Court Opinion

ID: 9731355
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 15:43:03.500173+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:17.209196
License: Public Domain

MURRAY, Justice,
concurring.
In concurrence I write separately to state specifically my position with reference to certain matters set forth in the majority opinion.
First, I believe that this court’s standard of review of the disciplinary board’s recommendations needs to be elucidated. Our case law indicates that we give great weight to the board’s disciplinary recommendations. The ultimate responsibility for imposing discipline resides with this court. See Carter v. Walsh, 122 R.I. 349, 354, 406 A.2d 263, 265 (1979); Carter v. Folcarelli, 121 R.I. 667, 672, 402 A.2d 1175, 1178 (1979).
It is my conviction that this standard does not allow the court to engage in de-novo review of a matter even if it is so inclined. My research confirms this conviction. The Supreme Court for the State of Utah has a similar standard of review to which I ascribe. That court has adopted the position that it will accept its board’s recommendations unless they are arbitrary or unreasonable. See In re Calder, 795 P.2d 656, 657 (Utah 1990) (citing In re Hansen, 584 P.2d 805, 807 (Utah 1978)). It is the view of the District of Columbia that the Court of Appeals must implement the board’s recommendations "unless to do so would foster a tendency toward inconsistent dispositions for comparable conduct or otherwise would be unwarranted.” See In re Morris, 495 A.2d 1162, 1163 (D.C. App. 1985) (quoting D.C. Rules Annot. Rule XI). Our sister state Connecticut has common-law review of disciplinary-board recommendations. That state treats its disciplinary board as a quasi-judicial body, as does Rhode Island. See Pinsky v. Statewide Grievance Committee, 216 Conn. 228, 233, 578 A.2d 1075,1078 (1990); Rule 1.2 of Rules of Procedure of the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island. Thus “the right of an attorney to judicial review in a disciplinary matter should [not] be any different than the process accorded other professionals in disciplinary matters before licensing and/or disciplinary boards.” Pinsky, 216 Conn, at 235, 578 A.2d at 1079. Accordingly, in Connecticut the scope of that court’s review is “limited to a review of the record to determine if the facts as found are supported by the evidence contained within the record and whether the conclusions that follow are legally and logically correct.” Id. at 234, 578 A.2d at 1078.
Second, I am not persuaded as the majority is that “no evidence demonstrates or even suggests that any of the attorneys planned to influence Fuyat by acceding to his requests” to lend money. See majority op. at 316. The majority opinion states that some attorneys acceded to the request to make loans because they feared retribution from the judge. The Illinois Supreme Court suspended an attorney for eighteen months under similar facts in the case of In re Karzov, 126 Ill. 2d 33, 127 Ill.Dec. *327774, 533 N.E.2d 856 (1988). In Karzov a judge asked an attorney for a $1,000 loan so that he could take a vacation. The attorney had appeared before the judge in the past and anticipated appearing before him in the future. The attorney testified that although he resented being asked for a loan, he lent the money because he feared retribution from the judge. The Supreme Court of Illinois stated that even though the attorney had been coerced, the loan was in fact made with the intention of influencing the judge. That is, the attorney made the loan with the intent of influencing the judge not to seek retribution. Accordingly, I cannot adopt the majority’s conclusion that those attorneys who made “loans” to Judge Fuyat out of fear that Judge Fuyat would seek retribution if the loans were not made did not do so with the intention of influencing the judge.
Many of the facts recited in the majority’s decision, such as the pre-existing friendships between Judge Fuyat and the attorneys in question, the noncontested nature of the appearances of the attorneys before the judge, and the fact that the loans were not public knowledge, are interesting background material. The disciplinary board appropriately considered these facts in recommending discipline.
In my view none of these factors minimize the unethical conduct of the attorneys involved.
Consonant with the tone of this concurrence, comment is made on the fact that other dispositions by way of admonitions and private censures were meted out to others not mentioned in the majority opinion. I feel no less critical of that conduct that did not result in harsher sanctions, but I am willing to abide by the deliberations that have been made by the board.
In conclusion, the stake here is the public’s confidence in the judicial system. That confidence can only be maintained by adherence to an inflexible principle that attorneys and judges avoid even the slightest appearance of impropriety. If there is any ambiguity or doubt concerning a transaction’s propriety, those doubts should be resolved against those who participate in the activity.
For these reasons I concur with the sanctions imposed, deeply conscious of the difficulty of the task that the disciplinary board1 has performed with intelligence, discretion, and professionalism.

. The board was originally formed on May 1, 1975. It is composed of nine members. Each member serves without compensation for a three-year term.