1980 Annual Report of the Colorado Supreme Court Grievance Committee
| Publication year | 1981 |
| Pages | 1314 |
| Citation | Vol. 10 No. 6 Pg. 1314 |
1981, June, Pg. 1314. 1980 Annual Report of the Colorado Supreme Court Grievance Committee
There are six reports of the Grievance Committee previously published in The Colorado Lawyer: the 1979 annual report, Vol. 9, No. 5 (May 1980), p. 904; the 1978 annual report, Vol. 8, No. 4 (April 1979), p. 587; the 1977 annual report, Vol. 7, No. 5 (May 1978), p. 723; the 1976 annual report, Vol. 6, No. 3 (March 1977), p. 451; the 1975 annual report, Vol. 5, No. 3 (March 1976), p. 377; and Survey of Grievance Complaints, 1971-1972, Vol. 2, No. 10 (August 1973), p. 7.
The members of the 1980 Grievance Committee were Donald K. Bain, Chairman; James W. Buchanan, Panel Vice-Chairman; Christopher R. Brauchli, Panel Vice-Chairman; Richard L. Banta, Jr.; J. Harrison Hawthorne; James H. Jenkins; Alex Stephen Keller; Frances A. Koncilja; James T. Moran; Don W. Sears; Ross Thompson; Kenneth E. Barnhill; Zelda N. Bransted; Richard P. Holme; William R. Lucero; Charles E. Painter; James V. Phelps; William M. Shanahan, M.D.; and Anthony W. Williams.
The Committee's staff consisted of Paul G. Quinn, Committee Counsel; Investigative Counsel: Merilyn H. Bunch; Michael L Gilbert; Jon S. Nicholls; Frederick Y. Yu; and Mary Ann Little. Merlyn H. Kinchelow, Committee Secretary. Administrative Staff: Gerry G. Tharp; Leigh Roberts; Vanda Kitashima; Teresa Sandoval, Accounting Clerk; Cheryl Taylor, Attorney Registration Clerk; Karl Farr, Research Assistant; and Jeanette Fox, Receptionist.
The Office of Disciplinary Prosecutor was staffed by Robert B. Kane, Disciplinary Prosecutor, who was succeeded in August 1980 by Linda Donnelly; and by Deputy Disciplinary Prosecutor Philip Harley who began in October 1980. Administrative Secretaries were Susan Berry and Richard Rocha.
During 1980, the Colorado Supreme Court imposed discipline on Colorado attorneys more than in any previous year. The Court acted on 45 disciplinary cases compared with 33 cases acted on by the Court in 1979. The Court imposed discipline in 36 cases; it dismissed one case, acted on four reinstatement petitions, accepted three offers to surrender licenses in lieu of disciplinary proceedings and remanded one case to the Grievance Committee for the imposition of a letter of admonition.
During 1980, the attorney disciplinary process in Colorado continued to receive an increasing number of informal complaints requesting investigation. The Grievance Committee answered 1,123 requests for informal complaint forms. Of these complaint forms, 683 were returned as informal complaints requesting investigation, a 24 percent increase over 1979. Of the 683 complaints, 241, or 35 percent, were not processed because they did not make factual allegations which, if proved, would constitute misconduct. The 442 informal complaints on which investigations were initiated represents the highest number of investigations ever initiated in a single year. In 1980, the Committee completed 435 investigations, increasing the number of complaints pending investigation to 191 cases on January 1, 1981, compared with 184 cases on January 1, 1980.
The Grievance Committee conducted a record number of formal hearings in 1980: 63 cases were disposed of after formal hearing, compared with 51 in 1979; 36 cases were docketed with the Supreme Court with disciplinary recommendations (including one recommendation involving reinstatement).
A major activity of the Committee in 1980 was its work on recommended changes in the court rules governing the disciplinary process. On October 10, 1979, the Committee recommended to Chief Justice Paul V. Hodges many changes in C.R.C.P. Rules 241-259. The Court then held three public hearings: on January 16, 1980, March 19, 1980 and January 5, 1981.
The nineteen-member Grievance Committee(fn2) is divided into two nine-member panels, each acting as Inquiry Panel in some cases and as Hearings Panel in others. The Committee is assisted by a full-time Committee Counsel, four half-time Investigative Counsel, and five full-time administrative staff. Initially, complaints about attorney misconduct, called informal complaints, are investigated by one of the four Investigative Counsel, Committee Counsel, a member of the Committee or a member of the Bar enlisted by the Committee on a given case. The results of the investigations are reported to and considered by an entire nine-member Inquiry Panel. In those cases where the Inquiry Panel finds probable cause for discipline, formal disciplinary proceedings are initiated by the Disciplinary Prosecutor by the filing of a formal complaint.
Once probable cause of attorney misconduct has been found by an Inquiry Panel, three members of the Hearings Panel are appointed as a formal Hearing Committee to hear the case.
Formal complaints are considered in a trial-like hearing conducted in accordance with the Colorado Rules of Evidence and of Civil Procedure. After the hearing, the Hearing Committee reports its findings, conclusions and recommendations to the entire ninemember Hearings Panel from which the Hearing Committee was appointed. Where the Hearings Panel recommends private or public censure, suspension or disbarment, the case is docketed with the Colorado Supreme Court which, as the only court with authority in matters of attorney discipline, makes the final disciplinary determination.
These procedures are a result of a major reorganization of the grievance system in Colorado which was made seven years ago, effective January 1, 1974. This included the separation of the two functions performed by the Committee: (1) the investigation or inquiry function, as a means of determining probable cause, and (2) the hearing process, for disposition of formal complaints. Those changes were designed to insure due process for respondents. In 1975 four non-lawyer citizens were added to the Committee.
The same reorganization included initiating the registration fee in order to provide funds to pay the cost of the Grievance Committee staff and the disciplinary process.
During 1980, 442 investigations were opened, compared with 432 in 1979. Since 1976, more attention has been given to preliminary review of informal complaints requesting investigation in an effort to screen complaints that do not state a claim of misconduct which would warrant discipline. During 1979, 117 such complaints were not processed and are not included in the statistics presented, while in 1980 there were 240 complaints which were not processed for investigation.
In 1980, the Committee implemented more stringent screening procedures because completed investigations continued to disclose that too many of the informal complaints processed for investigation were fee disputes, intraprofessional or interprofessional disputes, or other such matters not appropriate for the attorney disciplinary process. The more stringent procedures have resulted in more referrals to the Legal Fee Arbitration Committee and to the Interprofessional Committee. At the same time, completed investigations which revealed no attorney misconduct and only a fee dispute dropped noticeably in 1980, saving Committee time and resources.
When an informal complaint clearly failed to allege facts which, if proved, would constitute attorney misconduct, Committee Counsel made the decision not to open an investigation. If there was uncertainty, a preliminary investigation was undertaken or the Committee Chairman made the decision whether to investigate. A few of these so-called "unprocessed" complaints were later reopened and investigated upon the complainant's providing additional information, which each is requested to do when a complaint is not processed.
Chart A reflects the number of informal complaints received and the number on which investigations were initiated during the 1971-1980 period.
In 1980 there were 435 informal complaints in which investigations were completed and in which final determinations were made by the Committee's Inquiry Panels, as reflected in Chart B.
In view of the lower number of completed investigations in 1980, the number of investigations pending before the Inquiry Panels increased slightly from 184 at the end of 1979 to 191 at the end of 1980, as indicated in Chart C.
Number of Investigations:
Pending as of January 1, 1980 184
Initiated during 1980 442
Completed during 1980 435
Pending as of December 31, 1980 191
During 1980, 1,123 requests for informal complaint forms were answered by the Committee's staff. There were 1,005 similar requests in 1979. In addition, many local bar associations keep a supply of complaint forms on hand.
When an Inquiry Panel reviews a report of a completed investigation, it may, pursuant to C.R.C.P. Rule 246, make one of four determinations: (1) that there is no misconduct and the complaint is dismissed as being without merit; (2) that there is no...
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