Opinion ID: 1872312
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: Unlawful Procedure Involving Subsequent Discipline Against Interested Attorneys

Text: Before this Court, Threadgill argues in his brief that the hearing panel's decision was made upon unlawful procedure because (1) the qualifications of a member of the Panel are called into question since he himself was the subject of a later disciplinary complaint and was subsequently suspended from the practice of law; and (2) the attorney who testified in support of the Nesbits was later disbarred for perjury. We disagree with his argument. First, Threadgill's argument, contained in a single paragraph of his brief, is not supported by any evidence contained in the record. Tennessee Rule of Appellate Procedure 13(c) permits appellate courts to consider only those facts established by the evidence in the trial court record and any additional facts that may be judicially noticed or are considered pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Appellate Procedure 14. Threadgill has presented no such facts for consideration. The question of chairman Davis's own disciplinary status was raised in the following ways only: (1) footnote 1 of Threadgill's July 14, 2008 Supplemental Memorandum, submitted to the trial court after its ruling, on the issue of punishment only; (2) one paragraph on page 2 of Threadgill's August 13, 2008 Petitioner's Reply; (3) one paragraph of argument on page 13 of Threadgill's Brief to this Court; (4) one paragraph and one footnote of argument on pages 6-7 of Threadgill's Reply Brief to this Court. The law is clear that statements of fact made in or attached to pleadings, briefs, and oral arguments are not evidence and may not be considered by an appellate court unless they are properly made part of the record. State v. Bennett, 798 S.W.2d 783, 789 (Tenn.Crim.App.1990); see State v. Taylor, 992 S.W.2d 941, 944 (Tenn.1999) (describing the obligation of the party seeking appellate review to prepare a record which conveys a fair, accurate, and complete account of what transpired with respect to the issues which form the basis of the appeal). Thus, the bare allegations made in the briefs are not sufficient for this Court to consider. Similarly, Threadgill has not asked this Court to consider any post-judgment facts under Tennessee Rule of Appellate Procedure 14(b). To the extent he contends that the facts relevant to this issue occurred after the Panel hearing in this case, he must file a motion asking this Court to consider them. He has not done so. Finally, Threadgill also has not asked the Court to take judicial notice of any facts. In his Reply Brief he refers to the public records of this Court, but does not state what specific records he references and has not supplied the Court with the necessary information anticipated by Tennessee Rule of Evidence 201. Thus, the Court declines to guess what information is being referenced. Even if we take judicial notice of the facts to which we think Threadgill may be alluding, his argument still fails. Records created by the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility and found on its website today reveal the following facts relevant to this claim. Aubrey L. Davis, the Panel chair, was the subject of a July 23, 2007 petition for temporary suspension for failure to respond to a complaint. Davis was then temporarily suspended from September 19, 2007 until January 15, 2008. [42] Nathan Anderson, who testified at the Panel hearing, was temporarily suspended on March 19, 2008 and ultimately disbarred on March 2, 2009. Read in conjunction with Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 9, section 8.1, [43] and the public orders entered in each case, it is reasonable to assume that both Davis and Anderson became aware of the complaints filed against them sometime before each attorney was ultimately sanctioned. Exactly when each learned is, however, a matter of pure speculation. Threadgill reasons that, as the Panel prepared its written opinion, Davis was likely aware of the Board's investigation against him and somehow influenced by that investigation to concur in the panel's findings. Threadgill surmises, for example, that the Board's investigation of Davis's misconduct may explain why the Panel issued its decision some nine months after the conclusion of the hearing, rather than within the fifteen-day period prescribed by Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 9, section 8.3. However, Threadgill presents no proof to support this due process concern. Threadgill concedes that the Panel's procedure was not unlawful in the sense that it affirmatively violated some provision dictating the composition of the hearing panel. See Tidwell v. City of Memphis, 193 S.W.3d 555, 560, 564 (Tenn.2006) (finding unlawful procedure in case governed by the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act (UAPA) [44] , where statute expressly prohibited initial decisionmaker from serving on hearing panel and guaranteed a petitioner's right to appear through counsel). Indeed, Threadgill acknowledges that the Court's rules are silent on the qualifications of panel members. Nonetheless, Threadgill argues that his procedural due process rights were somehow violated because his hearing panel included an attorney who was later found to have violated the Rules of Professional Conduct. We reject Threadgill's contention because, like the UAPA, Rule 9 does not vest the power of final review in the hearing panel. Instead, Rule 9 allows the disciplined attorney (or the Board) to seek review of the Panel's decision before the chancery or circuit court and then appeal directly to this Court. Even if subsequent disciplinary action against a Panel member somehow infected the Panel's decision in an earlier disciplinary hearing, [45] the trial court and this Court remain available to reverse or modify that decision. The UAPA satisfies procedural due process standards by providing chancery court review of agency decisions. Bobbitt v. Shell, 115 S.W.3d 506, 510 (Tenn.Ct.App.2003) (citing Watts v. Burkhart, 854 F.2d 839, 841 (6th Cir.1988)). By providing comparable review of hearing panel decisions, Rule 9 likewise satisfies the requirements of due process. We reject Threadgill's procedural challenge to the hearing panel's conclusions. For the same reasons, we are not persuaded by Threadgill's arguments concerning witness Anderson. The Board's current publicly available records show that this Court suspended Anderson on March 19, 2008, and a press release was issued on March 24, 2008. Threadgill, however, did not raise Anderson's possible misconduct before the trial courtneither in the July 14, 2008 supplemental memorandum on punishment nor the August 13, 2008 reply. Based on this timeline, Threadgill appears to have waived the issue of Anderson's disciplinary proceedings by failing to raise that issue in the trial court. [46] Even if Anderson's record of professional discipline was not publicly available during the trial court proceedings, Threadgill's argument fails on the merits. Threadgill offers no explanation how Anderson's testimony in this case prejudiced his rights by causing the Panel's decision to be procedurally unlawful. Although the Panel found Anderson to be a credible witness, none of the Panel's findings depend solely on Anderson's testimony. Indeed, besides a passing reference to the Nesbits' civil lawsuit against Threadgill, the Panel made no findings pertinent to the subject matter of Anderson's testimony. All of the Panel's findings are fully supported by the testimony of the Nesbits, whom the Panel found to be credible witnesses. While we firmly reject Threadgill's argument that his Panel hearing was compromised by unlawful procedure, we conclude our analysis by emphasizing that we take seriously the integrity of attorney disciplinary proceedings in Tennessee. We regret those instances when attorneys standing in judgment of their peers are themselves subsequently found in violation of the rules that govern our profession. We aspire to a system where Panel members are of the highest ethical character and scrupulously refrain from even the appearance of professional misconduct in their own practice of law. Nonetheless, where a disciplined attorney may obtain two levels of review of the Panel's judgment, the subsequent discipline of a Panel member cannot automatically negate the outcome of all the prior disciplinary proceedings where that attorney served on the Panel. In this case, for example, the Panel's judgment is independently supported by the decision of the other two Panel members, against whom Threadgill alleges no procedural improprieties. Furthermore, and perhaps most importantly, the subsequent professional misconduct of a Panel member does not excuse a disciplined attorney's failure to comply with longstanding rules of evidence and appellate procedure. The integrity of our system likewise requires consistent enforcement of those rules among all parties appearing before this Court.