SAN FRANCISCO – Alhambra attorney Richard Dennis Coats faces disbarment following a May 16 California Supreme Court order after he allegedly failed to comply with conditions of a previous suspension, according to a recent report issued by the State Bar of California and court documents.
The Supreme Court disbarred Coats and ordered him to pay costs.
Coat's discipline will be effective Saturday, June 15, according to an announcement recently posted on the state bar's website.
Coats allegedly failed to comply with the conditions of a 2017 probation, according to the stipulation filed with the state bar court in January. Coats allegedly failed to submit a quarterly report that had been due in January of last year. Coats did ultimately submit the report but by the time he did so, the report was 91 days past due.
Coats also failed to attend the state bar's ethics school and to submit his quarterly report that had been due in October.
Coats was admitted to the bar in California on Jan. 24, 1985, according to his profile at the state bar website.
The proceedings that lead to Coats' disbarment was not the first time the attorney had gotten into trouble for allegedly not complying with conditions of a previous probation.
In 2017, the state Supreme Court imposed a two-year stayed suspension and three years of conditional probation, including one year of actual suspension, after Coats stipulated to having failed comply with a prior probation. In that probation, Coats failed to submit a two quarterly reports and to complete the state bar's ethics school.
In a previous discipline in July 2015, Coats was suspended 30 days and placed on a year of probation after he allegedly falsely reported under penalty of perjury that he was in compliance with his mandatory continuing legal education requirements when he wasn't, according to information on his profile.