SAN FRANCISCO (Northern California Record) — Longtime Hayward attorney Ernest Linford Anderson faces possible disbarment after he allegedly failed to obey court orders, according to a recent recommendation issued by the California State Bar Court.
Anderson was charged with five counts of failing to obey a court order and a single count of improperly withdrawing from employment in a single client matter, according to the state bar court's 17-page decision and order of involuntary inactive enrollment issued March 5.
"Based on the stipulated facts and the evidence admitted at trial, this court finds by clear and convincing evidence that [Anderson] is culpable of the misconduct alleged in all six counts and recommends that [Anderson] be disbarred," the decision and order said.
Anderson's recommended discipline was among the dispositions contained in a notification provided to the Northern California Record last week by the State Bar of California.
The state bar's recommendation is pending final action by the California Supreme Court, an appeal before the state bar's review department or expiration of time in which parties may request further review within the state bar court.
The state bar court's recommendation included an involuntary inactive enrollment order that rendered Anderson involuntarily enrolled as an inactive member of the State Bar of California. That order was effective three calendar days after service, according to the recommendation.
Anderson was admitted to the bar in California on Jan. 15, 1970, according to his profile at the state bar website.
Allegations against Anderson stem for multiple sanctions against him by Tuolumne County Superior Court between 2015 and 2017 in the same client matter, according to the decision and order. Anderson allegedly was slow to pay sanctions and was on vacation in Mexico instead of in court for trial in April 2017.
Anderson has four prior records of discipline in California, according to the decision and order.
In the most recent prior discipline handed down in October 2017, Anderson was suspended two years and placed on three years' probation after he stipulated that he failed to refund promptly unearned fees in two client matters, according to information on his state bar profile.