道德意见220
威胁要提出纪律指控
威胁要提出纪律指控, 要么是针对澳门赌场官网协会的澳门赌场官网，要么是针对相关专业委员会的非澳门赌场官网, 以在民事案件中获得利益为唯一目的，是违反职业行为规则的行为.
适用的规则
- 规则8.4 (g)(行为)
调查
委员会面前有三项有关的调查. Two practitioners inquire about the ethical propriety of threatening to file disciplinary charges against attorneys with bar counsel in order to gain advantage in negotiating a civil settlement. A third inquires about the propriety of threatening to file a complaint with certain professional associations of realtors and appraisers for the same purpose.
The first inquirer is an attorney whose client wishes to bring a malicious prosecution action against another attorney and his client arising out of the conduct of the second attorney and client in a previous action. 询问者问他会威胁到什么程度, 或者暗示, filing a disciplinary complaint against the opposing attorney in order to coerce a settlement of the malicious prosecution claim.
The second inquiry arises in the context of a collection action by the successor counsel of a law firm against a former client of the law firm. 在和解谈判期间, the defendant's counsel informed the inquirer that his client had requested that he prepare a complaint to be filed with 酒吧 Counsel. The inquirer asks whether this reference to filing disciplinary charges in the course of settlement negotiations is unethical.
第三个询问者是一个澳门赌场官网代表房地产专业人士在一个渎职诉讼. 在和解谈判过程中, opposing counsel has stated that his client has asked him to consider the filing of a complaint with the relevant associations of realtors and appraisers to seek the suspension or revocation of the inquiring attorney's client's license. 询问者问这是否构成违反纪律规定.
讨论
The relevant disciplinary requirement in the 职业行为准则 represents a change from that which governed in the Code of Professional Responsibility. 规则8.第4(g)款规定:“澳门赌场官网有下列行为是职业上的不端行为: . . . (g) seek or threaten to seek criminal charges or disciplinary charges 仅仅 在民事案件中获得利益."早期的禁令, 发现于DR 7-105, 仅限于提起或威胁提起刑事指控吗. 既没有历史记录，也没有对规则8发表的评论.说明修改规则包括纪律处分的原因. 它们也没有定义或以其他方式解释规则中使用的“纪律指控”一词的含义.1
- 对澳门赌场官网提出或威胁提出纪律指控
禁止提出纪律指控包括, 从表面上看, 威胁要对澳门赌场官网提出纪律指控，这是其中两项调查的内容.2 第8条唯一的问题.4(g)是否威胁或提出指控。”仅仅在民事案件中获得利益.(加重语气).3
The determination of for what purpose or purposes the disciplinary charges at issue were threatened is a factual question which this Committee is not equipped to decide. 但是，我们确实注意到规则8.3(a) creates an affirmative obligation upon a lawyer to inform the appropriate professional authority where the lawyer has "knowledge that another lawyer has committed a violation of the rules of professional conduct that raises a substantial question as to that lawyer's honesty, 诚信, 或者在其他方面适合做澳门赌场官网."4 对规则8的评论.3, at ¶ [3], explain that the use of the word "substantial" goes to the "seriousness of the possible offense and not the quantum of evidence of which the lawyer is aware.“评论还指出，该报告应提交给澳门赌场官网办公室. Id.
If a complaint or report is filed with 酒吧 Counsel in a good faith effort to comply with the provisions of 规则8.不能说仅仅为了在民事案件中获得利益而提起诉讼.5 然而, it is unlikely that a threat to file a disciplinary complaint could be viewed as a good faith effort to comply with 规则8.因为该规则规定的义务是报告- -而不是威胁要报告- -有关资料.6 因此，威胁提出纪律指控不受规则8的保护.3.
Disciplinary charges threatened or filed for purposes other than gaining advantage in a civil matter may implicate other rules. 这些主要包括规则3.禁止澳门赌场官网提起无聊的诉讼. 除了, the threat of a disciplinary charge could constitute a violation of the relevant extortion and blackmail statutes, 如上所述，约旦委员会对此表示关切. 再一次。, the question of whether violations of these 规则 are presented in the inquiries under consideration involve legal and factual determinations that are beyond our scope and regarding which we do not express an opinion.
- 威胁对澳门赌场官网以外的人提出纪律指控
规则8.4(g), 用它朴素的语言, 仅仅为了在民事案件中获得优势而威胁提出纪律指控，这是不道德的. 纪律指控的种类在规则或任何已出版的解释性材料中均不受限制. 事实上, interpreting the rule's prohibition to extend to filing charges against attorneys but not against non-attorneys would produce the anomalous result of permitting an attorney to file or threaten to file a disciplinary charge against an opposing party for the sole purpose of obtaining advantage in a civil matter but not against his or her attorney for the same reason. 本委员会拒绝赞同这一结果. 该规则同样适用于对澳门赌场官网和非澳门赌场官网提出的威胁或投诉.
Since the complaint referenced in the inquiry regarding the real estate professional could result in the suspension or revocation of a license, 这是规则意义上的纪律指控. 再一次。, the matter of whether the complaint is filed 仅仅 to gain advantage in a civil matter is a factual question which this Committee is not equipped to decide.
结论
总之, the Committee finds that threats to file disciplinary charges against either attorneys or non-attorneys 仅仅 to gain advantage in a civil matter violate 规则8.《澳门赌场官网》第4(g)条.
Inquiries: 85-9-34: 90-2-8; 90-5-24
通过:1991年9月17日
1. 唯一公开的解释是, 这并没有解释为什么“纪律指控”一词被添加到禁令中, 载于约旦委员会向上诉法院提交的声明中:
委员会还增加了一个新的(g)款，与第7-105条基本相似. The problem dealt with in paragraph (g) is not specifically addressed by any other provision in the proposed 规则. 委员会认为(g)段所禁止的行为, 这就等同于普通法上的勒索, 足够严肃, 而且它的发生也足够频繁, 需要一个明确禁止这种行为的规则.
2. Prohibiting the threatened or actual filing of disciplinary charges against attorneys for the sole purpose of gaining advantage in a civil matter is in accordance with decisions of at least seven other jurisdictions. 看到 伊利诺伊州澳门赌场官网协会专业责任委员会, 看来87 - 7, 1/29/88; Indiana State 酒吧 Association 法律道德 Committee, Opinion 10 of 1985; the Professional Ethics Commission of the 董事会 of Overseers of the 酒吧, 缅因州, Opinion 100 (10/4/89); Maryland State 酒吧 Association Committee on Ethics, Docket 86-14; Massachusetts 酒吧 Association Committee on Professional Ethics, Opinion 83-2; Michigan State 酒吧 Committee on Professional and Judicial Ethics, 意见CI-695 (10/18/81); Wisconsin State 酒吧 Committee on Professional Ethics, 意见E-89-16 (9/8/89).
3. 就第一个询问者试图区分威胁和威胁的“暗示”而言, 我们没有发现相关的区别. Any suggestion of filing a disciplinary charge for the sole purpose of gaining advantage in civil litigation falls within the scope of the rule.
4. 这一要求的唯一例外是在规则1意义上的机密信息.6. 这里正在审议的任何调查似乎都不涉及保密问题.
5. The Michigan State 酒吧 Committee on Professional and Judicial Ethics has determined that in the face of a similar reporting requirement, 不举报违规行为以换取有利解决的建议是不恰当的. 意见CI-695 (10/18/81).
6. 规则8.3的意思是“通知”适当的专业权威. 规则和注释都没有解释这个术语的确切含义. 尽管如此, 提出纪律指控显然是通知当局的一种方法，这属于其职责范围
