ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 6, 1997 TAG: 9702060028
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
The Virginia Supreme Court has upheld two Virginia State Bar reprimands of a Pulaski County lawyer, one of which was for failure to protect the interests of a former client.
The other reprimand of James L. Tucker of Dublin was for failure to appear before the Bar's 10th District Committee and produce documents from another case.
Tucker, who previously had an office in Pulaski at 344 Jefferson Ave., had done business in recent years from his home in Dublin. Attempts to reach him Wednesday were unsuccessful because his home telephone has been disconnected. The Pulaski office is still listed as Tucker's address of record by the Virginia State Bar.
He had appealed the reprimands to the Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board, which dismissed the appeals last March because Tucker failed to provide a transcript of either case.
Tucker then appealed the matters to the Virginia Supreme Court, which issued a decision last month rejecting them and ordering Tucker to pay $30 in damages to the Virginia State Bar. The Supreme Court ruled that the Disciplinary Board acted properly when it failed to receive the transcripts within 45 days after Tucker filed his notices of appeal.
In the first case, a client had requested her bankruptcy file from Tucker from a bankruptcy case in which he had represented her. She wrote Tucker in 1993 that her driver's license was about to be suspended as a result of a judgment against her unless she provided copies of documents from her bankruptcy to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Tucker said the client had not paid his fee and, if she wanted a copy of her file, would first have to pay him for his stated costs for copying and postage.
The District Committee reprimanded Tucker, saying he violated a disciplinary rule requiring an attorney to take reasonable steps to protect a client's interests after terminating representation.
In the other matter, the District Committee had subpoenaed Tucker to appear before it Oct. 18, 1994, with all trust account cash receipts journals and deposit tickets showing receipt and garnishment funds in a separate case on which the committee wanted information.
Tucker failed to do so and was reprimanded for misconduct, specifically committing an act reflecting adversely on a lawyer's fitness to practice law and disregarding a standing rule of a tribunal made in the course of a proceeding.
Patricia J. Rios, clerk of the disciplinary system for the State Bar, confirmed Wednesday that Tucker is still licensed by the State Bar to practice law in Virginia in good standing. But she said her office has received just this week three more cases for its consideration alleging misconduct on Tucker's part.
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