This disciplinary matter is before the Court on the Report and Recommendation of Special Master Brian D. Burgoon, filed in response to the Formal Complaint of the State Bar, which seeks the disbarment of Paul R. Koehler State Bar No. 427600. The State Bar’s Formal Complaint was filed in August 2014, and, following a timely answer to the complaint, Koehler suffered an injury that resulted in his filing requests for a leave of absence from the proceedings. On January 20, 2015, the special master entered an order giving Koehler leave until January 31, 2015, informing him of the Bar’s expressed intention to move for summary judgment and setting a time period for his response, and instructing him of what to do should he require further leave, which he subsequently did not seek. The State Bar filed its motion for summary judgment on January 27, 2015, and, following proceedings concerning Koehler’s request to depose the grievant in this disciplinary action and the grievant’s co defendant in the civil litigation out of which this matter arose, the deadline for Koehler to respond to the motion for summary judgment was repeatedly extended until a April 13, 2015 deadline was established. On April 6, 2015, Koehler submitted, among other filings, a motion to dismiss this matter, which the special master denied in an order issued May 1, 2015, that also granted the State Bar’s motion for summary judgment. Koehler submitted two untimely filed documents in response to the May 1 order, both of which raised issues from the underlying civil litigation and challenged the special master’s decision not to allow the requested depositions.
The facts, as found by the special master, show that Koehler, who was admitted to practice law in 1963, represented a woman in a civil action against the grievant in this matter and his son, who had been married to the plaintiff and who the complaint alleged had engaged in a fraudulent transfer of real property to shield assets from being used to satisfy his child support obligations. Summary judgment was granted against the plaintiff in that action and, while the appeal of that judgment was pending in the Court of Appeals, the plaintiff died. The Court of Appeals remanded the case to the superior court in May 2009 for the substitution of a proper party, but no motion to substitute was filed, and, in March 2011, the court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss for failure to timely substitute. Koehler appealed the dismissal, but the Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal and the subsequent motion for reconsideration, and this Court denied Koehler’s petition for writ of certiorari, the initial motion for reconsideration, and a motion to allow a second motion for reconsideration. As noted by the special master, as of November 5, 2012, the date of this Court’s order denying the motion to allow a second motion for reconsideration, the issue concerning substitution was fully and finally decided against Koehler and the decisions of this Court and the Court of Appeals were binding as to future proceedings.
