Opinion ID: 1058577
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Green's Demand for a Three-Judge Panel

Text: Green next assigns error to the Board's denial of his request for a three-judge panel. Green notes that after the remand of his second appeal, he demanded that further proceedings be conducted before a three-judge panel and not the Board. Green argues he could not have foreseen the severity of the damage caused to him by the Board's untimely release of information about his suspension, and he contends our decision in Cilman v. Virginia State Bar, 266 Va. 66, 580 S.E.2d 830 (2003) supports his claim that his demand for a three-judge court required that further proceedings only be before such a court and not the Board. The Bar responds that Green failed to make a timely demand to be tried by a three-judge court in response to the Subcommittee's initial certification in 2004. The Bar contends that a demand for a three-judge court must be made within twenty-one days after service of the original certification pursuant to Part 6, § IV, ¶ 13(I)(1)(a)(1)(a) of the Rules of this Court, and Green's demand on December 18, 2006 was therefore untimely. The Bar also argues that Green's reliance on our holding in Cilman is misplaced because the attorney in that case was subject to additional discipline on new charges, and only the new charges were entitled to be tried by a three-judge court. We agree with the Bar. On July 12, 2004, Green responded to the certified charges against him with his strong preference that this matter be heard and adjudicated by the Board rather than the statutory alternative afforded by [Code] § 54.1-3935. Green never requested a three-judge panel until after the second remand from this Court. The only issue on remand was the imposition of a sanction based on the previously adjudicated misconduct. Neither our two previous remands of Green's appeals nor our holding in Cilman supports Green's contention that the continuing adjudication of sanctions on the same charges offers any right to demand a three-judge court more than two years after the twenty-one day initial response period expired. In Cilman, attorney Alan Jay Cilman had been subject to three separate proceedings before the Board. 266 Va. at 68, 580 S.E.2d at 831. In each instance, his license to practice law had been administratively suspended for varying periods of time. 266 Va. at 68-69, 580 S.E.2d at 831. Cilman failed to meet the requirements imposed upon him by the Board in the three previous proceedings regarding the notification of clients and related matters. Id. The Bar then brought a fourth proceeding to consider Cilman's failure to comply with the prior requirements. In this fourth proceeding, Cilman made a timely demand that further proceedings be conducted before a three-judge court in accordance with the provisions of Code § 54.1-3935. Id. at 69-70, 580 S.E.2d at 832. The Board denied Cilman's demand. Id. On appeal, we reversed the Board's order and found that Cilman made a timely request for a three-judge panel because the fourth proceeding related to new charges against him with the possibility of additional sanctions and was not simply completion of a pending adjudication. Id. at 72, 580 S.E.2d at 833. We explained that Cilman's alleged violation arose from his failure to comply with a prior order of the Board, and he was therefore permitted to request a three-judge court to consider the new charge of a rule violation, which could result in sanctions. Id. Unlike Cilman, Green was not subject to new charges in the case at bar. The Board heard Green's case as he requested in his July 12, 2004 response to the Subcommittee certification. His appeals to this Court raised issues relating only to the matter previously heard and considered by the Board. Throughout those appeals and our two remands of the Board's imposition of sanctions, no additional charges were brought against Green in this case, so Cilman is inapplicable. Green's remanded appeal to the Board for reconsideration did not trigger any new right for Green to then request a three-judge court pursuant to Code § 54.1-3915 and Part 6, § IV, ¶ 13(I)(1)(a)(1)(a). As a result, his second assignment of error is without merit.