A Maine Grievance Commission panel has recommended that a petition for reinstatement be denied.
The petition had been filed in September 2019 but
On Saturday, February 1, 2020 at 8:19 p.m., Petitioner sent an email to Bar Counsel, with a courtesy copy to the Board Clerk. That email stated:
After consultation with my wife and family who share my dismay and disappointment regarding your office’s position concerning the above matter, and in light of my attainment of my 65th birthday in the ensuing week, we have decided that resuming status as a Maine attorney where I have served thousands of grateful, supportive families and other clients from both sides of the bench with distinction, is no longer a worthwhile endeavor.
Accordingly, you may consider my petition for reinstatement to have been withdrawn by me, notwithstanding its merits, and you should report that the hearing scheduled for Monday shall be deemed canceled. You may also prepare and file an assented-to motion to dismiss my petition without prejudice, noting its withdrawal by me, provided that you will first run your draft by me for my review and approval.
The board clerk advised him to attend but
Petitioner replied:
As I have no further interest in this matter, there is no point in my travel and appearance tomorrow. I, my mother who was otherwise prepared to travel tomorrow morning with me, and my wife who was prepared to call in to testify at 12 noon regarding me and what she personally observed and knows about Judge Fahey’s, Ms. Madore-Pratt’s, and Carol Lovejoy’s behaviors which Mr. Andrus appears unable to put in perspective, do believe very, very strongly that I am most suitable to resume being a Maine attorney…. [W]e also know that this already extended process (4 months and counting of additional suspension punishment beyond my 2-year suspension which otherwise should have expired as of October 1, 2019) will continue to meet resistance by Mr. Andrus that would apparently not end with a panel hearing if it were in any way to be favorable to me but, instead, would otherwise require further challenges to and reviews by a single justice and thereafter by the full Law Court, plus additional distress, disappointment and expenditures of time by me, that render the process no longer worth my time and interest. Life is simply too short for me to need to subject my family and me to what appears to be a puzzling but forgone conclusion exacerbating the sadness they have seen me experienced for almost 3 years now.
Accordingly, my petition is simply withdrawn. Meaning no disrespect to your office or Mr. Andrus, and certainly no disrespect to the panel members, I will not be attending the hearing and I will not be getting my mother up at 6 AM tomorrow to prepare to drive up to Augusta despite her willingness to do so….
I can file a Notice of Withdrawal of Petition for Reinstatement with the Law Court if necessary.
Id.
When the hearing was not cancelled
You [Bar Counsel] live near there, and you’re being paid to carry-on. Neither is the case for me.
[A] notice of hearing is not an order to appear pursuant to a [sic] a right the Law Court affords to former Maine attorneys seeking reinstatement. The notice is only an opportunity to appear for which a default may be noted by the panel in the absence of my physical appearance. I have incidentally stated that I can be available by phone at the appointed time if the panel has any questions regarding the withdrawal, although there appears to be no need for even that under the circumstances. .. The fact of my withdrawal may be reported by the panel in my absence accordingly. I see no need or reason for me to travel to Augusta under such circumstances, as there is nothing more to accomplish. I’m not a Maine attorney, and I no longer have an interest in being one, given this experience.