The Vaccine Court

The New Hampshire Supreme Court has imposed a consented-to one year suspension of an attorney who had provided legal services to a New Hampshire client in a matter before the United States Court of Claims Vaccine Court.

He is presently suspended in Maryland and in the Vaccine Court.

He is not admitted in New Hampshire.

NPHR had reported in June 2023

Matthew Plache was elected as a Carroll County Commissioner in 2020, after promising to focus on “repairing the current fiscal disarray.” During his campaign, he also pointedto his three-decade career as an attorney, and his background in “environmental and telecommunications law.”

Since September 2022, Plache has also served Carroll County in another capacity: He was selected as a paid consultant for a broadband planning committee, a position he secured in part by offering up his legal expertise.

Those overlapping roles — serving as a county commissioner, while also getting paid to advise the county on its broadband strategy — have raised concerns among some who say it represents a conflict of interest. But Plache’s credentials as a lawyer have also been the subject of formal scrutiny since before that contract was finalized.

By the time he announced in March his intention to resign as a county commissioner, Plache was indefinitely suspended from practicing law in front of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the Supreme Court of Maryland. The suspension in Maryland — where Plache was admitted to the bar — was issued four days before he announced his intent to resign. (As of publication, Plache has not set a date for that resignation).

According to records reviewed by NHPR, Plache’s suspensions are still in effect, and he is awaiting disciplinary decisions from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and the Attorney Discipline Office in New Hampshire.

NHPR made multiple attempts to speak to Plache, by phone and email, with no response. We also requested to speak with him directly during the most recent Carroll County commissioners’ meeting, but he was not present for the public comment and media periods. As of press time, we have not received a response.

And now, Plache could be facing more scrutiny. The New Hampshire Attorney General’s office confirmed on June 29 that their Public Integrity Unit is investigating a complaint against Plache related to his consulting contract for the Carroll County Communications District Planning Committee.

On the resume he submitted when applying for the consulting contract, Plache said he graduated from University of Chicago Law School in 1986 and has since done legal work for the states of Texas, New Mexico and Iowa, as well as the city of Los Angeles.

Plache’s application for that contract, and the agreement itself, acknowledge that he’s admitted to practice law in Maryland, not in New Hampshire. But his application also said he could provide legal expertise and “serve as a legal liaison” with the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office. NHPR verified with the New Hampshire Bar Association that Plache has never been a member.

The disciplinary actions against Plache stem from a 2017 lawsuit filed on behalf of a New Hampshire woman seeking recourse through the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which allows people to pursue civil action in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims for injuries from vaccines.

Plache first filed the case in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in 2017 on behalf of his client, Sarah Geschwindner. But, according to court and disciplinary records, he repeatedly failed to file necessary documents or respond to the court and the opposition. He also allegedly neglected to communicate with Geschwindner as the case proceeded.

At times, the documents say, Plache was unresponsive for months.

“I trusted Attorney Plache to handle my vaccine injury case and unfortunately he let me down without any real explanation why,” Geschwindner said in a statement provided through her current legal counsel. “I tried multiple times to reach Attorney Plache and he never got back to me.”

In one instance, the court presiding over the case didn’t hear from Plache for eight months, from late October 2020 until June 2021. During this time, Plache ran for his first term as Carroll County commissioner, was elected and began serving in the position.

While the court ultimately awarded financial compensation to Geschwindner for her vaccine injury claim, the final ruling noted there was insufficient information for parts of the case.

Meanwhile, documents show Plache repeatedly failed to respond to communication from multiple courts about his potential violations in his conduct as an attorney.

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims, where the vaccine injury case originated, first tried to contact Plache about “ethical violations he may have committed” in connection with that case in April 2022, according to a court order.

Plache never responded to that letter, the order says. The U.S. Court of Federal Claims sent a follow up letter in June 2022, which said he had 30 days to explain his behavior or he’d be “indefinitely suspended from practice.”

Plache did not respond and was indefinitely suspended by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on July 7, 2022. It is uncommon to see attorney discipline proceedings that originate in front of this court: Since 2010, there have been 16 such proceedings, according to a staff attorney for the court.

Disciplinary proceedings against an attorney in one court system can carry over into other jurisdictions where that attorney is licensed to practice through a process known as “reciprocal discipline.” That has since proven to be the case for Plache. The Supreme Court of Maryland indefinitely suspended him from practicing law on March 24, 2023.

According to other court documents, Plache is also facing potential discipline from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Plache must reply with why an indefinite suspension would be unwarranted by mid-July. Otherwise, he may face the same punishment.

Geschwindner also filed a grievance against Plache with the Attorney Discipline Office of New Hampshire in June 2022. That proceeding is still pending, but the allegation was deemed significant enough to progress past an initial round of vetting.

In a statement provided through another attorney representing her in that matter, Geschwindner said her lawyer encouraged her to file the grievance because of the lack of communication.

“What he did by failing to communicate with me and failing to pursue my case as he promised to do is against the New Hampshire rules governing attorneys in New Hampshire,” Geschwindner said in a statement through her attorney, Heather Menezes of Shaheen and Gordon.

The state’s Attorney Discipline Office confirmed that it issued a notice of charges against Plache in March, and he has since started participating in those proceedings.

In New Hampshire, it’s rare for lawyers to be investigated for potential wrongdoing — and even rarer for lawyers to be charged.

Last year, 220 grievances were filed against attorneys in New Hampshire, according to the most recent annual report from the state’s Attorney Discipline Office. Those grievances go through multiple rounds of vetting, by fellow attorneys and members of the public, to determine whether they are verifiable and significant enough to open an investigation.

In proceedings where there’s enough information to prosecute the lawyer, the discipline office issues a notice of charges. From there, the proceeding could head to a hearing committee, another panel of lawyers and members of the public, to decide whether disciplinary action is warranted. In 2022, only three proceedings in New Hampshire progressed to that stage.

The New Hampshire Attorney Discipline Office said three proceedings had a notice of charges issued this year to date.

(Mike Frisch)