); Tupper v. Fairview Hospital, 276 Or 657, 662, 556 P2d 1340 (1976). Whether Relator has received adequate notice enabling him to prepare a defense is an issue that occupied considerable discussion time during the oral argument in this case. A technical reading of Relator’s petition, however, discloses that Relator did not specifically seek, and we did not by our alternative writ direct the Commission specifically to provide, “notice.” Instead, we issued the alternative writ to give the Commission the opportunity to grant Relator what he specifically had asked for.

What'Relator specifically had asked for is discovery, i.e., copies of written complaints made against him and the opportunity to depose the complainants. Relator acknowledges that no statute or rule expressly gives him the right to such discovery. He claims that he is entitled to it nonetheless by implication from certain statutes and rules, as well as under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. We examine his contentions in that order.

I. CLAIMS BASED ON STATUTES AND RULES

Relator relies on several non-constitutional sources of authority for what he asserts are his rights to examine the complaints filed against him with the Commission and to depose the complainants. A discussion of each of the alleged sources of authority follows.

A. ORS 1.025

Relator relies first on ORS 1.025, which provides:

“(1) Where a duty is imposed by law or the Oregon Rules of Civil Procedure upon a court, or upon a judicial officer, clerk, bailiff, sheriff, constable or other officer, which requires or prohibits the performance of an act or series of acts in matters relating to the administration of justice in a court, it is the duty of the judicial officer or officers of the court, and each of them, to require the officer upon whom the duty is imposed to perform or refrain from performing the act or series of acts.
[534]*534“(2) Matters relating to the administration of justice include, but are not limited to, the selection and empaneling of juries, the conduct of trials, the entry and docketing of judgments and all other matters touching the conduct of proceedings in courts of this state.
“(3) The duty imposed by subsection (1) of this section may be enforced by writ of mandamus.”

Relator appears to rely on that statute primarily to justify our accepting this case as a proper subject of mandamus, but he also seems to imply that the statute creates substantive duties pertinent to the proceeding. If the latter argument is intended, it is mistaken. As ORS 1.025(1) states, the statute speaks to “matters relating to the administration of justice in a court.” (Emphasis supplied.) Proceedings before the Commission are not “in a court.” The statute imposes no duty on the Commission.

B. ORCP 39-46

Relator next asserts that proceedings before the Commission are civil in nature and subject to the Oregon Rules of Civil Procedure. More specifically, Relator relies on ORCP 39 through 46, including provisions for the taking, in civil cases, of ‘ ‘the testimony of any person, including a party, by deposition upon oral examination,” ORCP 39A, or “upon written questions,” ORCP 40A; for the production, for purposes of inspection and copying, of documents and other “tangible things,” ORCP 43A; and for requests for admissions, ORCP 45.

The Oregon Rules of Civil Procedure do not apply to proceedings before the Commission. The Commission has statutory authority to adopt rules of procedure governing its investigations and hearings. ORS 1.415(3). It has done so, but the rules do not include an adoption of ORCP. Moreover, the rules do not, by their own terms, apply. ORCP 1A (“These rules govern procedure and practice in all circuit and district courts of this state”). A proceeding before the Commission is not one in a circuit or district court.

C. OSB Rule of Procedure 4.5

Relator also relies on Oregon State Bar Rule of Procedure 4.5, which provides for requests for admissions, production of documents, and taking of depositions in lawyer discipline cases. This is not a lawyer discipline case. The Bar [535]*535rules on their face do not purport to apply to Commission proceedings. Even if they did, the Bar has no authority to bind the Commission to any Bar rule of procedure.

D. Commission Rule 16

Finally, Relator relies on the Commission’s own Rule of Procedure 16(a), which provides:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
815 P.2d 212, 311 Or. 530, 1991 Ore. LEXIS 49, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-currin-v-commission-on-judicial-fitness-disability-or-1991.