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Jesus E. Tirrez v. Commission for Lawyer Discipline, et al.

Paid petition · Court of Appeals of Texas, Third District, No. 03-16-00318-CV · judgment January 12, 2018

Certiorari denied · October 1, 2018
Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

Rules promulgated by the Supreme Court of Texas decree that disbarment proceedings against attorneys are civil and that the burden of proof in those proceedings is by a preponderance. Thirty-nine other States consider such proceedings as quasi-criminal with a clear-and-convincing burden of proof. Thus, unlike Texas, those States follow this Court’s holding in In re Ruffalo, 390 U.S. 544 (1968), which held that disbarment is a punishment and the proceeding is quasicriminal. The question presented is: Do rules that decree that the disbarment proceedings are civil and that the burden of proof is only by a preponderance, deprive Texas attorneys sued for disbarment Due Process and the Equal Protection of the Laws?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Leonard Thomas Bradt
L.T. BRADT, P.C.

For respondent
Matthew J. Greer

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Oct 01 2018
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Sep 05 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/24/2018.
  3. Aug 20 2018
    Waiver of right of respondents Commission For Lawyer Discipline, et al. to respond filed.
  4. Aug 07 2018
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 10, 2018)