Without License

A practice pointer/reminder for Prof/Judge Mike Oths’ class at Concordia Law:

The Idaho Supreme Court entered an order

suspending Rexburg attorney Troy E. Rasmussen for one ( 1) year, with six ( 6) months withheld, and a one year probation upon reinstatement. The Idaho Supreme Court’ s Order followed a Professional Conduct Board recommendation and stipulated resolution of an Idaho State Bar disciplinary proceeding.

In early 2018, Mr. Rasmussen did not have a malpractice policy and therefore did not pay his license fees. His license was canceled by a March 7, 2018, Idaho Supreme Court Order, which Mr. Rasmussen received the second week of March 2018. However, on March 28, 2018, Mr. Rasmussen deposed the opposing party in a case without promptly disclosing that he did not have an active license to his client, the court, or opposing counsel. Once opposing counsel became aware of these circumstances, he filed a Motion in Limine. One of the bases of that motion was to preclude any evidence relating to his client’ s deposition testimony since Mr. Rasmussen was not licensed when he took that deposition. The district court granted the motion and instructed Mr. Rasmussen to report his conduct to Bar Counsel, which he did. Mr. Rasmussen’ s later response to specific inquiries from Bar Counsel contained statements he knew were not accurate.

(Mike Frisch)