Peck v. Statewide Grievance Committee

Citations

• 198 Conn. App. 233

Syllabus

The plaintiff attorney appealed to this court from the judgment of the trial court dismissing, for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, his appeal from the decision of the defendant Statewide Grievance Committee, which had denied his request to vacate a prior decision by a reviewing commit- tee of the defendant that imposed a disciplinary sanction against him. The plaintiff, who had represented L in a real estate transaction, intro- duced L to one of the plaintiff's then law partners, O, who was looking to secure a loan for the law firm. In 2001, L loaned the plaintiff's law firm $70,000, and, by 2008, when the law firm had not repaid the loan, the plaintiff and O each executed new notes for repayment of the loan by 2013. In 2011, L filed a grievance complaint against the plaintiff. The reviewing committee concluded in its 2013 decision that the plaintiff violated rule 1.8 (a) of the Rules of Professional Conduct by failing to advise L that he should seek the advice of independent counsel in connection with the loan, and by failing to advise L in writing that he was not acting as his lawyer in connection with the loan and to establish in writing the precise nature of the plaintiff's role in the transaction. The reviewing committee ordered the plaintiff to attend a continuing education course in legal ethics. The defendant thereafter denied the plaintiff's request for review, in which he stated that he accepted the discipline that was imposed and waived any appeal to the Superior Court. Four years later, the defendant declined to act on a motion that the plaintiff filed in 2017, pursuant to Disciplinary Counsel v. Elder (325 Conn. 378), in which he sought to vacate the disciplinary sanction on the ground that the six year time period in the applicable rule of practice (§ 2-32 (a) (2) (E)) for filing a grievance mandated the dismissal of L's grievance. The defendant also declined to act on the plaintiff's subsequent motion for reconsideration. In granting the defendan