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Attorney Grievance Commission v. Garland4/16/1997
ompliance with which is the nub of Petitioner's case) which Order was itself invalidated by the reversal.
3. The Hearing Judge was in error in determining as a matter of law that the Order of Judge Rushworth received by Respondent on October 8, 1993 was effective to require any compliance by him.
We will address his exceptions seriatim.
1.
Respondent argues before this Court that Judge Greene failed to consider and make findings with respect to his contention that he was denied due process of law in the proceedings before the Inquiry Panel. Respondent claims, without providing any facts to support his complaint, that he was denied due process because he was not provided with notice of the charges against him prior to the Inquiry Panel hearing.
The short answer to this exception is that Respondent never raised this issue before Judge Greene, and, as a result, we have no findings of fact or conclusions of law. We find that his exception that Judge Greene failed to make findings of fact and conclusions of law on this issue is without merit.
Our independent review of the record reveals that on November 15, 1993, Bar Counsel sent Garland a letter referencing BC Docket No. 94-186-14-5, advising him that a complaint file in the name of Bar Counsel was opened against him in connection with the sentence he received on October 5, 1993 before Judge Rushworth and his subsequent failure to appear at the D.W.I. facility in Prince George's County. In the letter, Bar Counsel stated that Garland's conduct was in violation of Maryland Rules of Professional Conduct 3.4(c) and 8.4(d), as well as "other Rules of Professional Conduct which may come to my attention."
A November 21, 1994 Memorandum from Bar Counsel to BC Docket No. 94-186-14-5 states, in pertinent part:
Mr. Garland wanted a transcript of the proceedings and Mr. Silkworth [the panel chair] said that it hadn't been transcribed and Mr. Silkworth explained what the panel was about and he is going to send everything to Mr. Garland and we will re-schedule the panel hearing. We went over my dates in December.
Bar Counsel took the deposition of Garland on July 26, 1996 in connection with these proceedings. Deposition Exhibit No. 7, a handwritten letter from Garland to Ronald Silkworth, indicated the following:
You called . . . and told me that the panel was agreeable to reopening the proceedings and that you would send me materials which would inform me of the charge(s) and proceedings to date. You declined to tell me any details over the phone but assured me that it would all "be in the package" I was to receive. I have received no package from you!
The Inquiry Panel held a second hearing on December 5, 1994; Garland did not appear. The record indicates that Garland received notice of the substance of the charges against him in the November 15, 1993 letter from Bar Counsel. See Attorney Griev. Com'n v. Goldsborough, 330 Md. 342, 624 A.2d 503 (1993)(So long as lawyer is given notice and opportunity to defend in a full and fair hearing following the institution of disciplinary proceedings, irregularity in proceedings before Inquiry Panel and Review Board ordinarily will not amount to denial of due process). We shall overrule Respondent's first exception.
2.
Respondent's next contention is that Judge Greene improperly engaged in a fact-finding expedition regarding the conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol which had been reversed on appeal in order to support the Order of the trial court commanding him to appear at the D.W.I. treatment facility. Before Judge Greene, Respondent contended that
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