High Court Delays Decision on RR Lawyer

The state Supreme Court on Tuesday heard a recommendation to reinstate suspended Rio Rancho lawyer Dennis Montoya but delayed a decision, with one justice citing the “utter audacity” of Montoya’s actions.

Montoya has been suspended since April 25, 2011, for professional misconduct. He was allowed to reapply after a year, and the high court’s Disciplinary Board has recommended he return to practicing law under supervision.

But the justices expressed misgivings about whether Montoya genuinely understood what he did wrong and whether there was sufficient detail and enough safeguards in the plan for his return to work.

Justice Richard Bosson was the most outspoken, saying Montoya had “been found to have lied repeatedly to the courts of this state and to the federal courts,” and questioning whether he had demonstrated the “moral qualifications” required of a lawyer seeking reinstatement.

The high court deliberated for nearly 45 minutes after the hearing before announcing it wasn’t ready to rule.

The negotiated agreement under which the Supreme Court suspended Montoya last year settled three disciplinary actions against him. The charges included misrepresentations, knowingly making false statements to the court, and failing to account for money received from settlements in a wrongful death lawsuit in state court. There also were complaints from federal judges about his handling of cases.

Montoya attributed his problems to a heavy caseload and overwork.

The Disciplinary Board, agreeing with its hearing committee, says Montoya should be allowed to practice again under the supervision of lawyer Jack Brant during a three-year probationary period.

Montoya would like to get a job as an assistant district attorney, but may have to be in private practice at least initially, the court was told.

Chief Disciplinary Counsel Bill Slease told the court that Montoya has accepted responsibility for what he did. Montoya’s lawyer, Charles Vigil, said his client is honest, has reformed, and has gained perspective during his suspension, while acknowledging he should be on “a very, very short leash” during the probationary period.

But Bosson recounted that two years after Linda Vanzi, then a state district judge, reported Montoya’s misconduct in 2008, he ran against her for the Court of Appeals in what Bosson said “could be viewed rationally as an effort to retaliate: ‘I’ll get you.’” Vanzi won that race.

Montoya then sued two Disciplinary Board officials in federal court, alleging that the disciplinary action against him was leaked to the media and timed in such a way as to harm him in the Court of Appeals race. That lawsuit was dismissed.

“The utter audacity of that really bothers me,” Bosson said.
— This article appeared on page C1 of the Albuquerque Journal