Opinion ID: 2626856
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Expert testimony at disability hearing

Text: ¶ 4 The disability hearing officer qualified Dr. Brian Grant as an expert after Dr. Grant testified that he began practicing medicine in 1979, is a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and board certified in general psychiatry and forensic psychiatry, and has performed [w]ell over a thousand forensic evaluations. 1 TR at 91-95, 97. Dr. Grant testified that Keefe's abilities to receive and process information, reason, and distinguish fantasy from reality were impaired. Id. at 122-23. Because Keefe did not submit to an examination, Dr. Grant formed his opinion by evaluating 25 exhibits, including Keefe's written documents and transcripts from the disciplinary hearing and depositions Keefe conducted before the hearing. ¶ 5 Dr. Grant reviewed the statements Keefe had made in discovery requests before the disciplinary hearing. Dr. Grant testified that these statements reflected . . . some delusional and/or paranoid thinking, seemed to have no bearing upon the case at hand, showed a lack of grasp of reality, and had an overall flavor . . . of paranoia because of his belief that a number of forces [were] at work against him in some conspiratorial fashion that [was] not in any way supported by credible data. Id. at 104-07. ¶ 6 Dr. Grant also reviewed the statements Keefe made in pleadings, declarations, and motions. During the disciplinary proceeding, Keefe filed a motion alleging that the Christian Right Mafia controls the members of the Association and requested transfer of his disciplinary hearing to the bar associations of New York or the District of Columbia. Exs. 1, 2. Keefe alleged in this motion that the Christian Right and its mafia have the sole function in life [of] stop[ping] meritorious cases and lawyers like myself and operate through the ear device and a well-organized system of extortion, bribery and corruption. Ex. 1, at 7. Also during the disciplinary hearing, Keefe filed a petition for review with this court, stating that the consequence for his failure to become a submitted lawyer is [s]low death by Christian Right hit squads, suspension and eventual disbarment. Ex. 14, at 9. Keefe filed pleadings in the United States District Court for the Central District of California and for the Western District of Washington, which repeated his allegations about the fixed disciplinary hearing and the technology the Christian Right uses to control members of the Association. Exs. 19, 30. In addition to these documents, Dr. Grant examined Keefe's written statements relating to his disciplinary appeal, which explained the events that Keefe perceived during the disciplinary hearing. Ex. 15. ¶ 7 With respect to these written documents, Dr. Grant testified that they were a continuation of a prior theme of a series of delusions, impaired reality testing, a lot of paranoia, [and] derailed thinking, issues that have nothing to do with the case at hand. 1 TR at 112-13. Dr. Grant noted that Keefe made regular reference to individuals having interest in this case, despite a lack of any such evidence, alleged comments being made in [the] proceedings that [were] unsubstantiated, and [had] an apparently fixed, delusional system referencing a right-wing Christian conspiracy, and listening devices. Id. at 119. He explained that Keefe's statements were [t]he sort of content and pattern that [are] consistent with an underlying thought disorder or similar psychological impairment. Id. Dr. Grant listed several potential diagnoses, including paranoid schizophrenia, but explained that he does not make a competency determination or opine on a person's ability to practice law based upon the presence or absence of a particular diagnoses [sic]; rather, [i]t is how he is functioning that is most important. Id. at 122. Dr. Grant concluded to a reasonable degree of medical certainty that Keefe's abilities to receive and process information, reason, and distinguish fantasy from reality were impaired. Id. at 122-23.