No Maine Second Chance For Petitioner’s Misconduct In Own Divorce

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court denied reinstatement to an attorney suspended for misconduct in his divorce, affirming the conclusion of a single justice.

The record reflects that Jonas has engaged in more than two decades of litigation with his ex-wife during which he was suspended from the bars of three states, jailed for contempt, declared a vexatious litigant, and admonished by a federal court for making frivolous arguments. We affirm the single justice’s judgment declining to reinstate Jonas to the Maine Bar.

History

In 1990, Jonas and his wife, Linda Jonas, were divorced. Since then, Jonas and Linda have been involved in highly contentious post-divorce litigation. In 1995, while the parties were litigating competing post-judgment motions, Linda alleged that Jonas was secretly liquidating assets and hiding the proceeds in accounts in the Cayman Islands, and that he planned to move there with the couple’s children. The New Jersey Superior Court ordered Jonas not to transfer any assets valued over $15,000 and not to remove the children from a five-state area.

In direct violation of the court’s order, Jonas obtained a loan of $130,000 secured by a mortgage on his residence and continued efforts to sell commercial property that he rented out as a 7-Eleven building, eventually deeding the store to his sister and a friend to be held in trust for the children. In addition, Jonas secretly kept $438,000 in a bank account in the Cayman Islands, and on September 15, 1995, he absconded with his children to the Cayman Islands, where he enrolled them in school.

After Jonas failed to appear at a hearing, the court issued a warrant for Jonas’s arrest, placed the children in Linda’s custody, and took a number of protective measures designed to ensure that Jonas complied with his financial obligations imposed by previous court orders. Jonas continued to defy the court’s orders regarding the payment of his support obligations. Shortly thereafter, Jonas was briefly incarcerated for contempt of court. The New Jersey Appellate Division upheld the series of actions taken by the trial court, stating, “As evidenced by the record, [Jonas] time and again failed to abide by the court’s orders and deliberately avoided paying alimony and other support to the plaintiff.”

As a result of his actions, the New Jersey State Bar suspended Jonas for a period of six months beginning on September 2, 2005, for conduct intended to disrupt a tribunal and conduct that was prejudicial to the administration of justice. Jonas has not been reinstated in New Jersey.

In 2006, Jonas was reciprocally suspended from the bar of Pennsylvania for a period of six months based on the discipline imposed in New Jersey. Jonas was reinstated to inactive status in Pennsylvania in 2014. In 2007, Jonas was reciprocally suspended from the Florida bar for a period of one year for committing conduct intended to disrupt a tribunal.

After his suspension from the New Jersey bar, Jonas’s post-divorce proceedings in New Jersey continued. Jonas failed to attend multiple hearings during these proceedings. Based on Jonas’s “obstinate refusal to comply or properly respond to court orders,” the Appellate Division dismissed an appeal from Jonas, stating, “[Jonas’s] defiance is especially egregious in light of the fact that he was an attorney-at-law of this State and was suspended in this state and others for his willful evasion of court orders.”

At some point prior to 2009, Jonas moved to Montana. When Linda sought to domesticate the New Jersey judgments in Montana, Jonas unsuccessfully launched a collateral attack on the judgments. The court granted Linda’s motion to declare Jonas a vexatious litigant and found that in attempting to defy the New Jersey judgments, Jonas had willfully abused his litigation skills by filing “harassing, duplicative, vexatious, and frivolous” lawsuits, had filed appeals in matters in which he had “no objective good faith expectation of prevailing,” and had caused “needless expense and burden” to Linda.

During litigation that Jonas instituted in the United States District Court for the District of Montana against Linda, her Montana attorney, and others, Jonas was ordered to show cause why he should not be sanctioned pursuant to Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for making frivolous arguments. After Jonas failed to show good cause, the court issued a sanction in the form of an admonishment dated August 7, 2014. A copy of its admonishment was forwarded to the state bars of Maine, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. By the time the admonishment was forwarded to the Maine Bar, Jonas’s reinstatement proceedings were already pending before the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar.

Petition denied.

To be reinstated, Jonas was required to demonstrate, by clear and convincing evidence, that he possessed the moral qualifications, competency, and learning in law required for admission to practice law in this State, as well as to demonstrate, by clear and convincing evidence, that it was likely that reinstatement would not be detrimental to the integrity and standing of the Bar, the administration of justice, or the public interest. M. Bar R. 7.3(j)(5). We review a single justice’s factual findings for clear error. Bailey, 2014 ME 58, ¶ 16, 90 A.3d 1137. Because Jonas had the burden of proof, he can prevail only if he can establish that the single justice was “compelled to find in his favor.” See In re Williams, 2010 ME 121, ¶ 10, 8 A.3d 666.

Jonas argued that any misconduct that he committed leading to his New Jersey suspension was part of his personal life and should not be dispositive as to his moral character as an attorney. He continued to deny responsibility for many of his actions. For example, he asserted that his decision to abscond with his children in direct violation of the court’s order was not premeditated, and that the New Jersey courts, his former wife, and her attorney were biased and had formed a conspiracy against him. The single justice found that these explanations were not credible.

Furthermore, the Board offered ample evidence, upon which the single justice could rely, to rebut Jonas’s contention that he has behaved ethically since his suspension from the New Jersey bar in 2005. Specifically, the evidence showed that Jonas has demonstrated a pattern of disrespect and contempt for every level of the court system over many years, and in so doing he has abused the very litigation skills that he now seeks to use in Maine.

Based on the above evidence, the single justice did not err in finding that Jonas failed to meet his burden of proving, by clear and convincing evidence, that he recognizes the wrongfulness and seriousness of his misconduct, M. Bar R. 7.3(j)(5)(C), or that he has the requisite honesty and integrity to practice law, M. Bar R. 7.3(j)(5)(E). The single justice was not compelled to find that Jonas possesses the moral qualifications, competency, and learning in law required for admission to practice law in this State, and that it is likely that reinstatement will not be detrimental to the integrity and standing of the bar, the administration of justice, or the public interest. See M. Bar R. 7.3(j)(5); Bailey, 2014 ME 58, ¶ 57, 90 A.3d 1137. Jonas’s proven willingness to abuse his law license and legal skills, disrespecting multiple tribunals and the truth, left the single justice little choice in this matter.

(Mike Frisch)