Opinion ID: 1398177
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Jones Deposition

Text: In May 1994, Attorney, who was representing Mr. Jones, deposed Mrs. Jones, the adverse party in a domestic proceeding. Mrs. Jones's attorney was present during the course of her deposition, although some of the alleged comments by Attorney took place off the record when her attorney was not present. The grievance complaint alleged that after the deposition, Attorney stated to Mrs. Jones: You are a mean-spirited, vicious witch and I don't like your face and I don't like your voice. What I'd like, is to be locked in a room with you naked with a very sharp knife. Thereafter, it is alleged that Attorney said: What we need for her [pointing to Mrs. Jones] is a big bag to put her in without the mouth cut out. At the Panel hearing, Mrs. Jones testified as follows regarding Attorney's comments after the deposition: ... It was at the end, and the court reporter was beginning to put her things away. [Attorney] pushed all of his papers at me like that, and he leaned across the table, and he pointed his finger, and he said, You are a meanspirited, vicious witch, and I don't like your face, and I don't like your voice, and what I want, and at that point he stood up, and he screamed, What I want is to be locked in a room naked with you with a sharp knife, and I said, Naked? He said, Yes, naked with a sharplocked in a room naked, and I said Uh, ... I then said to [Attorney], What? Naked? What are you going to do? ... And he said, No, I will kill you with the thing. And at that point..., the paralegal for [opposing counsel], came in ... and [Attorney] then pointed ... and he said to [the paralegal], what we need for her is a big bag to put her in without the mouth cut out. Opposing counsel's legal assistant testified that during a break in the deposition, she entered the conference room to give opposing counsel a note. She testified she heard Attorney state that he would like to put a plastic bag without any air holes over Mrs. Jones. In his answer, Attorney adamantly denie[d] making the big bag comment. However, during the Panel hearing, he admitted making the big bag comment, but stated Mrs. Jones took it out of context. Secondly, he contended that he had jokingly said that the only way the matter could be resolved would be to lock Mr. and Mrs. Jones naked in a room with a knife on the table and let the better participant emerge triumphant.