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Lawyer summoned to show-cause hearing
U.S. District Court for the NMI designated judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood has ordered lawyer Stephen C. Woodruff to appear and explain why the federal court should not impose on him the local courts’ order disbarring him from the practice of law in the CNMI.
As this developed, Woodruff filed last week before the CNMI Supreme Court a petition for rehearing.
In an order filed in federal court on Monday, Tydingco-Gatewood ordered Woodruff to appear in court on Jan. 22, 2016, to explain why reciprocal discipline should not be imposed on him.
Woodruff was given no later than Jan. 19 to inform the court whether he has petitioned for rehearing in the CNMI Supreme Court or for certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court.
The lawyer was required to report on the status of any such petitions.
Tydingco-Gatewood said if the court decides that reciprocal discipline is warranted, it will then entertain Woodruff’s request for a stay in the federal court proceedings.
In his petition for rehearing, Woodruff said the July 3, 2014, decision of a single CNMI Supreme Court justice to deny his motion to consolidate this case prevented him from demonstrating how the earlier interim suspension case tainted the disciplinary proceedings in the Superior Court, denying him his right to due process of law.
Secondly, Woodruff said, the Oct. 14, 2014, decision of one CNMI Supreme Court justice to refuse to accept his opening brief in the wrong font size and striking 38 percent of his opening brief, including 74 percent of his argument, violated his due process rights.
Finally, he said, the action of the federal court’s clerk on Oct. 28, 2014 “rejecting” four documents that he previously filed, and again on March 12, 2015 “rejecting” two more documents that he previously filed, and removing all record of those filings from the electronic docket derogated his due process rights.
In June 2013, Superior Court Associate Judge David A. Wiseman ordered Woodruff’s disbarment for 44 violations of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct. Woodruff appealed, asking the CNMI Supreme Court to reverse Wiseman’s order.
Recently, the CNMI Supreme Court affirmed Wiseman’s order disbarring Woodruff from the practice of law in the CNMI.
