No. 19-1428

Tina L. Morin v. Montana Office of Disciplinary Counsel

Lower Court: Montana
Docketed: 2020-07-02
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Response Waived
Tags: constitutional-rights disciplinary-counsel disciplinary-proceedings due-process Fourteenth-Amendment guardianship legal-ethics legal-representation professional-conduct right-to-counsel
Key Terms:
ERISA DueProcess Privacy JusticiabilityDoctri
Latest Conference: 2020-09-29
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Did the COP violate Morin's due-process rights under the Fourteenth-Amendment when the COP ordered Morin suspended from practice for allegedly violating Mont.-R.-Prof.-Cond.-R.-4.2(a) in the course of her legally asserting J.A.L.'s constitutional-and-statutory-rights-to-counsel-of-her-own-choosing?

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTION PRESENTED Petitioner Tina Morin (“Morin”) is a lawyer who represented the husband of J.A.L., an incapacitated person subject to guardianship. J.A.L. requested an attorney. Morin sought to assert on J.A.L.’s behalf her constitutional and statutory rights to choose her own legal representation. However, the guardians and the guardian ad litem, claiming to be her appointed counsel, refused. The guardians filed a complaint with the Montana Office of Disciplinary Counsel (“ODC”), claiming Morin had harassed them. The Commission on Practice of the Supreme Court of Montana (“COP”), found Morin violated Mont. R. Prof. Cond. R. 4.2(a) by contacting an allegedly represented party and suspended her after a hearing in which the COP barred Morin from presenting any exhibits, J.A.L.’s testimony, or the testimony of an expert witness in her defense. Therefore, the question presented is: Did the COP violate Morin’s due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment when the COP ordered Morin suspended from practice for allegedly violating Mont. R. Prof. Cond. R. 4.2(a) in the course of her legally asserting J.A.L.’s constitutional and statutory rights to counsel of her own choosing? u PARTIES TO THIS PROCEEDING Tina Morin Montana Office of Disciplinary Counsel STATEMENT OF RELATED CASES In the Matter of Tina L. Morin, No. PR 17-0448, Supreme Court of Montana, Judgment Entered February 26, 2019 (

Docket Entries

2020-10-05
Petition DENIED.
2020-08-05
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2020.
2020-08-03
Waiver of right of respondent Montana Office of Disciplinary Counsel to respond filed.
2019-08-23
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due August 3, 2020)
2019-06-18
Application (18A1324) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until August 23, 2019.
2019-06-12
Application (18A1324) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from June 24, 2019 to August 23, 2019, submitted to Justice Kagan.

Attorneys

Montana Office of Disciplinary Counsel
Pamela Dawn BucyOffice of Disciplinary Counsel for the State of Montana, Respondent
Pamela Dawn BucyOffice of Disciplinary Counsel for the State of Montana, Respondent
Tina Morin
Tina Lou Morin — Petitioner
Tina Lou Morin — Petitioner