It Happened In Paw Paw

Three lawyers have received identical sanction by Michigan for “discourtesy” as agreed by identical language

The stipulation contains respondent’s admissions to the allegations that he committed professional misconduct by engaging in discourteous and disrespectful conduct toward plaintiffs’ counsel in a civil matter.

The discourtesy involved a chambers conference in which the judge and two lawyers (linked here and here) disparaged opposing counsel

Michigan Live had covered the controversy

Engel hired Page and Stewart to represent him, then in March 2013, [Judge] Hamre reviewed a motion and affidavit filed by the two Paw Paw attorneys and signed a temporary restraining order that prevented Baker from seizing the trailers.

In May, Page and Stewart, as well as Baker’s attorneys, Donald and Donovan Visser, took part in a conference with Hamre to discuss a resolution and how the court planned to have Engel pay back the money owed to Baker. Page and Stewart were in Hamre’s office with the judge, while the Vissers joined in by phone.

As the conference was wrapping up, the attorneys and judge agreed to meet for a motion hearing the following Monday and Hamre concluded the call, according to a recording. Within seconds, with the phone line with the Vissers still open, a voice could be heard calling Donald Visser a derogatory name. Another voice chimed in calling Donovan Visser a nearly identical derogatory name.

As the recording continued, Hamre could be heard discussing the lawsuit with Page and StewartIt Happened In Paw Paw. After they left his office, the judge could be heard speaking to Grote, who informed him that he had received a fax from the Vissers’ office during the phone conference.

“Throw it in the garbage,” Hamre told her. “I don’t want it. I don’t need it.”

Baker filed a grievance against Hamre with the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission, accusing the judge of having inappropriate conversations with Engel’s attorneys outside of the presence of his attorneys. The commission later dismissed the complaint following Hamre’s retirement last summer.

Baker also filed grievances against Page and Stewart with the Attorney Grievance Commission. Any action taken by the body is made public through the state’s Attorney Disciplinary Board, which as of this month had not taken against the two Paw Paw attorneys, according to the board’s website.

(Mike Frisch)