In Re Complaint as to the Conduct of JAMES C. JAGGER, OSB Bar #700700, Accused.
(OSB 11103, 1353, 1354; S061978)
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF OREGON
May 14, 2015
357 Or 295
No. 19; En Banc
On review of the decision of the trial panel of the Disciplinary Board.
Argued and submitted January 13, 2015.
John C. Fisher, Eugene, argued the cause and filed the briefs for the accused.
Susan Roedl Cournoyer, Assistant Disciplinary Counsel, Tigard, argued the cause and filed the brief for the Oregon State Bar.
PER CURIAM
The accused is suspended from the practice of law for a period of 90 days, commencing 60 days from the filing of this decision.
PER CURIAM
In this lawyer disciplinary proceeding, the Oregon State Bar (Bar) alleged and the
On review, the Bar asks this court to affirm the above findings and, in addition, to find that the accused violated
We review de novo.
We briefly discuss the accused‘s arguments in the Fan matter only. The trial panel‘s statement of facts, which are essentially undisputed, is as follows:
“Mr. Fan was the respondent in a Family Abuse Prevention Act proceeding filed by Ms. Yang. The proceeding resulted in a restraining order against Fan which ordered him to refrain from contacting Yang. Fan also became a defendant in a criminal proceeding arising from the same conduct. The Accused represented Fan in these matters.
“On a day when Fan remained in jail on the criminal charge, the Accused contacted Yang via phone and arranged for her to visit his office at a later date. However, later that same day Yang visited the office of the Accused, without advance notice. At that time, the Accused happened to have Fan on the telephone in his conference room.
“The Accused invited Yang to speak with Fan on the phone, and advised Fan that he was putting Yang on the phone for the purpose of discussing the situation. He left Yang alone in his conference room for several minutes while she had a conversation with Fan. After this conversation, Yang left the office and did not again respond to contacts from the Accused; the Bar contends that Yang misunderstood the Accused‘s role in the matter, and did not know that he was representing Fan‘s interests alone. The record suggests that linguistic and cultural barriers may have contributed to Yang‘s misunderstanding.
“Based on Fan‘s participation in this conversation, he was convicted of contempt of court for violating the contact provision of the restraining order.”
The trial panel found by clear and convincing evidence that the accused had violated
“A lawyer shall not counsel a client to engage, or assist a client, in conduct that the lawyer knows is illegal or fraudulent, but a lawyer may discuss the legal consequences of any proposed course of conduct with a client and may counsel or assist a client to make a good faith effort to determine the validity, scope, meaning or application of the law.”
First, the accused contends that Fan‘s girlfriend, Yang, voluntarily initiated the phone contact with Fan. However, the record does not support that contention. To the contrary, the evidence shows that Fan initiated the phone call to the accused, that the accused
Second, the accused contends that the accused did not knowingly violate the law because the FAPA order prohibited Fan from “[c]ontacting, or attempting to contact, Petitioner by telephone,” which, the accused argues, required that Fan take affirmative action to violate the order. (Boldface omitted.) Even if we give the FAPA order that interpretation, however, the evidence shows that the accused assisted Fan in taking affirmative action. As explained above, the accused acted as Fan‘s agent in inviting Yang to talk to Fan; that invitation was an affirmative act. The evidence shows that the accused had actual knowledge of the FAPA order and its terms when he assisted Fan in taking that action.
We conclude that there is clear and convincing evidence that the accused violated
The accused is suspended from the practice of law for a period of 90 days, commencing 60 days from the filing of this decision.