No Standing To Appeal Dismissal Of Bar Complaint
The Connecticut Appellate Court has held that an attorney lacked standing to challenge the dismissal of a bar complaint against his ex-wife’s divorce attorney.
The plaintiff was involved in multiple civil proceedings with his former wife, who was represented in such proceedings by Attorney Richard P. Weinstein. On December 12, 2013, the plaintiff filed a grievance complaint with the defendant Statewide Grievance Committee3 (committee) concerning the conduct of Weinstein in his role as an attorney during his representation of the plaintiff’s former wife. Weinstein answered the grievance complaint asserting that the grievance should be dismissed, to which answer the plaintiff filed a reply. On March 29, 2014, the defendant local grievance panel (panel) dismissed the complaint after it determined that no investigative hearing at the grievance panel level was necessary. The decision stated in relevant part, ‘‘[t]he panel in this matter does not conclude [that Weinstein] abused the legal process or knowingly misrepresented facts known to be untrue. . . . Based on this determination, the panel has dismissed the complaint. This dismissal constitutes a final decision and there shall be no review of the matter by the Statewide Grievance Committee.’’ Nevertheless, the plaintiff requested further review of that decision by the committee. In a letter dated June 6, 2014, the committee explained to the plaintiff that pursuant to Practice Book § 2-32 (i) (2) it had no authority to review the dismissal of a grievance complaint by the panel.
The court
We…conclude that the plaintiff has not established classical aggrievement. The plaintiff argues that he has a specific, personal, and legal interest that is based on the harm he allegedly suffered due to Weinstein’s actions in the prior civil proceedings during which Weinstein represented the plaintiff’s former wife. Nevertheless, the plaintiff has not alleged a specific, personal, and legal interest in the decision of the committee as to whether to discipline Weinstein.
(Mike Frisch)