CRUSADING LAWYER FINDS HIMSELF IN A FINE MESS LAW: ATTORNEY FACES DISBARMENT AND CHARGES OF MORAL TURPITUDE.Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer During his four-decade career, taxpayer-advocate attorney Richard I Richard I, Richard Cœur de Lion (kör də lyôN`), or Richard Lion-Heart, 1157–99, king of England (1189–99); third son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. . Fine has filed cases that have saved California taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and required state lawmakers to pass budgets on time. Whether he was bringing cases that reduced inflated Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. sewer rates or forcing the county to pay child- and spousal-support payments, Fine has championed ordinary people taking on one of the most powerful government and judicial systems in the nation. "He's a tireless and brilliant fighter for the little man and people's rights," said John Rizzo, president of the Marina Tenants Association, which retained Fine to protect Marina del Rey residents facing eviction The removal of a tenant from possession of premises in which he or she resides or has a property interest done by a landlord either by reentry upon the premises or through a court action. during recent marina redevelopment. But the 68-year-old Tarzana resident is now facing charges of moral turpitude A phrase used in Criminal Law to describe conduct that is considered contrary to community standards of justice, honesty, or good morals. Crimes involving moral turpitude have an inherent quality of baseness, vileness, or depravity with respect to a person's duty to as California State Bar Court Judge Richard A. Honn recently recommended that Fine be disbarred. The move comes several years after Fine alleged that Los Angeles Superior Court judges had not disclosed that the county paid them nearly $40,000 in annual cash benefits on top of their state salary packages in cases in which the county was a party. In State Bar documents, Honn alleges that Fine made those allegations in the cases during a "litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. rampage" to retaliate against judges who had ruled against him and his clients. Root of the dispute It started with a disagreement with court Commissioner Bruce E. Mitchell over attorney's fees in 1999 and grew into a full-fledged battle in which Fine alleged that Mitchell had misappropriated mis·ap·pro·pri·ate tr.v. mis·ap·pro·pri·at·ed, mis·ap·pro·pri·at·ing, mis·ap·pro·pri·ates 1. a. To appropriate wrongly: misappropriating the theories of social science. class-settlement funds. Honn alleged that Fine then accused judges of misconduct and filed motions to disqualify To deprive of eligibility or render unfit; to disable or incapacitate. To be disqualified is to be stripped of legal capacity. A wife would be disqualified as a juror in her husband's trial for murder due to the nature of their relationship. them for alleged bias because of the supplemental payments made by the county. Mitchell and Superior Court officials declined to comment for this story. Fine has taken the case to the California Supreme Court, arguing that the recommendation violates the U.S. Constitution and that the State Bar does not have the authority to place him on "inactive" status. The state's high court has yet to rule. "The bottom line is that when I filed cases against the Legislature and governor breaking the law, the State Bar didn't care," Fine said. "But when I filed cases against the judges breaking the law, suddenly the State Bar wanted to disbar To revoke an attorney's license to practice law. A disbarment proceeding is the investigation into the conduct of a member of the bar in order to determine whether or not that person should be disbarred or disciplined. me because the judges complained. The irony is that moral turpitude is doing horrible things against society. Filing cases against judges who are breaking the law is upholding the law." State Bar supervising trial counsel Joseph Carlucci said his office stands by Honn's decision. "We believe it's well-founded and I think it more than adequately sets forth Mr. Fine's serious and pervasive misconduct," Carlucci said. "The State Bar does not engage in retaliation. There was an actual contempt action that did result in Mr. Fine spending a few days in jail. That's how serious his misconduct was." Fine spent three days in Men's Central Jail but the contempt-of-court charge was later voided void·ed adj. Heraldry Having the central area cut out or left vacant, leaving an outline or narrow border: a voided lozenge. , according to court records. Arnold Siegel, director of the Ethical Lawyering Program and a law professor at Loyola Law School Loyola Law School is the law school of Loyola Marymount University, a private Jesuit school in Los Angeles, California. Loyola was established in 1920. Like Loyola University Chicago School of Law and Loyola University New Orleans College of Law (separate and unaffiliated , said he is perplexed by the charge of moral turpitude, which usually involves lawyers accused of crimes. "I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. how they think this gets to the level of moral turpitude," Siegel said. "It's typically associated with fraud and corruption, those kinds of behaviors. "It's hard to see the link. Is this behavior contrary to good morals? Is he really being dishonest here, or is he just being a gadfly gadfly, name for various biting flies, especially those that attack livestock, e.g., the botfly and the horsefly. ?" Fine also alleges in court documents that the past president and a current member of the State Bar Board of Directors will benefit by his disbarment disbarment n. the ultimate discipline of an attorney, which is taking away his/her license to practice law often for life. Disbarment only comes after investigation and opportunities for the attorney to explain his/her improper conduct. . Previous bar President Sheldon H. Sloan represented a Marina del Rey developer in lawsuits Fine has filed regarding the legality of leases between the county-owned marina and the developer. Sloan did not return calls for comment. Case against Fine is unusual Meanwhile, Fine says Los Angeles City Controller The Los Angeles City Controller is an official in the government of the city of Los Angeles, California. The City Controller is the auditor and chief accounting officer of the city. Laura Chick -- a public member of the State Bar board -- also would benefit from his disbarment. Fine alleges that Chick received $5,000 from the lobbyist for the Playa playa or pan or flat or dry lake Flat-bottomed depression that is periodically covered by water. Playas occur in interior desert basins and adjacent to coasts in arid and semiarid regions. Vista developer the day after issuing a favorable audit of the project. Fine represents residents and environmentalists in a lawsuit against the city over the enforcement of methane-mitigation systems at Playa Vista. "This is a frivolous claim without merit," Chick said in a prepared statement. "It is a shame that precious public resources should be spent on something that shouldn't be in court in the first place." But legal observers say the case against Fine is unusual. Fine is a prominent Beverly Hills attorney who had no disciplinary problems from the time he was admitted to practice in California in 1973 through 1999. Even Honn admitted that Fine has a "remarkable academic and professional background," noting that he earned a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics The School is a member of the Russell Group, the European University Association, Association of Commonwealth Universities, the Community of European Management Schools and International Companies, The Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs as well as the Golden in 1967, and worked at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., prosecuting antitrust cases. Fine also served as a Los Angeles special counsel investigating former Mayor Sam Yorty and is a distinguished visitor at the Claremont School of Religion. He's even a diplomat to the king of Norway, serving as his consul general in Southern California. Moral turpitude cases rare Observers say charges of moral turpitude against attorneys are rare. In 2006, the State Bar handled 611 disciplinary matters and recommended disbarments in 66 cases. Although State Bar officials couldn't say how many involved moral turpitude, records showed that five attorneys were summarily disbarred. State Bar spokesman Doug Hull said those cases usually involve an attorney convicted of a crime. "I was a little bit astonished a·ston·ish tr.v. as·ton·ished, as·ton·ish·ing, as·ton·ish·es To fill with sudden wonder or amazement. See Synonyms at surprise. that a charge would be phrased in terms of moral turpitude," said Richard Cordero, an attorney with Judicial Discipline Reform in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. . "It seems to me there is something else that has irked the State Bar." The action against Fine comes as oral arguments are scheduled in several weeks in the state Court of Appeal in San Diego in a lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch against the county, alleging that the nearly $40,000 in duplicate benefits the county pays judges are a "gift and waste of public funds." Assistant County Counsel Les Tolnai said the state court funding statutes allow the county to make the extra payments. But Rizzo said he doesn't buy that argument and believes the judicial system is punishing Fine for challenging the judges. "I think they are retaliating against him," Rizzo said. "You have this one individual who is fighting and winning against them, and now they've gone after him." troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com 213-974-8985 CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Richard I. Fine, a Tarzana attorney described by his clients as a champion of the people with a 40-year track record of being an advocate for taxpayers, faces disbarment and charges of moral turpitude. John McCoy/Staff Photographer |
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