Wednesday, December 14, 2011

In Re Kinney (Cal. Ct. App. - Dec. 8, 2011)

Whenever I start thinking fondly of the Bar, along comes a case like this.

It's not that I have a problem -- at all -- with the Court of Appeal.  I don't.  It does exactly what it should.  Good job, Justice Boren.

But as for the Bar:  What the hell?!  The Court of Appeal discusses at great length the long and troubling history of Charles Kinney, who started his vexatious serious of litigations in 2006.  He was declared a vexatious litigant in 2008.  He's subject to a prefiling order, has been sanctioned for tens of thousands of dollars, etc. etc.

So he's certainly been disbarred at this point, right?

Nope.  Not at all.  Hasn't even been subjected to an iota of discipline by the California Bar.  Still free to practice law on behalf of clients and abuse the legal system accordingly.

The Bar's great about catching people who bounce trust fund checks.  The remainder of the disciplinary process is far from as efficient.