Case Name: In re Richard PENA
Court: Supreme Court of Texas
Jurisdiction: Texas
Decision Date: 1974-06-19
Citations: 511 S.W.2d 931
Docket Number: No. B-4661
Parties: In re Richard PENA.
Judges: STEAKLEY, J., joined by REAVLEY, J.
Reporter: South Western Reporter Second Series
Volume: 511
Pages: 931–934

Head Matter:
In re Richard PENA.
No. B-4661.
Supreme Court of Texas.
June 19, 1974.
Garcia, Hernandez & Campos, Joe L. Hernandez, San Antonio, for relator.

Opinion:
POPE, Justice.
On February 13, 1964, Richard Pena submitted to the Supreme Court of Texas his resignation as an attorney. On March 2, 1964, this court ordered that Pena's license to practice law be cancelled and that his name be deleted from the list of persons licensed to practice law in Texas. The proceedings resulted from an investigation by the Grievance Committee of the State Bar of Texas of numerous complaints that Pena had received fees without performance of legal services.
In January, 1974, Pena filed in the 37th District Court of Bexar County a petition for reinstatement as an attorney. He joined the State Bar of Texas as a respondent. On April 27, 1974, that court dismissed the petition for lack of jurisdiction. Pena thereupon filed in this court his Petition for Reinstatement and Restoration. He asserts that he is entitled to the relief afforded by Sections 32 and~33 of the State Bar Rules, V.T.C.S. (1973). Those sections of the State Bar Rules state the procedures for the reinstatment of a disbarred attorney. Section 32 provides:
Section 32. Petition for Reinstatement after Disbarment
At any time after the expiration of five years from the date of final judgment of disbarment of a member, he may petition the District Court of the county of his residence for reinstatement. The petition shall allege in substance that petitioner at the time of filing is of good moral character, and since his disbarment, has been living a life of generally good conduct, and that he has made full amends and restitution to all persons, if any, naming them, who may have suffered pecuniary loss by reason of the misconduct for which he was disbarred. The petition shall state the name and address of the Chairman of the District Grievance Committee and the name and address of the Secretary of the State Bar.
Section 33, State Bar Rules, makes provision for notice, hearing, judgment, and the right of appeal in reinstatement proceedings. Even before the adoption of Rules 32 and 33, this court in Burns v. State, 129 Tex. 303, 103 S.W.2d 960 (1937), recognized "the practically unanimous rule that judgment of disbarment is not final and conclusive for all time, and that a motion for reinstatement is properly brought in the court where the judgment of disbarment was entered. . . ."
The motion filed by Richard Pena in this court in 1964 stated that the Grievance Committee of the State Bar of Texas concurred in his prayer that this court accept his resignation. Insofar as the problem of reinstatement is concerned, we regard this court's order canceling his license to practice and deleting his name from the list of licensed practitioners as tantamount to an order for disbarment; therefore Richard Pena is entitled to a hearing on his reinstatement as permitted by Rules 32 and 33.
This court ordered the cancellation of Pena's license upon the basis of the motion which was joined by the Grievance Committee of the State Bar of Texas, and we regard that as an appropriate procedure in a non-adversary disbarment proceeding such as this one was. However, Rules 32 and 33 afford one seeking reinstatement an evidentiary hearing and also a right to appeal. Those rights cannot be accorded unless the reinstatement proceedings originate in the trial court.
Richard Pena resides in Bexar County, according to his motion, but the 37th District Court of that county understandably ruled that Pena's remedy was to apply to this court, the one which originally ordered the cancellation of his license.
Section 32, State Bar Rules, in our opinion, declares the right of a disbarred lawyer to make application for reinstatement, and it says that "he may petition the District Court of the county of his residence for reinstatement." Richard Pena may refile his petition in the District Court of the county of his residence. The petition for reinstatement filed in this court is dismissed.
STEAKLEY, J., joined by REAVLEY, J.