Opinion ID: 2106864
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Circumstances relating to personal automobile insurance

Text: The panel also identified McLaughlin's pattern of dealings with his automobile insurer as further indication of McLaughlin's lack of candor. McLaughlin testified that he resided only in New Jersey since his graduation from college in 1988, but that during that time, he registered two cars in New York State, using his parents' address in upstate New York. He testified that he did so in order to obtain lower insurance rates for the kind of high coverage limits he wanted. McLaughlin further stated at the hearing that he now knows his behavior was illegal. Moreover, although McLaughlin did indicate in his attachments to the Certified Statement that his New York license was suspended for a time in 1993 due to nonpayment of premiums, he failed to reveal that the license, reinstated in January 1994, was subsequently suspended again in June 1994 for operation of a vehicle without insurance. [4] The candidate testified at the hearing that he first knew about the revocation of the license in July 1994. Though McLaughlin acknowledged that he knew he had a continuing duty to report the change in his driver's status, and stated that he meant to tell the Committee, he did not disclose any information regarding the incident to the Committee until a Committee investigator questioned him in November 1994. [5] The panel also noted that the applicant failed to submit a driver's license abstract (a record of the individual's driving history) though all candidates are required to submit such documentation. McLaughlin testified that he did not submit a driver's license abstract because he did not know what an abstract was. The Panel questioned McLaughlin's failure to inquire into the nature of an abstract, asking why he did not contact the Bar Admissions office or the Department of Motor Vehicles, either of which would have supplied him with the relevant information. McLaughlin provided no explanation for his failure to investigate how to obtain the driver's license abstract.