Court Opinion

ID: 9579808
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:58:50.797474+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:35:47.645072
License: Public Domain

SOSA, Senior Justice, dissenting. With the majority opinion in this matter, I disagree for two reasons: First, I have difficulty in concluding that the evidence is clear and convincing on the existence of an attorney-client relationship at all material times. Second, and more importantly, I must take issue with the movement of the majority away from clear and convincing evidence as the standard of proof in a disciplinary proceeding such as this, where a person’s reputation and very livelihood are at risk. I believe that the property interest in a professional license is entitled to the due process protections of the Constitutions of the United States and New Mexico. I am troubled, therefore, by the decision of this Court to jettison a body of case law dating back to 1916, simply because a rule of this Court has been withdrawn. The majority incorrectly implies that case law has followed the rule. In fact the opposite is true. Supreme Court Rule 3, paragraph 1.10 was only adopted by this Court on August 22, 1960, some 44 years after our precedent had been established. Compiler’s notes, NMSA 1953 Comp. I did not participate in Foster v. Board of Dentistry, 103 N.M. 776, 714 P.2d 580 (1986), on which the majority relies for lowering the standard of proof in licensing proceedings from clear and convincing evidence to a preponderance of the evidence. The majority recognizes that Foster conflicts with the traditional standard which all parties had assumed was applicable in the case at bar. In this context, the Foster decision is erroneous as to both precedent and policy. In my judgment, Foster does not expressly overrule our case law dating back to 1916. Moreover, the portion of Foster which lowers the standard of proof is not part of the holding of the case, but is merely dicta, in the nature of an advisory opinion, which is not the proper method to introduce such a drastic revision of our legal doctrine. The present case does expressly overturn our precedents, even though it could have been decided and the same result reached without such disruption. I cannot concur with the lowering of the burden on those who seek to cancel a professional license. Obviously, the public needs to be protected against misdeeds of lawyers. Such misdeeds, however, should be proven by a clear and convincing standard. A lawyer also has some rights, particularly when his license to practice his chosen profession is in jeopardy. Therefore, I must object to the imposition of a standard of proof which endangers those rights. For the foregoing reasons, I respectfully dissent.