LOS ANGELES — The State Bar Court of California recently issued a public reproval to Jose Arturo Rodriguez, a Coachella attorney, for failing to adhere to a court order or report sanctions to the California State Bar.
According to the November 23 decision, the attorney was working as an attorney for plaintiffs in a Riverside Superior County Court case. The attorney filed a third amended complaint against his opposing counsel and clients just to harass them. In response, sanctions were placed on Rodriguez in which he was ordered to pay $3,000 to the courts within 60 days of April 15, 2014.
On June 10, 2014, Rodriguez appealed the order on behalf of his clients, but did not include himself in the appeal. The appeal was dismissed by the courts on July 16, 2014.
At the time of disciplinary filing, the attorney still had not paid the sanctions or reported the order to the California State Bar.
Rodriguez told the bar during its investigation that he had not paid the $3,000 due to his Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing.
However, the state bar determined that the attorney was willful in his decision to not make payment, which displayed indifference to his misconduct.
Along with his public reproval, Rodriguez will need to attend ethics school and pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam. In addition, he is responsible for all court costs.
The Riverside County attorney is a graduate of the New College of California School of Law in San Francisco. He was admitted to the California State Bar in 1984 and had no prior record of discipline.