Court Opinion

ID: 9468538
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:17:06.587933+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:54.600423
License: Public Domain

McKAY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
When the Kansas Supreme Court reviewed the charges, record and recommendations of the disciplinary committee in this case, it rejected the committee’s recommendation of public censure and instead ordered that plaintiff be disbarred. State v. Phelps, 226 Kan. 371, 598 P.2d 180 (1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1045, 100 S.Ct. 732, 62 L.Ed.2d 731 (1980). In doing so the court added a charge not made or briefed prior to that court’s opinion.1 In addition to this *653dissenter, three other judges of this court have in a prior opinion indicated their agreement with this assessment.2 In the Matter of the Disciplinary Proceedings of Fred W. Phelps, Sr., 637 F.2d 171 (10th Cir. 1981). I do not understand the majority to deny this unavoidable characterization of the proceedings below. In what amounts to a kind of “harmless error” approach to the matter, the majority has minimized the importance of the uncharged and unbriefed issue in the Kansas Supreme Court decision and disregarded the recommendation of its own bar association disciplinary panel in order to impose the penalty of loss of license and livelihood. In this I respectfully cannot join. In fact it is the uncharged violation which seems to be the focal point of the Kansas Supreme Court decision. That court seemed compelled to rely on the uncharged violation to justify its greatly escalated penalty.
The majority’s obiter dictum analogy to cumulative sentencing really does not support their opinion. This is not a case where one illegal sentence does not increase the overall length of the sentence lawfully meted out on another count in the same trial. Rather, this case is one in which notice and an opportunity to be heard were absent as to one key element relied upon to justify a single sentence. We have no way of knowing what the Kansas Supreme Court would have done had this issue not been superimposed on the properly charged and briefed issues. At the very least it would do an injustice to that court’s opinion to suggest that it did not consider this element very important in its decision to drastically increase the penalty over the one solemnly recommended by the bar after full hearing.
I simply do not understand the majority’s attempt to distinguish In Re Ruffalo, 390 U.S. 544, 88 S.Ct. 1222, 20 L.Ed.2d 117 (1968). The majority describes plaintiff’s actions in the Robinson v. Brady3 case as “one continued and integrated pattern of misconduct” while characterizing Ruffalo’s actions as two “distinct and unrelated incidents of misconduct.” The important point is that in both cases the lawyers did not have notice of or an opportunity to be heard on one of several charges relied upon to justify disbarment. It is not enough, as the-majority states, that the lawyer have “full knowledge that his actions . . . [are] the basis for the disciplinary proceedings.” What is required by the Due Process Clause is notice of the charges so that an adequate defense may be prepared. The charge of which notice was lacking — DR 7-102(A)(l) —condemns conduct of a different nature than that properly charged under other sections of the Code and under state law. Plaintiff was constitutionally entitled to an opportunity to defend against that charge as well as the charges properly brought against him.
Disbarment proceedings are quasi-criminal in nature. In Re Ruffalo, 390 U.S. at 551, 88 S.Ct. at 1226. Because a lawyer’s livelihood is at stake, courts often require clear and convincing evidence of misconduct. McCormick’s Handbook of the Law of Evidence, § 341 n. 22 (2d ed. 1972). This elevated standard of proof reflects the magnitude of the liberty interest threatened. Because of the quasi-criminal nature of these proceedings, an analogy to the criminal law is appropriate. A court that would affirm this case would logically also sustain a conviction for kidnap apparently committed during a bank robbery where only robbery was charged and tried. As in Ruffalo, I must conclude that the “absence of fair notice as to the reach of the grievance procedure and the precise nature of the charges deprived [plaintiff] of procedural *654due process.” In re Ruffalo, 390 U.S. at 552, 88 S.Ct. at 1226.
The only remaining question is whether an attorney disbarred in a state court proceeding may bring in federal district court a “suit in equity” under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 4 to enjoin an Order of Disbarment when that order was, in part, based on proceedings which violate the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment.5
The Supreme Court has said:
It is not for this Court, except within the narrow limits for review open to this Court, as recently canvassed in Konigs-berg v. California, 353 U.S. 252 [77 S.Ct. 722.1 L.Ed.2d 810], and Schware v. Board of Bar Examiners, 353 U.S. 232 [77 S.Ct. 752.1 L.Ed.2d 796], to sit in judgment on [state court] disbarments ....
Theard v. United States, 354 U.S. 278, 281, 77 S.Ct. 1274, 1276, 1 L.Ed.2d 1342 (1957). Theard was a federal disbarment proceeding and did not directly review the state proceedings. Konigsberg and Schware involved petitions for certiorari from the state proceedings directly to the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, no Supreme Court decision directly deals with an original § 1983 proceeding where a violation of the type reviewed in Konigsberg and Schware is alleged. Broad language from some circuit cases suggests that certiorari to the Supreme Court is the only method of review of state disciplinary proceedings, but none explicitly prohibits a § 1983 injunctive action alleging that the rules of state disciplinary proceedings or their administration violate fundamental due process.6
*655In a § 1983 challenge to Colorado’s rules governing admission to that state’s bar, this court recently said:
We have held that the federal district courts may not exercise jurisdiction to review an adjudication by the state courts which is alleged to have unlawfully denied admission to a particular applicant for admission to the bar.... However, our decision in Doe [v. Pringle, 550 F.2d 596 (10th Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 431 U.S. 916, 97 S.Ct. 2179, 53 L.Ed.2d 227 (1977)] does recognize a distinction between a frustrated bar applicant’s challenge to the denial of his particular petition and a constitutional attack on a state’s general rules and regulations governing admission (550 F.2d at 599).
Younger v. Colorado State Board of Law Examiners, 625 F.2d 372, 375-76 (10th Cir. 1980). This same distinction exists between challenges to a particular disciplinary proceeding and a constitutional attack on a state’s general rules and regulations governing discipline. Appellant’s complaint constitutes the latter type of attack; it specifically challenges the disciplinary rules of the Kansas Supreme Court which, as applied here, allow for the disbarment of an attorney based partially on a charge which that attorney has not been notified of or allowed to respond to.
Section 1983 explicitly provides for suits in equity where a citizen has been deprived of any “rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws.” Absent a clear holding that § 1983 was not designed to redress a denial of due process by a state supreme court’s application of its statutes, ordinances, regulations, customs, or usages, we are not at liberty to disregard the congressionally created cause of action. While it is true that a petition for certiorari provides an avenue of relief from unconstitutional state disbarment proceedings, § 1983 provides an independent basis for such actions in the federal district courts. This action is analogous to the situation which exists in criminal cases, where a party can bring a petition for certiorari directly in the Supreme Court but is not thereby precluded from bringing a separate petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254.7
The Order of Disbarment was in part based on a charge of which appellant had neither notice nor an opportunity to be heard, both of which are mandated by the fourteenth amendment. Consequently, I believe the district court erroneously dismissed this § 1983 action.8 What the state court would have done had the charge of violation of DR 7-102(A)(l) been excluded, or had appellant been accorded notice of and an opportunity to respond to it, we do not know. The trial court should have entertained the action and entered an order declaring the challenged procedure unconstitutional and enjoining the disbarment order as it now stands infected with unconstitutional proceedings.9 I hasten to add that I would not prohibit the Kansas Supreme *656Court from taking such constitutional proceedings and actions as it subsequently may determine are proper in this case.
I would reverse and remand for the entry of an appropriate order consistent with these views.

. A panel of the State Board of Law Examiners recommended public censure of the appellant based only on charges other than DR7-102(A)(1). The Kansas Supreme Court sustained the findings of the Board and concluded: “Additionally, we find the entire record before us clearly supports a violation of DR7-102(A)(1).” State v. Phelps, 598 P.2d at 187. Without segregating the DR7-102(A)(1) viola*653tion from the other charges, the court decided to disbar rather than censure appellant.

. After reviewing the same record before the Kansas Supreme Court in connection with a federal court disciplinary proceeding, a unanimous three-judge panel concluded:
The district court correctly held that the defendant had been deprived of his rights under the due process clause in accordance with In Re Ruffalo, 390 U.S. 544 [88 S.Ct. 1222, 20 L.Ed.2d 117] (1968), when the state court found him guilty of violating DR7-102 A 1, the charge in which he had not been given notice.
In re Phelps, 637 F.2d 171, 174 (10th Cir. 1981).

. Nos. 125695 and 125742 (Dist.Ct., Shawnee County, Kan. 1976), aff’d, No. 48,949 (Kan.Ct.
App. Feb. 17, 1978).

. § 1983. Civil action for deprivation of rights.
Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State . . ., subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress.

. There is no claim for damages in this case, which in any event would be barred by doctrines of judicial immunity. See Slavin v. Curry, 574 F.2d 1256, 1266 (5th Cir. 1978) (also holding that such “immunity does not extend to immunity from equitable relief”). Additionally, we are not faced with the problems raised by Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 91 S.Ct. 746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971), since appellant has exhausted his state appellate remedies and the state proceedings are now concluded. See Huffmann v. Pursue, Ltd., 420 U.S. 592, 607-10, 95 S.Ct. 1200, 1209-1211, 43 L.Ed.2d 482 (1975); Gipson v. New Jersey Supreme Court, 558 F.2d 701, 704 (3rd Cir. 1977). See also American Civil Liberties Union v. Bozardt, 539 F.2d 340 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1022, 97 S.Ct. 639, 50 L.Ed.2d 623 (1976). We do not think that Younger required appellant to file a petition for rehearing with the Kansas Supreme Court, see Kan.Stat. § 60-2701a, Rule No. 7.06 (1976) . The disciplinary proceedings are final and are no longer “pending” against petitioner so as to invoke YoungeYs noninterference rationale.
The Supreme Court has yet to decide how principles of res judicata apply to civil rights litigation. See Allen v. McCurry, 449 U.S. 90, 101 S.Ct. 411, 415 n. 5, 66 L.Ed.2d 308 (1980). In any event, appellant’s claim cannot be barred by principles of res judicata. Appellant was unaware of his claim until after the state proceedings were concluded when he first learned of the DR 7-102(A)(l) charge. Appellant thus had no opportunity to present his due process claim to a state tribunal in normal appellate processes. The Supreme Court has held that principles of collateral estoppel apply to § 1983 actions: “There is, in short, no reason to believe that Congress intended to provide a person claiming a federal right an unrestricted opportunity to relitigate an issue already decided in state court. . . . ” Allen v. McCurry, 449 U.S. 90, 101 S.Ct. 411, 420, 66 L.Ed.2d 308 (1980). Nonetheless, appellant’s claim is not barred by principles of collateral estoppel because it has not been presented to or passed upon by the state courts.

. See Martinez Rivera v. Trias Monge, 587 F.2d 539 (1st Cir. 1978); Grossgold v. Supreme Court of Illinois, 557 F.2d 122 (7th Cir. 1977); Doe v. Pringle, 550 F.2d 596 (10th Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 431 U.S. 916, 97 S.Ct. 2179, 53 L.Ed.2d 227 (1977); Mayes v. Honn, 542 F.2d 822, 824 (10th Cir. 1976) (“If the [§ 1983 challenge to a state disbarment] was a bona fide civil rights action which showed some promise of success ... it might be that the fact that it also collaterally attacks proceedings in the state court would not be significant”); Feldman v. State Bd. of Law Examiners, 438 F.2d 699 (8th Cir. 1971); MacKay v. Nesbett, 412 F.2d 846 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 960, 90 S.Ct. 435, 24 L.Ed.2d 425 (1969); Jones v. Hulse, 391 F.2d 198 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 889, 89 S.Ct. 206, 21 L.Ed.2d 167 (1968).
*655In Ginger v. Circuit Court, 372 F.2d 621 (6th Cir. 1967), the court stated that “the limits of review [by the United States Supreme Court] are violations, in the course of disbarment proceedings, of the due process or equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment, and a petition for Writ of Certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States is the only method by which review may be had.” Id. at 625. The Sixth Circuit narrowed this “holding” in Getty v. Reed, 547 F.2d 971 (6th Cir. 1977): “These cases do . . . stand for the proposition that the District Court has no appellate jurisdiction as to final decisions of a state supreme court or, a fortiori, the United States Supreme Court. However, the instant complaints are original claims which allege state law violation of the Federal Constitution.” Id. at 974 (emphasis added).

. Cf. Huffmann v. Pursue, Ltd., 420 U.S. 592, 605-07, 95 S.Ct. 1200, 1208-1209, 43 L.Ed.2d 482 (1975). None of the Supreme Court’s concerns about res judicata and collateral estoppel, id. at 606 n. 18, 95 S.Ct. at 1209, are present here. See note 5 supra.

. Appellant raises other challenges to the state proceedings, but, like the majority, I find no infirmity cognizable under § 1983 in the challenges raised.

. Such an injunction is not barred by the Anti-Injunction Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2283. See Mitchum v. Foster, 407 U.S. 225, 92 S.Ct. 2151, 32 L.Ed.2d 705 (1972).