A Rebuke

A recent public censure of the Tennessee Board on Professional Responsibility

On April 24, 2025, Curtis Douglas Johnson, an attorney licensed to practice law in Tennessee, received a Public Censure from the Board of Professional Responsibility of the Tennessee Supreme Court.

Mr. Johnson knowingly failed to file fee disclosures required by the Federal Bankruptcy Court, even after instruction by the Court to file such fee disclosures. Mr. Johnson failed to promptly notify his client that he had received and accepted a settlement offer from her landlord in a wrongful eviction case. Mr. Johnson later failed to notify his client that he had received settlement funds from her landlord. Mr. Johnson then distributed funds held in trust for a different client to the first client, before the check for her settlement was deposited and cleared.

By these acts, Mr. Johnson has violated Rules of Professional Conduct 1.4 (communication), 1.15(a) and (d) (safekeeping property and funds), and 3.4(c) (knowingly disobey obligation of tribunal) and is hereby Publicly Censured for these violations.

A Public Censure is a rebuke and warning to the attorney, but it does not affect the attorney’s ability to practice law.

(Mike Frisch)