Carpenter v. State Bar

THE COURT.

The above-entitled proceeding has for its object the discipline of A. H. Carpenter, an attorney at law of Stockton, California, and a member of the incorporated State Bar.

[521]

The charges are made in proper form and in essence are that said attorney is guilty of an infraction of number 12 of the Rules of Professional Conduct approved by this court, in that he communicated with a party represented by counsel on the subject of controversy in the absence of and without the consent of such counsel. The basis for this charge will be found in the following statement:

In 1912 Henry R. Howe brought suit and obtained a decree of divorce from his wife, Clara Howe; minor children, the issue of such marriage, were not provided for in said decree. On October 4, 1927, some fifteen years later, after due proceedings to that end had, the judge of the San Joaquin County superior court made and filed an order in said cause requiring the husband to pay to the wife for the support and maintenance of the two children $40 per month until the further order of the court, the first payment to be made on October 1, 1927, and monthly thereafter. The husband, through his attorney, appealed to this court from said order.

The wife, who had later married a man by the name of DeCosta, was first represented by the firm of Stahlman & Bennett and later by Sydney C. Bennett, the latter’s connection with the matter being known to petitioner, the husband’s attorney. Under said order the amount due Mrs. DeCosta as of December 1, 1928, was $600. During the pendency of the husband’s appeal he sought at various times to induce her to agree to some settlement,, often telling her that she could not win the case on appeal anyway. He also made efforts to induce his son to talk to her and to influence her to make a settlement. It appears, however, that on December 20, 1928, the order appealed from was affirmed by this court

(Howe

v.

Howe,

206 Cal. 1 [272 Pac. 751]). It became final and

remittitur

issued on January 21, 1929.