Court Opinion

ID: 9747241
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 15:05:22.24837+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:40:51.574173
License: Public Domain

PER CURIAM.
This is an attorney disciplinary matter. It arises from a motion for final discipline filed by the Office of Attorney Ethics (OAE) before the Disciplinary Review Board (DRB). The motion is based on the criminal conviction of respondent, Jude J. Tonzola, for forgery and theft. In a decision dated November 18,1996, the DRB concurred in the OAE recommendation that respondent be disbarred. We remanded the matter to permit the parties the opportunity to supplement the record in respect of respondent’s claim of a medical condition (manic depression-bipolar disorder) as a mitigating factor. On May 10, 1999, the DRB reaffirmed its decision to disbar respondent.
We have conducted an independent review of the record as provided by Rule l:20-16(c). In so doing we have relied upon Rule l:20-13(c)(l), which provides that a criminal conviction is conclusive evidence of respondent’s guilt, and carefully considered the asserted mitigating factors. We hold that respondent should be disbarred.
I.
A.
Jude J. Tonzola was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1986. In the early stages of his career, respondent might have been considered a role model. He graduated from East Side High School in Newark as class valedictorian, earned his bachelor of arts degree at Princeton University, and earned his law degree at Seton Hall Law School, where he was an editor of the law review. During varying periods between 1986 to 1993, respondent worked at different law firms, the names of which are not relevant to the disposition of this matter.
*299In December 1993, respondent, along with partners Richard S. Panitch and G. Daniel Nider, formed the firm of Tonzola, Panitch & Nider. The firm began doing business in February 1994. Respondent’s partners encountered, in their words, “problems with Tonzola” early in their relationship. More specifically, in a joint statement submitted to the OAE, the partners claimed that respondent failed to submit his daily time sheets, failed to prepare file memoranda used by the firm’s ease management system, and failed to arrange for the delivery of certain client files promised by respondent as a basis for the initial formation of the firm. They also assert that respondent lied about his whereabouts (for example, he would claim to be in court on client business when he was not), charged personal expenses on the firm credit card, and was repeatedly absent from work.
Respondent’s partners grew concerned. In early April 1994, they insisted that respondent see a psychiatrist as a condition of their continued association. Respondent agreed and Dr. Howard Gross was selected to conduct the evaluation. According to the partners, Dr. Gross informed them that respondent suffered from “depression with an obsessive-compulsive lying component.” That opinion was formed partly on the basis of three patient visits. The partners also indicated in their statement that Dr. Gross expressed the view that respondent’s condition was “fully treatable with medication” and that he could continue to practice law with appropriate supervision.
On March 26,1995, respondent was charged in an Essex County criminal accusation with three counts of forgery, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:21-la(2), and one count of theft by unlawful taking, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:20-3. On April 3, 1995, respondent pled guilty to one count of forgery and the theft charge. At the plea hearing, respondent admitted to the facts underlying both charges. The State dismissed the other counts.
As contained in the trial court record, the following facts formed the basis of the charges against respondent and his conviction:

*300
The Two Forgeries

Gregory Policastro retained respondent to represent him in an expungement matter. (The representation spanned respondent’s tenure at two law firms.) In response to the client’s inquiry about the status of his case, respondent falsely represented that the expungement had been granted and that he was awaiting the court’s order to that effect. Respondent thereupon took an unrelated, legitimate order signed by Superior Court Judge Edward W. Beglin, Jr., excised the judge’s name using white-out or some other material, and photocopied it onto a separate sheet of paper to make it appear as an official order. He then tailored the language as expungement language and forged the judge’s signature without the court’s authorization or knowledge. Respondent presented the forged order to the client. That conduct occurred on or about October 8, 1993. The record also reveals that respondent had previously forged the signature of another Superi- or Court Judge, Eugene J. Codey, Jr., in furtherance of the same scheme. The forgery of Judge Codey’s signature occurred on or about July 6,1992.

The Theft and Third Forgery

Harry Romeo retained respondent to represent him in connection with the purchase of real estate. In January 1994, the client gave respondent a power of attorney to close the transaction and, for that purpose, gave respondent $27,000. Rather than utilize the funds for the closing, respondent used approximately $24,000 for his capital contribution to the Tonzola, Panitch & Nider firm and used $3,000 for his additional, personal benefit. He delivered the check for his capital contribution to the firm on or about January 27,1994.
Respondent also misrepresented to the client the status of civil litigation related to the purchase. In furtherance of the misrepresentation, respondent forged the signature of a third Superior Court Judge, Murray G. Simon. The forgery appears on a letter dated May 2, 1994, addressed to counsel of record, purportedly *301advising them of the status of the litigation. Although the record is imprecise as to exact dates, it appears that the client, unaware of respondent’s misdeeds, continued to believe he was being properly represented until May 1994.
On May 22, 1995, the trial court sentenced respondent to a one-year term of probation. As special conditions, respondent was required to make restitution to the Lawyers’ Fund for Client Protection in the amount of $27,000 and to write letters of apology to the three judges whose signatures he forged. After the OAE learned of the original allegations, respondent consented to a temporary suspension, which was ordered by this Court on May 26, 1994. In re Tonzola, 137 N.J. 1, 644 A.2d 73 (1994). The suspension has been in place since that date.
B.
The DRB unanimously recommended disbarment on November 18,1996. Two board members expressed their view that, although the case law compelled them to recommend disbarment, they favored a less severe discipline due to respondent’s asserted manic-depressive illness and underlying bipolar disorder. On July 21, 1997, we remanded the matter to the DRB to supplement the record with expert testimony in respect of respondent’s contention that his medical condition or defect should serve as a mitigating factor.
Although our remand order provided respondent and the OAE with the opportunity to request a full hearing before a special master, both declined to do so. Instead, the parties supplemented the record by submitting expert reports and relied on the briefs of counsel.
On behalf of the OAE, Daniel P. Greenfield, M.D., a psychiatrist, submitted a November 25, 1998, report (the “Greenfield report”). The Greenfield report states in part:
With regard to the issue of Mi'. Tonzola’s mental states and psychiatric conditions in connection with the several incidents in question, while I accept and agree that an underlying Bipolar Disorder when not effectively treated can result in acute *302impulsive behaviors, also driven by very poor social and professional judgement and grandiosity, and while I also accept and agree with Dr. Gross’[s] formulation that Mr. Tonzola was actively symptomatic with regard to his Bipolar Disorder at the time, it is nevertheless my psychiatric opinion — held with a degree of reasonable medical probability — that even if this situation were the case with Mr. Tonzola during the several specific periods of time in question in relation to the several specifically unacceptable acts and behaviors in which he engaged as an attorney (i.e., the three forgeries and misappropriation of approximately $27,000), it did not determine his mental state, ability to plan in purposeful, sequential, and goal-directed behaviors, or otherwise to impair his ability to have engaged in the complex behaviors in which he did, to the point that he was unable to do so. Put more simply, Mr. Tonzola was motivated in all of the instances of his forgeries to have engaged in complex, goal-directed, knowing, and purposeful behaviors in effecting these forgeries in order to accomplish the goal which he felt these forgeries would do at the time. His professional and social judgement were clearly wrong, and were influenced — as described above — by his grandiosity as a symptom of his Bipolar Disorder.
Nevertheless, he engaged in these behaviors knowing that they were wrong, but hoping that they would accomplish the goals of placating his clients____
Taking this analysis beyond the four incidents at issue, however, I also note that Mr. Tonzola was involved in the practice of law in other ways, and involving other eases, during the periods of time in question of these four incidents. To my knowledge, he was able to manage these other cases effectively and in some cases very well____
Using this analysis, these four situations stand out as unusual and out of context with the background of his otherwise competent and acceptable work as an attorney. Such an analysis does not permit symptomatology attributable to Bipolar Disorder — which, presumably, was ongoing and constant during the period of time in question — to selectively affect some parts of Mr. Tonzola’s work as an attorney, but not all.
Put more simply and concisely, if Mr. Tonzola’s Bipolar Disorder symptomatology were so overbearing and uncontrollable during the period of time in question, it should not have affected only four out of many cases on which he was working at the time.
In summary ... it is my psychiatric opinion — held with a degree of reasonable medical probability — that even though Mr. Tonzola’s judgement was unquestionable [sic] impaired in doing what he did in connection with those incidents, and even though this impairment was a symptom of his underlying Bipolar Disorder, his basic psychiatric conditions, mental states, and abilities to engage in high-level complex and cognitively driven and determined behaviors was [sic] not.
In response to the Greenfield report, respondent’s expert, Dr. Gross, submitted a report dated February 5, 1998 (the “Gross *303report”). Dr. Gross disputed Dr. Greenfield’s assertions and expressed the opinion that respondent’s “manic depressive illness so totally destroyed his will and volition that I would have been surprised if he acted in any manner other than the way that he did.” The expert also confirmed his earlier opinions expressed to the sentencing court and the DRB. The Gross report states in part:
In the final analysis, Mr. Tonzola’s Manic Depression so impaired his will that his otherwise purposeful actions are excusable. And though Mr. Tonzola may have been aware that the funds misappropriated were client funds and that the utilization of those funds in the manner he did was unauthorized, his cognitive and cerebral processes concerning the nature, quality and, most significantly, consequences of those acts were totally impaired. Mr. Tonzola was totally deluded by his Manic Depression into believing that his actions would not ultimately harm his clients, and were otherwise necessary to preserve his mortal and psychic manic self, his manic ventures into decadence, and his existential notions of his place in the world.
... Mr. Tonzola’s cognitive abilities and thought process during the times in question were acutely infiltrated by delusions, paranoia and grandiosity. Under those circumstances, if the measure of a person’s sanity is the rudimentary ability to appreciate the nature of his or her actions and to be able to differentiate whether those actions are right or wrong, then Mr. Tonzola was not “insane” during the relevant times in question. Conversely, if the measure of a person’s sanity is the totality and juxtaposition of his or her thoughts and the actions taken relative to those thoughts, then Mr. Tonzola was “insane” during the relevant times in question.
The record also includes Dr. Gross’s opinion that a tumor on respondent’s spinal cord, “either caused, significantly contributed to or acutely exacerbated the neurochemical imbalance that, in turn, led to his manic depressive illness.” The Gross report states: “[I]t is now accepted medical wisdom that ‘individuals with SCI [spinal cord injuries] will likely have significant histories of psychopathology, especially psyehoactive substance use disorders and major depressive disorder[.]’ ” Dr. Gross theorized that the tumor, which had been removed in November 1997, had been slow-growing since respondent’s birth. Although Dr. Gross stated that the tumor may have caused or contributed to respondent’s illness, the expert did not state that the tumor, by itself, impaired respondent’s will.
*304In a supplemental decision, the DRB affirmed its earlier recommendation that respondent be disbarred. The DRB emphasized that Dr. Gross was unable to state that respondent lost all appreciation of the wrongfulness of his actions, and that Dr. Greenfield observed that, despite the asserted condition, respondent was able to function properly in other settings. The matter is before us for our action pursuant to Rule l:20-16(a).
II.
For purposes of this disciplinary matter, we accept respondent’s conviction as conclusively establishing the elements of the underlying offenses of forgery and theft of client funds. As we have noted:
A criminal conviction is conclusive evidence of respondent’s guilt in disciplinary proceedings. No independent examination of the underlying facts is necessary to ascertain guilt. The only issue to be determined is the quantum of discipline to be imposed.
[In re Goldberg, 142 N.J. 557, 565, 666 A.2d 529 (1995) (citations omitted).]
Once the elements of an offense have been established, our analysis shifts to the appropriate discipline to be imposed. In that regard, we generally consider the nature and circumstances of the infraction, together with any mitigating factors. In re Spina, 121 N.J. 378, 389, 580 A.2d 262 (1990); In re Lunetta, 118 N.J. 443, 445-46, 572 A.2d 586 (1989). “[T]he Court’s goal is to protect the interests of the public and the bar while giving due consideration to the interests of the individual involved.” In re Litwin, 104 N.J. 362, 365, 517 A.2d 378 (1986).
When the offense, however, involves misappropriation or theft of client funds, disbarment is “almost invariable.” In re Wilson, 81 N.J. 451, 453, 409 A.2d 1153 (1979). Disbarment is all but certain in misappropriation cases unless there has been a “demonstration by competent medical proofs that respondent suffered a loss of competency, comprehension or will of a magnitude that could excuse egregious misconduct that was clearly knowing, volitional and purposeful.” In re Jacob, 95 N.J. 132, 137, 469 A.2d *305498 (1984). We use the “Jacob standard” here to determine whether respondent has submitted proofs sufficient to justify a sanction less than disbarment.
III.
The OAE argues that the analysis provided by respondent’s expert, Dr. Gross, is flawed in that it does not account for respondent’s continuing misconduct after the period in which he began treatment. The OAE also asserts that even accepting as fact that respondent suffered from some form of bipolar disorder or other condition during the periods in question, that circumstance does not satisfy the Jacob standard.
Consistent with the thrust of Dr. Gross’s report, respondent argues that his illnesses so overcame and destroyed his will that he was unable to arrest his urges to misappropriate and forge. Accordingly, respondent argues that he has satisfied the Jacob standard and that the sanction should be short of disbarment.
After our independent review of the record, we are convinced that respondent’s medical evidence is insufficient to justify a lighter sanction. We acknowledge that respondent’s condition makes this an atypical case. However, in other matters in which a respondent has proffered a medical condition or compulsion as a mitigating factor, we have concluded that disbarment is the appropriate disposition.
In other eases, we have been unconvinced that attorneys suffering from identifiable compulsive disorders, mental illness, or mental conditions could demonstrate “a loss of competency, comprehension or will of a magnitude that could excuse egregious misconduct that was clearly knowing, volitional and purposeful.” Jacob, supra, 95 N.J. at 137, 469 A.2d 498; see, e.g., [In re] Roth 140 N.J. [430,] 448, 658 A.2d 1264 [ (1995) ] (major depression); In re Davis, 127 N.J. 118, 130-32, 603 A.2d 12 (1992) (alcoholism); In re Spina, 121 N.J. 378, 390-91, 580 A.2d 262 (1990) (narcissistic personality disorder); In re Steinhoff, 114 N.J. 268, 273-74, 553 A.2d 1349 (1989) (drug dependency); In re Nitti, 110 N.J. 321, 325-26, 541 A.2d 217 (1988) (compulsive gambling); Jacob, supra, 95 N.J. at 136-38, 469 A.2d 498 (thyrotoxicosis). In those cases we have independently reviewed the record and determined that the “medical facts” presented did not provide a sufficient basis for “a legal excuse or justification” in mitigation of the respondents’ acts of misappropriation. Id. at 137, 469 A.2d 498. This result is consonant with the Court’s view, clearly *306expressed in Wilson, that disbarment would ‘‘be almost invariable” in misappropriation cases.
[In re Greenberg, 155 N.J. 138, 150, 714 A.2d 243 (1998), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 119 S.Ct. 1807, 143 L.Ed.2d 1011 (1999).]
In one case, In re Hein, 104 N.J. 297, 516 A.2d 1105 (1986), the respondent asserted alcoholism as a mitigating factor to the charge of misappropriation. The respondent’s expert described the effect of the dependency: “there is a disruption eventually of the normal critical thinking and in concern and judgment in his perception of daily living and in the accomplishment of skills in his particular profession.” Id. at 303, 516 A.2d 1105. In ordering disbarment, we explained:
These psychological states are extremely difficult for us to resolve. We do not purport here to determine definitively the effect alcohol dependency can have upon the volitional state of an individual. We have only the legal standard to guide us. We wish that we knew more.
Until we know more, perhaps until science and society know more, we shall continue to disbar in these cases. We believe that to do less will inevitably erode the Wilson rule and the confidence of the public in the Bar and in this Court. We believe that public attitudes toward alcoholics and addicts have changed, that they are much more compassionate, and almost totally nonpunitive, and that the members of the public have recognized more and more that they are dealing more with a disease than with a crime. Nevertheless, we do not believe that that sympathy extends to the point of lowering the barriers to the protection we have attempted to give to that portion of the public who are clients, especially clients who entrust their money to lawyers.
[Id. at 303-04, 516 A.2d 1105.]
Similarly, in In re Greenberg, supra, 155 N.J. 138, 714 A.2d 243, in which respondent was charged with misappropriating monies from his law firm, it was asserted that the respondent suffered from major depression. One expert stated that respondent “did not have the requisite intent to steal from his law firm.” Id. at 146, 714 A.2d 243. Another expert stated that the respondent “had no conscious awareness of his actions when he misappropriated [the] funds.” Id. at 156, 714 A.2d 243. In concluding disbarment was the appropriate sanction, we stated:
Neither expert goes so far as to claim that respondent was out of touch with reality or, alternatively, that he did not know what he was doing when he committed multiple acts of misappropriation. Instead, [the respondent’s experts] opine that respondent’s acts of misappropriation were available to his consciousness for only *307short periods of time — during and just after the acts took place — after which they were confined to his subconscious. Rather than supporting respondent’s claim, this testimony indicates that respondent did understand what he was doing at the time he was doing it.
[Id. at 156-57, 714 A.2d 243.]
We are compelled to reach a similar conclusion regarding respondent’s condition. Although Dr. Gross discussed at length the debilitating and overpowering effects of respondent’s illnesses, he also acknowledged that “Mr. Tonzola may have been aware that the funds misappropriated were client funds and that the utilization of those funds in the manner he did was unauthorized____” Dr. Gross further acknowledged, as noted by the DRB, “if the measure of a person’s sanity is the rudimentary ability to appreciate the nature of his or her actions and to be able to differentiate whether those actions are right or wrong, then Mr. Tonzola was not ‘insane’ during the relevant times in question.” Those acknowledgments, coupled with the opinion of OAE’s expert, lead us to conclude that, “Respondent’s mental illness, however severe, did not deprive him of the knowledge that he was taking [his client’s] funds, that the funds belonged to his [client], or that his [client] had not authorized the taking.” Id. at 158-59, 714 A.2d 243.
The OAE’s suggestions notwithstanding, the record does not clearly indicate that respondent continued his pattern of improprieties while being actively treated by Dr. Gross. At best, the record indicates some slight overlap: respondent first sought Dr. Gross’s treatment sometime in April 1994; the forgery of Judge Simon’s signature, the last significant act that formed the basis of the charges brought against respondent, occurred on or about May 2, 1994. Respondent committed the bulk of the offenses between July 1992 and April 1994. Thus, we decline to question the content or efficacy of the opinion expressed by Dr. Gross to respondent’s partners.
However, the fact that Dr. Gross was not actively treating respondent during the period of misconduct raises a different point. That fact essentially places Dr. Gross’s opinion on a par with that of the OAE’s expert, Dr. Greenfield. Both opinions are *308based on after-the-fact examinations of the patient; neither is based on extensive contact with respondent at the time the offenses were occurring. The evidence in the record, therefore, is controverted: two experts, on equal footing, have reached opposite conclusions as to the ultimate effect of respondent’s condition.
Nor can we overlook the fact, as emphasized by Dr. Greenfield, that respondent was able to function properly and well in other settings and in respect of other client matters, despite his illnesses. Moreover, as noted, even respondent’s expert has admitted that respondent may have been able to differentiate between right and wrong during the relevant time periods. Viewed within the context of the entire record, respondent’s proofs are insufficient to satisfy the exacting standard of Jacob. We cannot conclude with confidence that respondent’s mental condition influenced or motivated his criminal conduct to the point of excusing it.
We emphasize that this matter involves not only the crime of misappropriation, but also of forgery. The latter offense involved respondent’s efforts in forging the signatures of three judges and producing phony court documents on assorted dates. Not only do such acts perpetrate a fraud against the client, they touch upon, indeed corrupt, the judicial process. Standing alone, those acts warrant stern discipline. See In re Coruzzi, 98 N.J. 77, 79, 484 A.2d 667(1984).
IV.
Respondent’s fall is tragic, but no more so than the fate that has befallen other attorneys before him. We acknowledge that there is much we do not know about manic depressive behavior and bipolar disorders. As in the case of alcoholism, “[w]e wish that we knew more.” In re Hein, supra, 104 N.J. at 303, 516 A.2d 1105. In the final analysis, the best we can do as judges is consider the quality of proofs and apply the law evenly to all parties similarly situated. We endeavor to do that today. As always, we also endeavor to maintain the public trust.
Maintenance of public confidence in this Court and in the bar as a whole requires the strictest discipline in misappropriation cases. That confidence is so important that mitigating factors will rarely override the requirement of disbarment. If public confidence is destroyed, the bench and bar will be crippled institutions.
*309Functioning properly, however, in the best traditions of each and with full public confidence, they are the very institutions most likely to develop required reform in the public interest.
[In re Wilson, supra, 81 N.J. at 461, 409 A.2d 1153.]
Respondent is disbarred. He is ordered to reimburse the Disciplinary Oversight Committee for appropriate administrative costs.