THOMAS BASAN, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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The Florida First District Court of Appeal dismissed a criminal appeal for the appellant's failure to comply with appellate rules and procedures, and imposed sanctions against the appellant's counsel, W. Paul Thompson, for his repeated failures to meet minimal professional standards in practice before the court.
The court dismissed the appeal for the appellant's failure to file the record, serve the initial brief, and respond to the court's show cause order. The court imposed sanctions against counsel, reaffirmed previously imposed practice restrictions, and ordered the opinion published as a public reprimand and referral to the Florida Bar Grievance Committee.
[1] An appeal may be dismissed for failure to file the record, serve the initial brief, or respond to a show cause order.
[2] Appellate courts may impose sanctions against counsel for failure to obey court rules and orders.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Mr. Thompson's record of practice in this court continues to fail to meet even minimal standards.”
Establishes the court's finding that counsel has a pattern of failing to meet professional standards.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceA notice of appeal was filed on August 21, 1989, representing review of a verdict and sentence from a trial court in what appeared to be a direct appe…
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PER CURIAM.
Once again this court is required to consider imposing sanctions against W. Paul Thompson for his failure to obey the rules and orders of this court. Mr. Thompson’s record of practice in this court continues to fail to meet even minimal standards. See, Pippin v. State, 559 So. 2d 708 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990); Lee v. Summit Home Ins. Co., 550 So. 2d 141 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989); McClain v. Florida Power & Light Co., 523 So. 2d 1245 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988); Ferguson v. Ferguson, 504 So. 2d 541 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987).
The notice of appeal in this case was filed August 21, 1989, and represented that review was sought of a verdict and sentence rendered by the trial court, which suggests this is a direct appeal of a criminal conviction. No record was filed and on October 31, 1989, this court directed appellant to show cause why the appeal should not be dismissed. No response was filed. Because this court is familiar with Paul Thompson’s failure to comply with the Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure, by order dated January 30, 1990, appellant was granted 30 days to retain new counsel, if desired, and to prosecute this appeal. Paul Thompson was directed to show cause why sanctions should not be imposed against him pursuant to Rule 9.410, Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure. No response was filed by either counsel or appellant.
Accordingly, this appeal shall stand dismissed for appellant’s failure to file the record, serve the initial brief or respond to this court’s show cause order. Rule 9.410. Once again we elect to impose sanctions against counsel for appellant. We have recently placed restrictions on Paul Thompson’s practice in this court and we reaffirm those restrictions. See, Pippin v. State, 559 So. 2d 708 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990). Counsel is instructed to serve a copy of this opinion on his client and send to this court a certificate of service showing compliance. Publication of this opinion in the Southern Second Reporter will serve as a reprimand of Paul Thompson for his conduct in this case, the fifth such public reprimand imposed upon him by this court. A copy of this opinion will be provided to the Florida Bar Grievance Committee for consideration of additional sanctions.
WENTWORTH, ZEHMER and MINER, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- McCLAIN v. Fla. Power & Light Co., 523 So. 2d 1245 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988)
- Ferguson v. Ferguson, 504 So. 2d 541 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987)
- LEE v. Summit Home Ins. Co., 550 So. 2d 141 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989)
- Haley Pippin v. State, 559 So. 2d 708 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990)