Better Never Than Late

On September 12, I reported that the case that promises to take longer to resolve than any matter in D.C. Bar disciplinary history was scheduled for oral argument before the Board on Professional Responsibility on September 22, 2016.

False alarm.

The oral argument must be postponed because the BPR cannot get a quorum together to hear the case.

Part of the problem – the case has kicked around for so long that not one but two of the Hearing Committee chairs in the proceedings are now on the BPR and must be recused.

Per my earlier post, maybe it’s better that the case never be decided.

The endless saga of In re Quinne Harris-Lindsay will move forward with argument on September 22.

The case has bounced around for fourteen years. It is a potentially hugely significant case on both the law of misappropriation and the effect of systemic delay. I expect nothing good to come out of this train wreck.

My view when the hearing committee issued its report

Once again the D.C. system shows its system-wide dysfunction – a first-level report (subject to board review and Court final action) of an attorney fourteen years after the investigation  commenced.

Cases regularly take ten years to move from soup to nuts. This one has a shot at twenty.

A rather straightforward case involving a single probate matter where the facts were not in dispute – only the attorney’s intent.

My prediction: This case may well lead to the overturning of the en banc holding of In re Addams that disbarment is required in virtually all cases of intentional or reckless misappropriation.  Disciplinary Counsel’s delay may well play a role in the demise of that doctrine.

Another day, another delay. (Mike Frisch)