Summary
The Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed the denial of Doralee Chandler’s petition challenging Harry G. Foster II’s eligibility to run for circuit judge. The court held that Foster remained a licensed attorney for purposes of the Arkansas Constitution despite automatic suspensions for late payment of annual licensing fees. The court also affirmed the circuit court’s determination that Rule VII(C), which imposed automatic suspension without prior notice or an opportunity to be heard, was unconstitutional to that extent.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether an attorney whose license was automatically suspended for late payment of annual licensing fees remained a licensed attorney for the six-year eligibility requirement for circuit judge under Amendment 80, section 16(B) of the Arkansas Constitution.
- Whether Rule VII(C), which automatically suspends a delinquent lawyer from practicing law without advance notice or a pre-suspension hearing, violates procedural due process under the Fourteenth Amendment.
Holdings
- An automatic suspension under Rule VII(C) suspends the attorney's privilege to practice law but does not terminate or de-license the attorney's license. Foster therefore remained a licensed attorney for the six-year period required by Amendment 80, section 16(B), and was eligible to seek the circuit-judge position.
- Rule VII(C) is unconstitutional to the extent that it automatically suspends a lawyer's license without procedural due process, including notice and a reasonable opportunity for a hearing before the suspension takes effect.
Key quotations
“We held that under amendment 80 Fox was a “licensed attorney[] of this state for at least six years immediately preceding the date” he would assume office because he nevertheless remained a licensed attorney during the period of his suspension and his license was not terminated.” (at 9)
“Therefore, we find that Rule VII(C) is unconstitutional to the extent that it provides for an automatic suspension of a lawyer’s license without procedural due process, and we affirm the circuit court’s ruling on this issue.” (at 12)
Factual background
Harry G. Foster had been an Arkansas-licensed attorney since 1978 but paid his annual license fee late in several years, resulting in automatic suspensions under Rule VII(C), including suspensions in 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2013. He paid the fee and late penalty on each occasion, and his license was automatically reinstated. Doralee Chandler challenged Foster's eligibility as a candidate for circuit judge, while Foster challenged the constitutionality of the automatic-suspension rule because it provided no advance notice or pre-suspension opportunity to contest a payment error.
Procedural history
Chandler, a competing judicial candidate and registered voter, sought to remove Foster from the ballot on the ground that repeated automatic suspensions for late payment of attorney-license fees made him ineligible under Amendment 80, section 16(B) of the Arkansas Constitution. Foster filed a third-party constitutional challenge to Rule VII(C), and the Pulaski County Circuit Court ruled that he remained a licensed attorney for eligibility purposes while also finding that automatic suspension without advance notice and a pre-suspension hearing violated due process. Chandler and Steen appealed; the Supreme Court of Arkansas affirmed.