Mississippi Bar v. Jones
Mississippi Bar v. Jones
Opinion of the Court
for the Court:
¶ 1. The Tennessee Supreme Court, through its Board of Professional Responsibility, publicly censured Samuel Jones— an attorney licensed in Tennessee and Mississippi—after a Tennessee trial court twice dismissed his client’s divorce action because he failed to act.
ANALYSIS
¶2. “This Court has exclusive and inherent jurisdiction in matters pertaining to attorney discipline.”
¶ 3. But while we are empowered to impose a different sanction than the first jurisdiction, we have concluded that “[o]nly under extraordinary circumstances should there be significant variance from a sanction imposed by the foreign jurisdiction.”
¶4. “We have held in attorney discipline matters that the purpose of discipline is not simply to punish the guilty attorney, but to protect the public, the administration of justice, to maintain appropriate professional standards, and to deter similar conduct.”
¶ 5. Tennessee determined that Jones had violated his duties to provide diligent representation, to communicate with his client, and to expedite litigation, all of which amounted to conduct detrimental to the administration of justice. These failures resulted in his client’s case being dismissed twice. We see no exceptional circumstance under our proportionality test that would cause us to depart from the sanction imposed by Tennessee.
¶6. In Mississippi Bar v. Walls, we imposed a public reprimand when an attorney’s failure to comply with the requirements of the Mississippi Tort Claims Act resulted in the dismissal of his client’s case.
CONCLUSION
¶ 7. Because Jones violated his ethical obligations to provide diligent representa
¶ 8. Therefore, we direct that Jones shall appear the first day of the next term of the' Circuit Court of DeSoto County after which this decision is issued, to be publicly reprimanded in open court by the presiding judge. Likewise, the Bar shall recover from Jones $210 in costs, upon the Bar’s proper filing of a motion within ten days after this decision issues.
¶ 9. ■ SAMUEL JONES SHALL BÉ PUBLICLY REPRIMANDED IN OPEN COURT BY THE PRESIDING JUDGE ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE NEXT TERM OF THE DESOTO COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT AFTER ISSUANCE OF THIS OPINION AND ASSESSED $210 IN COSTS.
. Jones had initiated a divorce proceeding for a client but took no action, and the court dismissed the case. Jones then successfully petitioned the court to set aside its dismissal, but he took no further action, and the case was dismissed a second time.
. Miss. Bar v. Drungole, 913 So.2d 963, 966 (Miss. 2005) (citing R. Discipline Miss. State
. Drungole, 913 So.2d at 966 (citing Gex v. Miss. Bar, 656 So.2d 1124, 1127 (Miss. 1995)).
. R. Discipline Miss. State Bar 13.
. Id.
. Id.
. Drungole, 913 So.2d at 970.
. Id.
. Id. at 967 (citing Miss. Bar v. Coleman, 849 So.2d 867, 875 (Miss. 2002); Cotton v. Miss. Bar, 809 So.2d 582, 585 (Miss. 2000); Miss. State Bar Ass'n v. A Miss. Attorney, 489 So.2d 1081, 1084 (Miss. 1986)).
. Drungole, 913 So.2d at 967 (citing Pitts v. Miss. State Bar Ass’n, 462 So.2d 340 (Miss. 1985); Miss. Bar v. Pels, 708 So.2d 1372, 1375 (Miss. 1998)).
. Miss. Bar v. Walls, 890 So.2d 875, 876 (Miss. 2004).
. Id. at 877.
. Miss. Bar v. Abioto, 987 So.2d 913, 916 (Miss. 2007).
. Id.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- THE MISSISSIPPI BAR v. Samuel JONES
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published