Dorignac's grocery at center of family lawsuit

Dorignac's on Veterans Boulevard in 2014. NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune.

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By Katherine Sayre, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune The Times-Picayune
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on October 26, 2016 at 7:55 AM, updated October 27, 2016 at 9:27 AM

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The descendants of Dorignac's grocery founder Joseph P. Dorignac have been forced out of the legendary Metairie business by three people appointed to oversee the family's trust funds, according to a lawsuit filed in Jefferson Parish.
The trustees -- lawyer Shawn Bridgewater-Normand and accountants Ronald Dawson and Kevin Neyrey -- have wrested control of Dorignac's grocery and are paying themselves as managers and bookkeepers, essentially overthrowing the Dorignac heirs from their great-grandfather's business, according to the family's lawsuit filed in July.
Joseph P. Dorignac III, known as "Joey," put the grocery business into trusts for his four sons and wife and selected the trustees before he died Nov. 6, 2006.
In response to the lawsuit, a spokesman for the trustees said the lawsuit is based on "false, unfounded and unsubstantiated claims" and they will "continue to work diligently to fulfill their obligations" as required under the trusts.
Dorignac's has operated near the foot of Veterans Memorial Boulevard in Metairie since 1963, relocating from an Uptown location that opened in the 1940s. The store has maintained a loyal following for its local flair and offerings.
Four generations into the family business, Joseph P. Dorignac IV, Jason P. Dorignac, Jon Paul Dorignac and Joel Peter Dorignac are asking a judge to intervene and remove from power the trustees controlling the store. The four brothers are beneficiaries of two trusts that collectively own the business, Dorignac's Food Center LLC.
"While the Dorignacs have the utmost confidence in the employees of Dorignac's Food Center and the quality of their work, they can no longer allow the trustees to run the business in secrecy and will pursue all legal paths to ensure that their family's business is being run properly -- now and into the future," Matthew Almon, attorney for the brothers, said in a statement.
Stuart Feigley, spokesman for the trustees, said the trustees "are working with the court to ensure accurate fulfillment of their duties as dictated by trust documents and Louisiana law" and "are confident that this legal issue will be addressed by the court in a timely manner and lead to a positive resolution."
Neyrey is managing partner and Dawson is partner in the accounting firm Eriksen Krentel and LaPorte. Bridgewater-Normand is an attorney with Chaffe McCall and the wife of Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand. The trustees are also managers of Dorignac's Food Center LLC.
Ownership in the grocery is divided 80 percent in the Joseph P. Dorignac III Children's Trust and 20 percent in the Karen Pattenotte Dorignac Trust. Joey Dorignac's four sons and wife are beneficiaries of the trusts.

Bossier City attorney faces disbarment if convicted of theft allegations

Bossier City attorney faces disbarment if convicted of theft allegations

Vimbai ChikomoNov. 24, 2015, 5:14pm

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BOSSIER PARRISH — A Bossier City couple arrested two weeks ago for allegedly carrying out a scheme to steal thousands of dollars and manipulating the sale of two residential properties from a dying man are out on bail.

Michael Cox, an attorney, and his wife, Sharon, were arrested and posted bail on Nov. 12 and Nov. 13, respectively, in a case that has left many wondering what will become of Cox’s attorney standing in light of the allegations.
“I can’t comment on whether the allegations are true,” N. Gregory Smith, professional ethics professor of law at Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center recently told The Louisiana Record. “But we have a rule of professional conduct on which lawyers can be disciplined for violation.”

The rule that Smith referred to is Rule 8.4 Misconduct of the American Bar Association, which states, in part: “It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to commit a criminal act especially one that reflects adversely on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects.”
In May 2012, Michael Cox, acting as the attorney for one of his clients, allegedly made his wife, Sharon, the client's power of attorney, according to the Bossier Sheriff's Office. Michael then wrote a will listing his wife as the sole heir to all of the victim's belongings, disinheriting the victim's only child.

Detectives alleged that Sharon, acting as the power of attorney, emptied out the victim’s bank account of roughly $69,000, and didn't make payments on the victim's credit card bills and other bills, which eventually added up to thousands of dollars in bank fees, late fees and interest.

In addition, while the victim was hospitalized, Michael allegedly sold the victim's two homes to Sharon for $100 each.

Michael Cox admitted to a judge in a civil case filed on behalf of the victim's child in October that he notarized the documents despite never being a commissioned notary in Louisiana.

He has been charged with felony theft, money laundering, and filing and maintaining false public records.  Sharon Cox was charged with felony theft and money laundering.

Dane Ciolino, legal ethics expert and professor of law at Loyola University New Orleans said it is likely Michael Cox will not be allowed to practice law if convicted of the charges.
“If those allegations are proved, then there is no doubt he [Michael Cox] will be permanently disbarred from the practice of law," Ciolino told The Louisiana Record.

Although Ciolino has come across other cases of lawyer misconduct, he found the allegations in this case surprising.
“I’ve heard of other egregious cases of lawyer misconduct, but this is as bad of a case of misconduct as one could imagine," he said. "If true, it’s a lawyer completely breaching the trust of his client and using legal skills to defraud an innocent client and child.”

Unfortunately, there is only so much a client can do to prevent becoming a victim of lawyer misconduct. Ciolino said although clients can do their due diligence and ask a lot of questions of their lawyers, a large portion of the attorney-client relationship is based on trust.

Experts offer tips on how older residents can protect themselves from financial exploitation

Editor's note: This Shark believes that all the seminars in the world could not have help Alice R. Gore, a disabled ward of the court.  Her financial exploitation was from the people mandated to protect her, The Probate Court of Cook County.  Alice was drugged, had her gold teeth extracted and her fortune stolen from her.  As long as the Kawamotos, Solos, Martins and Larkins and their clones are running the show, change will never occur.  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

 

Experts offer tips on how older residents can protect themselves from financial exploitation

Posted: Oct 02, 2015 5:51 PM CDT Updated: Oct 02, 2015 10:16 PM CDT

By Erika Ferrando

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eferrando@kplctv.com

 

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(Source: Raycom)

It happens too often — elderly residents being targeted by people they trust.

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Last week, 42-year-old Mark Eldridge was accused of stealing around $4,000 from an elderly man who trusted Eldridge with his finances, even giving him power of attorney. The loss of the money led to the foreclosure of victim's home.
"I believe this guy saw this elderly gentleman; he was vulnerable, took advantage of him; cleaned him out," said LaWanda Gibson, managing attorney for Acadiana Legal Services. She works closely with the Calcasieu Council on Aging and speaks with elderly residents several times a week who fall victim to the same thing.
Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Tony Mancuso said his office hears about these incidents daily. He advised seniors to be careful when choosing someone to handle their financial responsibilities.
"You have to pick somebody that you trust and they have to have a clear understanding of what your goals are and your objectives are about how you want them to spend your money," said Mancuso.
Gibson said there are three major signs elderly residents need to look out for with financial exploitation.
"Check your bank statements. If there's a withdrawal out your account that you're not aware about, follow up on it. If you're getting calls from bill collectors you're not familiar with, if you're getting credit cards that you did not apply for," said Gibson.
"There's always a way to put in some checks and balances. The best way is to have more than one person who have no affiliation with each other to check the other one's work," said Mancuso.
If you believe you may be a victim of financial exploitation, contact law enforcement.
"A predator can be a family member; it can be a stranger. If they find a vulnerable spot, they're going to take advantage of it," said Gibson.
The Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office is hosting a safety for seniors seminar. The seminar is free for all seniors ages 55 or older who are interested in their personal and financial safety. It will be held 9 a.m.-11:30 a.m.Wednesday, Oct.  28 at the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office, in the John Scott Doyle Building, at 5400 East Broad Street.
The seminar will feature presentations on personal protection, identity theft, how to avoid being a victim of fraud, and  ho to be prepared. Call
337-491-3737 to RSVP.

Documents: Sims, attorney had adversarial relationship

Editor's note:  And yet...conduct such as this continues in the Probate Court of Cook County...and nobody is punished.  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

Documents: Sims, attorney had adversarial relationship

Alexandria Burris, alexandria.burris@shreveporttimes.com 1:39 p.m. CST January 7, 2015

The Judiciary Commission of Louisiana recommended Shreveport City Court Judge Sheva Sims be suspended for 90 days without pay following an investigation into a complaint.

Sheva Sims(Photo: File)

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Shreveport City Court Judge Sheva Sims could be suspended for 90 days without pay if the Louisiana Supreme Court agrees with the findings of the Judiciary Commission of Louisiana.
Sims, who was re-elected to the District D bench Nov. 4, is accused of holding former Assistant City Prosecutor Katherine Gilmer in contempt of court after she refused to meet with Sims in her chambers about an administrative, non-emergency matter.
Sims also is accused of not following proper contempt procedures and dismissing 15 criminal cases — several involving domestic abuse battery, resisting an officer and criminal mischief charges — without taking evidence and having the authority to do so. She also is accused of failing to cooperate with the Office of Special Counsel during the investigation.
Sims, who appeared before commission Sept. 19, could not be reached for comment.
According to the court documents, she disputed holding Gilmer in contempt of court and testified that she did not out-right dismiss the cases, just rescheduled them.
The Judiciary Commission of Louisiana, a constitutional fact-finding body which cannot discipline judges, filed its recommendation with the the Louisiana Supreme Court's Clerk of Court Office Dec. 2. The matter is on the Louisiana Supreme Court's docket for 9:30 a.m. Jan. 29.
Attorney John Settle said he filed the original complaint in May 2012 after reading an article with no byline about dismissal of the cases.
"That kind of action is not explainable, excusable and should not be tolerated," he said. "I'm disappointed that the recommendation was not more severe and I'm hoping that the Supreme Court will take more severe action."
According to court documents obtained from Settle and the Louisiana Supreme Court's Clerk of Court Office, the disciplinary recommendation stems from an April 2012 incident between Gilmer and Sims. The judge was formally charged in Sept. 25, 2013.
The commission alleges Sims engaged in judicial misconduct and failed to uphold the integrity of the office. Gilmer, who now works at the firm Elton B. Richie and Associates, LLC., said she has seen the recommendation but did not wish to comment.
Sims was elected on Nov. 19, 2011, and had been a judge for less than six months at the time of the alleged incident which took place April 24, 2012.
The documents, in which the commission lays out its findings and portions of testimony offered during its investigation, portray Sims and Gilmera as foes whose adversarial relationship continued after Sims became judge.
In its filings the commission alleges Sims describes Gilmer's behavior during one court case as "rude and disrespectful." City Attorney Terri Scott, who also testified in the matter, intervened between the two women following a disagreement about how Sims handled drivers' license forfeitures and other administrative issues.
Scott also did not respond to requests via telephone or email for comment.
According to the filing, Scott communicated to Sims, her assistant prosecutors and other other judges her desires to be included in all meeting requests with her staff and to contact her about administrative issues.
Days before the April 24 incident, the court's judicial administrator emailed Gilmer requesting a meeting on Sims' behalf, according to the documents. Sims testified she asked for that meeting to discuss courtroom proceedings and because Gilmer did not respond to her secretary's earlier attempt to arrange one. She claimed not to be aware of Scott's directive until Scott sent a letter making the request, according to the documents.
Gilmer inquired about the nature of the meeting, copying Scott in the email. Scott again intervened and unsuccessfully attempted to contact Sims, the documents allege.
On April 24, 2012, Gilmer appeared in Sims' court for another legal matter when Sims again attempted to meet with her.
According to the documents, Gilmer called Scott, who allegedly told her not to go, according to the documents. Sims allegedly waited 20 minutes before approaching Gilmer to personally request, several times, a meeting. Gilmer refused and asked if the judge contacted Scott. Sims went to her bench and made the request again.
Gilmer refused again and was held in contempt, though she was not arrested, taken into custody or fined, according to the documents. Sims told the commission she had scheduled a contempt hearing "to allow Gilmer a 'cooling-off period'."
The commission alleges Sims then proceeded to dismiss 15 cases without taking evidence — an act which required the Marshal's Office to refund the defendant's bonds. Sims testified the dismissal did not cost the court money.
Sims testified she was not aware Gilmer was acting under a directive. She also denied acting in anger and having animosity toward Gilmer.
According to the documents, Sims would later subpoena Gilmer for the contempt hearing in which she allegedly asked a city court employee to turn off courtroom cameras during the hearing. The employee testified that he told Sims the cameras could not be turned off, but they could be obstructed with a piece of paper.
Sims denied making the request, according to the filing. She testified that if she did make the request it was because "the video could be viewed in real time and she wanted to save Ms. Gilmer form public embarrassment and criticism."
Gilmer did publicly apologized and the contempt case was dismissed, the document read. Sims would later grant a motion to set aside the dismissals and reinstate the 15 cases. During her appearance before the commission, Sims said the matter was a learning experience.
"Maybe I did not use the right words. But I have grown up and matured since that time, and my only goal is to help and do the right thing," she's quoted as saying.

C.J. Chenier maintains he is Clifton Chenier's son despite lawsuit

CJ Chenier performs at Music & Market Dominick Cross

Dominick Cross, 11:05 a.m. CDT October 3, 2014

C.J. Chenier with Clifton Chenier’s accordion at Music & Market Friday in Opelousas. (Photo: Dominick Cross )

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In some ways, the lawsuit filed against C.J. Chenier by the heirs of zydeco musician Clifton Chenier is a matter of setting the record straight as at least one of the 22 plaintiffs sees it.
"It's nothing more than trying to clean it up," said Mike Vital, nephew of the late Margaret Vital Chenier, deceased wife of Clifton Chenier. "I wish him well. You can live off of a person's fame all you want, but you've got to prove it. You've got to have documents."
C.J. Chenier fronts C.J. Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band, which was once led by the late King of Zydeco, Clifton Chenier. He has claimed for years he is Chenier's son.
In the petition, filed in 15th Judicial District Court in Lafayette and delivered to C.J. Chenier (Clayton Joseph Thompson in the document) at his Music & Market gig in Opelousas, plaintiffs want Chenier to stop claiming he is Clifton Chenier's son because Chenier "was medically unable to sire any biological or natural children." They do not want the musician to use the name Chenier; and there's an assertion that Chenier sought to divert royalties to himself that was supposed to go to the plaintiffs.
"Of course, none of that's true, man," C.J. Chenier sighed. "It's going to all come out when it's all said and done. You know?"
C.J. Chenier, 57, said he began playing with Clifton Chenier and his band in 1978 when he was 20 years old. Then, at Clifton's behest, as diabetes wore down the King of Zydeco, C.J. Chenier took over the band in 1987.
"I've been on my own 27 years now, and to me, when something like this arises there's an ulterior motive behind it," said Chenier.
Lake Charles attorney King Alexander, who represents Chenier's heirs, said they and others have stated Thompson said he legally changed his name.
"But as far as I know he has never produced any documentation to back that up. If he did it in some other jurisdiction, such as Texas, we just haven't seen it," said Alexander. "So until I see some documentary evidence that he has done it, then I'm going to assume that he has not done it."
Chenier recalled how he got involved with the band.
"(Clifton Chenier) came and got me when I was 20 years old, one week before I made 21. How did I wind up there?" he said. "He called my momma, said, 'Tell my boy pack his bags. I'm coming to get him.' And that was that. That was that."
And then, Chenier said, Clifton Chenier came to Port Arthur, Texas, and picked him up.
"I played my first gig with him in Bridge City, Texas, in 1978. September twenty-something — right before I made 21," said Chenier. "And that was the start of my career with him. I went on the road at the point and I'd been with him until the day he died, man.
"So that's the thing. My life has taken a natural course. I didn't plan for nothing," Chenier said. "I didn't do anything through my life trying to prepare for when he died so I could take this and take that. I didn't have none of that in my mind.
"So all of a sudden, here comes somebody who's not no relation to him whatsoever; they're not no relation to Clifton Chenier whatsoever; there's no Chenier blood around there at all. They're kin to his wife.
"I made my living, but these fingers are mine. They don't belong to nobody else but me," he said. "And I don't care what your last name is, if people don't like you, they're not going to come and see you.
"I just think there's ulterior motives behind it. I've got my own royalties — I don't need his," said Chenier. "Years ago, when he first passed away, I never tried to go after nothing that they had. I never, not once, messed with Miss Margaret about anything.
"As a matter of fact, me and her, before my daddy passed, had a pretty good relationship," said Chenier. "She used to cook and send food. There's a lot of things people don't know, man, because they weren't there."
Vital disputes that, recalling a time when C.J. Chenier dropped by the Clifton Chenier Club in Loreauville and Chenier's wife sent him away.
"One day, he came to the club and she made him put Clifton's instrument down (saying), 'Get out. Get out of here," said Vital. "And that's why he couldn't play with my aunt. My aunt wouldn't play."
Chenier said he was the one who took care of the King of Zydeco.
"Who they think was rolling around the United States with him making sure he got to his dialysis? Making sure he was OK? Who they think was doing that?" Chenier said. "I was there, man, doing that.
"Who they think was making sure when he couldn't play a whole gig, who was up there to step in for him to make sure the gig got completed? That was me," he continued. "But I never asked for no props for that. I never asked nobody for no pats on the back for that stuff. That was my daddy and that's what I did, man."
Chenier said he had a regular father-son relationship with Clifton Chenier.
"They weren't there for the talks he and I had when he was telling me, 'Hey, Ol' Hog ain't gonna always to be here; you gotta take over for me one day," Chenier said. "I got in his band with the intentions of being a jazz saxophonist. I had no idea I was going to play zydeco."
Chenier said Clifton Chenier's wife's relatives "got nothing to do with my daddy, man; my dad's probably flipping in his grave knowing what they're doing some junk like that, man, the whole time misleading the public," he said and then added with sarcasm: "Well, he must have been misleading them, too, taking me all around the world with him telling everybody I was his son. So what in the world did that mean?"
Referring to the petition he received Friday, Chenier said, "I don't understand all that legal kind of junk because I never got involved in it. I'm a musician. I play music. And that's what I do."
Chenier said he has earned his living himself.
Chenier said he's getting names and petitions of people who know who he is from Lafayette.
"I was in Lafayette in the '70s. I moved there with my daddy in the '70s. I didn't know nobody there," he said. "How did a little boy from Port Arthur, Texas, wind up in Clifton Chenier's zydeco band if he's not my daddy?"
When he moved to Louisiana, he met musicians, including "saxophone players who could blow circles around my head," said Chenier. "He could've had any one of them. But he came and got me, somebody who didn't know nothing about zydeco; nothing about playing blues in his band. Why did that happen? Oh, because I was just some little kid that he met and took a liking to? That's what they said one time."
It appears the plaintiffs are "reaching for the stars," said Chenier. "They're reaching for stuff that I can't comprehend why somebody is trying to personally ruin me like this. I can't comprehend it. I really don't know what to say, man. It's a bunch of bull."
Chenier paused and recalled the declining days of Clifton Chenier.
"He got sick sometimes and couldn't perform. I made sure he got to dialysis. I made sure the gigs went on. And not only that, he'd got to the point I was collecting money and paying everybody because he wasn't able to do that, man," Chenier said. "See, they don't know everything that went on on the road and what went down between me and my dad. They don't know nothing."
As part of the petition's third cause of action: Louisiana "Common Law" Trademark, it states that C.J. Chenier did not come by the name Chenier legally or naturally.
King said he checked the Secretary of State website to see "if Clayton Joseph Thompson, or C.J. Chenier had tried to register any name, or had appointed an agent for service or process and I just didn't find him there at all."
"That's not true either," said Chenier, adding that he changed his name in 1983-84. "I've got a birth certificate with my name on it. I've got Social Security. I've got a driver's license. I've got a passport. How can you have all that if you never changed your name? You can't leave the country trying to be somebody else.
"And the reason why I changed my name is because when I started playing with my daddy, he was telling everybody I was his son," said Chenier. "They were all calling me junior. They'd either call me Clifton Jr. or C.J. Chenier. That's what they called me. Ain't nobody knew my last name. Because he told everybody I was his son, I became C.J. Chenier.
"So after awhile, after years went by, I thought about it. I said, 'Well, you know, that's who I am," said Chenier. "And so I talked to my daddy about it."
And the name-change ball was set in motion. But when it came to the legalities and such, C.J. Chenier said, "I told him, 'You know what? Don't worry about it. I'll do it. I'll do it myself. And that's what I did."
"I don't know what they're talking about. They say I've just started using his name. I've got my daddy calling me C.J. Chenier," said Chenier. "I've been getting called C.J. Chenier standing right next to him for since – I can't even tell you how long – before I even changed my name."
In December 2013, prior to the Grammy Awards in January where Clifton Chenier was to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, controversy surfaced because the Recording Academy was going to present the honor to C. J. Chenier.
However, Vital presented legal documents indicating that any assets or royalties should be awarded to the Vital family. The Academy reversed its decision and both C.J. Chenier and Vital were on hand for the presentation. Vital went home with the award.
"I met him at the Grammy's for the first time," said Vital of Chenier. "I kept everything cordial. I don't know how it's going to end up. I'm not trying to hurt this guy."

Judge Janice Clark faces possible censure for ‘judicial misconduct’

Judge Janice Clark faces possible censure for ‘judicial misconduct’        

Damage already done, Clark’s attorney says

Heidi R. Kinchen

hkinchen@theadvocate.com

March 07, 2014

30 Comments

A state district judge faces possible censure by the Louisiana Supreme Court after the state’s Judiciary Commission found she committed judicial misconduct in dismissing a lawsuit without legal grounds or a proper hearing.
The request for censure marks the commission’s fourth formal charge in 12 years against Judge Janice Clark, of the 19th Judicial District, but is only the first to be made public, court records show.
Clark’s attorney, Bob Downing, said Thursday that regardless of what the Supreme Court decides, the case has already taken its toll on Clark, who has spent “an enormous amount of money” responding to the allegations.
He said the case, which comes as Clark heads into her next election campaign, might also have cost her an opportunity for a federal appointment.
A message left for Clark at the District Court went unreturned.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments March 26 in the case, which stems from a defamation lawsuit Marie Reed filed against the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office in 2010.
The commission found Clark dismissed the lawsuit in April 2011 despite neither party having a motion to dismiss pending before the court, and after a hearing in which Clark questioned Reed about two motions without her attorney present.
The commission said Clark’s actions “constituted an egregious legal error that rose to the level of judicial misconduct” and showed “a lack of professional competence in the law, a deviation from the high standards of conduct expected of a judge, and a failure to uphold public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.”
Clark gave multiple conflicting reasons for her actions, a fact the commission found “troubling” and indicative of a “lack of candor” toward the investigative body.
Clark initially told the commission she dismissed the case because she intended to revoke Reed’s status as a pauper — one who cannot pay court costs — but knew Reed then would be unable to move forward with the case.
Clark also said the Sheriff’s Office had asked for dismissal. Court records show Clark had already denied that request.
Clark told the commission that the Sheriff’s Office was still “clamoring for it, re-urging it,” but the commission found no evidence of that in the court record.
“Rather than dismissing the suit, she should have issued an order revoking the prior order granting pauper status,” the commission wrote in its motion to the Supreme Court.
Clark also insisted the April 19, 2011, hearing at which she questioned Reed without her attorney wasn’t actually a hearing.
Clark said she had already dismissed the case by signed order on April 18, despite having given Reed another 24 hours to update her financial information, and was just giving Reed one last chance to change the court’s mind.
Clark later said the second court date was simply for the purpose of “spreading the minutes,” which she defined as putting on the record a decision that had already been made. Court minutes and hearing transcripts indicate otherwise.

“The lengths to which Judge Clark has gone to deny that the proceeding on April 19, 2011, was a hearing, and her unresponsive or factually inaccurate responses to questions about why she did not grant Ms. Reed time to pay the costs ... suggest that Judge Clark knows on some level that she should not have done what she did,” the commission concluded.

“Yet, she has taken no responsibility for her actions. The only regret she expressed to the commission was regret over how the proceedings before the commission have affected her.”
In her testimony before the commission, Clark said she would do things differently in the future, not because she had done anything wrong, but because of the pain and expense of fighting the allegations.
“The pain, the agony, the consternation, the expense, the loss of an opportunity, an opportunity to be chancellor. I had to give that up. Federal appointments,” she said.
Clark asked the commission for a “deferred recommendation of discipline agreement,” a private agreement in which the judge admits to some or all of the alleged ethical violations and agrees to take certain remedial steps or else face discipline.
The commission denied Clark’s request in this case but granted one for three prior charges.
In 2003, Clark was formally charged with violations relating to her public endorsement of a voting redistricting plan, making a loan to herself in violation of campaign finance laws and failing to recuse herself from a case in which the Louisiana Board of Ethics was a party when she was being investigated by the board.
Those charges were resolved privately, with the commission issuing Clark a letter of admonishment after she complied with the terms of the agreement.
Clark also received letters of caution from the commission in 2002 and 2011.
The first was for jailing a party for contempt without following proper procedures.
The second was for failing to disclose that a lawyer appearing in a case before her was representing her in a personal legal matter and for failing to refer a recusal motion to another judge.
Downing, Clark’s attorney, said the commission should have agreed to another private reprimand.
“They go page after page after page of saying Judge Clark wouldn’t admit this or that, but the very first letter I drafted to the commission (in response to the charge) admits she shouldn’t have talked to Ms. Reed without her attorney,” Downing said.
Downing also questioned the commission’s decision to make public Clark’s prior run-ins with the investigative body.
Commission investigations are typically confidential unless and until the commission recommends to the Supreme Court that a judge be disciplined. However, the commission filed information about Clark’s prior charges into the court’s record when it recommended discipline in the current case.
“All of that was supposed to be confidential,” Downing said, adding, “This has been over her head for a long time. I think she had an opportunity with the Obama administration to have been appointed to something. That’s gone. The damage has been done. It doesn’t matter what they do.”