Court Opinion

ID: 9783917
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 20:22:00.903106+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:32:27.876432
License: Public Domain

JIM HANNAH, Chief Justice, concurring in part and dissenting in part. I concur in the majority’s conclusion that the findings of the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission l^that Judge L.T. Simes violated Canons 4(E), 4(G), and 2 of the Cannons of Judicial Conduct are not clearly erroneous. However, I dissent from the majority’s decision to suspend Judge Simes. I believe that the Commission was correct in recommending that Judge Simes should be permanently removed from the bench. Maintaining public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary requires no lesser sanction. The matter raised by the Commission is confined solely to Judge Simes’s conduct on the bench concerning the Chandler Estate. As the majority notes, Judicial Discipline & Disability Commission v. Thompson, 341 Ark. 253, 16 S.W.3d 212 (2000), sets the current standard for judicial discipline cases. There, we adopted the factors set out in Disciplinary Proceedings Against Anderson, 138 Wash.2d 830, 981 P.2d 426, 437-38 (1999). Among the factors adopted in Thompson, the following are relevant in analyzing the present matter: (a) whether the misconduct is an isolated instance or evidenced a pattern of conduct; (b) the nature, extent and frequency of occurrence of the acts of misconduct; [[Image here]] (e) whether the judge has acknowledged or recognized that the acts occurred; (f) whether the judge has evidenced an effort to change or modify his conduct; (g) the length of time of service on the bench; (h) whether there have been prior complaints about this judge; (i) the effect the misconduct has upon the integrity of and respect for the judiciary. Thompson, 341 Ark. at 278-79,16 S.W.3d at 226. I agree with the majority’s conclusion that the facts of Thompson are distinguishable from the facts in the present case; however, I disagree that Judge Simes’s conduct does not involve a pattern of misconduct. The misconduct at issue may have all occurred in one matter, but it was repeated over and over while Judge Simes served as circuit judge. Judge Simes’s conduct was different than the conduct discussed in Thompson. For that reason, I believe the two cases are not comparable. Judge Simes became involved in the Chandler Estate in 1976 prior to his election as circuit judge. He served as the attorney for the Chandler Estate and was appointed by the Phillips County Probate Court as the personal representative of the Chandler Estate. In 1986, the probate court entered an order directing attorney Simes to receive, as personal representative, the annual rental payments for the Chandler Estate’s real property. Judge Simes became a circuit judge on January 1,1997. Upon his election as circuit judge, Judge Simes did not file an accounting nor did he obtain an order from the probate court discharging him as the personal representative of the Chandler Estate. Judge Simes did not offer any reasonable or credible explanation as to why he failed to obtain an order discharging him or for failing to file an accounting. The rental checks continued to be sent to Judge Simes each December, and each year he failed to disburse the proceeds to the heirs of the Chandler Estate. He also failed to file an annual accounting as required. [,7This misconduct was repeated over and over for the six years after he took the bench. It ended only when attorney Jesse B. Daggett was retained and obtained an order from the probate court requiring Judge Simes, as personal representative of the Chandler Estate, to make an accounting with respect to his administration of the Chandler Estate. This misconduct is not an isolated event; rather it demonstrates a pattern of misconduct. Judge Simes has not accepted responsibility for his misconduct. It was only when attorney Daggett became involved that Judge Simes began to try to account for the money he had received in the administration of the Chandler Estate. Only after a hearing before Special Judge W.H. “Dub” Arnold in 2005, in which the court found that Judge Simes had never filed an accounting as ordered, and that Judge Simes had breached his duty to the Chandler Estate and was liable therefore under Arkansas Code Annotated section 29-52-101(c) (Repl.2004), and only after an order was entered that he repay the Chandler Estate, did Judge Simes pay the Estate the money he had owed it for so long. He was ordered to and did pay a total of $24,183, which included interest. I also note that in the course of the above-noted hearing, Judge Simes filed a petition for fees in the amount of $13,940.77. It included fees allegedly earned during the time that Judge Simes was serving as a circuit judge. Judge Simes has previously been sanctioned for violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct. As the majority pointed out, Judge Simes received a Public Informal Adjustment from the Commission in 2004 and a Letter of Admonishment from the Commission in 2006. 12sMore disturbing is a Letter of Reprimand Judge Simes received on November 21, 2008. Judge Simes failed to timely enter an order in an election case. Judge Simes had represented in his quarterly report under Arkansas Supreme Court Administrative Order No. 3 that he had no cases under advisement and then subsequently entered on May 29, 2007, an order with a signature date of December 6, 2006. See Willis v. Crumbly, 370 Ark. 374, 259 S.W.3d 417 (2007). The judiciary cannot function without the trust and confidence of the people. Judge Simes’s misconduct seriously undermines the integrity of and respect for the judiciary. This results in the people losing trust and confidence in the judiciary. I must conclude that our duty to protect the integrity and the respect for the judiciary requires that Judge Simes be removed from the bench as the Commission recommends. Because the sanction imposed is inadequate to protect the integrity of the judiciary, I respectfully dissent as to the sanction. CORBIN, J., joins.