In re Barbara Juanita Hargrove

Summary

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals held that Barbara Juanita Hargrove forfeited her challenges to disciplinary findings by failing to timely answer the charges, participate in the proceedings, or raise objections before the Board on Professional Responsibility. The court accepted the Board’s factual findings and imposed a sixty-day suspension from practice, conditioned on proof of fitness for reinstatement.

Holdings

1. Hargrove forfeited her challenges because she failed to timely answer the charges, failed to participate in the disciplinary proceedings, failed to seek relief from the default or file exceptions to the Hearing Committee's report, and presented no extraordinary circumstance justifying review of the forfeited contentions.
2. The court accepted the Board's factual findings because they were supported by substantial evidence of record.
3. The court adopted the Board's recommended sanction and suspended Hargrove from practicing law in the District of Columbia for sixty days, with reinstatement conditioned on proof of fitness to practice law.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Hargrove forfeited her challenges to the Board on Professional Responsibility's findings and recommendation by failing to raise them in the disciplinary proceedings below.
2. Whether the court should accept the Board's factual findings under the substantial-evidence standard.
3. Whether the court should adopt the Board's recommended sixty-day suspension conditioned on proof of fitness for reinstatement.

Disposition

other