The Tennessee Supreme Court has unanimously affirmed a 45-day suspension of Knoxville attorney Thomas F. Mabry.
In 2011, the Board of Professional Responsibility filed a petition for discipline against Mr. Mabry based on three complaints of misconduct. The petition alleged, among other things, that Mr. Mabry failed to act diligently in his representation of a client. A hearing panel found that Mr. Mabry’s lack of diligence represented in one of the complaints against him was in violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct and that he should be suspended from the practice of law for a period of 45 days.
Mr. Mabry and the Board appealed to the Knox County Chancery Court, which affirmed the hearing panel’s findings and recommendations. Mr. Mabry then appealed to the Supreme Court, alleging a number of procedural, evidentiary, and constitutional errors and claiming that the hearing panel acted arbitrarily in finding that he violated the Rules of Professional Conduct and in imposing a 45-day suspension.
The Supreme Court upheld the decisions of the hearing panel and the Knox County Chancery Court. In an opinion authored by Chief Justice Sharon G. Lee, the Court addressed Mr. Mabry’s claims of procedural, evidentiary, and constitutional error, finding each to be without merit. The Court further found that the hearing panel acted consistent with national standards and did not act arbitrarily in finding that Mr. Mabry failed to adhere to the duty of diligence required of attorneys under the Rules of Professional Conduct. Based on Mr. Mabry’s lack of diligence and history of misconduct, which included seven prior disciplinary sanctions since 1991, the Court found that a 45-day suspension from the practice of law was appropriate.
Read the opinion in Thomas Fleming Mabry v. Board of Professional Responsibility, authored by Chief Justice Lee.