Summary
The Wyoming Supreme Court approved and adopted the Board of Professional Responsibility's recommendation that Sandra L. Baker receive a public censure for violating Wyoming Rule of Professional Conduct 8.4(c) through complicity in her husband's nondisclosure of earnings related to Social Security Disability benefits. The court ordered public censure, publication, and payment of $550 in costs and administrative fees.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the stipulated facts established that Baker violated Wyoming Rule of Professional Conduct 8.4(c).
- Whether public censure, together with costs and an administrative fee, was the appropriate discipline.
Holdings
- Baker's complicity in her husband's withholding of earnings from the Social Security Administration constituted a violation of Wyoming Rule of Professional Conduct 8.4(c).
- Public censure was appropriate, and Baker was ordered to pay $500 in administrative fees and $50 in costs.
Key quotations
“The Court, after a careful review of the Board of Professional Responsibility's Report and Recommendation and the file, finds that the Report and Recommendation should be approved, confirmed and adopted by the Court, and that Respondent Sandra L. Baker should be publicly censured for her conduct.” (162)
“Reprimand, also known as censure or public censure, is a form of public discipline which declares the conduct of the lawyer improper, but does not limit the lawyer's right to practice.” (164)
Factual background
Baker's husband received Social Security Disability benefits while performing construction-related odd jobs and failed to report the related income to the Social Security Administration. Baker told coworkers that the income had to be run through Baker Contracting, a business she owned, and joint tax returns for 2007 through 2009 reported Baker as the proprietor of that business. Her husband later pleaded guilty to violating 42 U.S.C. § 408(a)(4), and Baker stipulated that her complicity constituted professional misconduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.
Procedural history
The Wyoming State Bar's Board of Professional Responsibility considered the parties' stipulated motion for public censure and recommended that the Wyoming Supreme Court publicly censure Sandra L. Baker for violating Wyoming Rule of Professional Conduct 8.4(c). The Supreme Court reviewed the report, recommendation, and record, approved and adopted them, publicly censured Baker, and ordered her to pay $500 in administrative fees and $50 in costs.