CLEMENT L . BEZOLD V. KENTUCKY BAR ASSOCIATION
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TO BE PUBLISHED
ENTERED: MAY 20, 2004
AS CORRECTED : MAY 27, 2004
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CLEMENT L . BEZOLD
MOVANT
V.
IN SUPREME COURT
RESPONDENT
KENTUCKY BAR ASSOCIATION
OPINION AND ORDER
Movant, Clement L . Bezold, of Fort Thomas, Kentucky, having admitted that he
violated SCR 3.130-1 .7(b), asks this Court to issue a public reprimand against him .
The Kentucky Bar Association (KBA) has no objection. Accordingly, we grant the
motion and issue the reprimand .
Charge
Bezold represented Jaclyn Spafford in a divorce case. In this capacity, he filed
an answer to Spafford's husband's divorce petition and filed a motion for temporary
custody at the same time . About three months later, Bezold filed a motion for the trial
court to appoint a child custody investigator . According to the motion, the investigator
was to conduct interviews and make a recommendation concerning visitation and
custody of the couple's minor child. The trial court granted the motion and appointed
an investigator.
The investigator's report revealed that Bezold was interviewed during the
investigation . Bezold told the investigator that he was romantically involved with
Spafford, who also worked for him . Subsequently, Bezold withdrew as counsel and
new counsel for Spafford entered the case .
SCR 3.130-1 .7(b) provides that "a lawyer shall not represent a client if the
representation of that client may be materially limited by the lawyer's responsibilities to
another client or third person, or by the lawyer's own interests unless, (1) the lawyer
reasonably believes that the representation will not be adversely affected ; and (2) the
client consents after consultation ." Bezold admits that he violated this rule .
Upon the foregoing facts and charges, it is therefore ordered that:
1 . Clement L. Bezold, be and hereby is publicly reprimanded for his violation of
SCR 3 .130-1 .7(b) ; and
2. Bezold, in accordance with SCR 3 .450, is directed to pay all costs associated
with these disciplinary proceedings against him, said sum being $10 .16, and for which
execution may issue from this Court upon finality of this Opinion and Order.
Lambert, C .J . ; Cooper, Johnstone, Stumbo, and Wintersheimer, JJ., concur.
Johnstone, J ., files a separate concurring opinion, which Stumbo and Wintersheimer,
JJ., join. Keller, J ., dissents by separate opinion, with Graves, J ., joining that dissenting
opinion.
Entered : May 20, 2004.
TO BE PUBLISHED
AS CORRECTED : MAY 27, 2004
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CLEMENT L. BEZOLD
V.
MOVANT
IN SUPREME COURT
KENTUCKY BAR ASSOCIATION
RESPONDENT
CONCURRING OPINION BY JUSTICE JOHNSTONE
I concur completely in the Opinion and Order of the Court, but write separately to
express my bewilderment at the Dissenting Opinion. The Opinion and Order does not
adopt a "bright-line rule" that a lawyer-client romantic relationship, regardless of the
nature of the relationship or when it is commenced, is a violation of the Rules. Nor
does it create uncertainty regarding such a relationship . The motion before us simply
requests that this Court approve an agreed disposition of a disciplinary case, something
we have done countless times before .
And it is clear what we have before us to base our opinion upon - first, an
admission by the Movant that he has violated SCR 3 .130-1 .7(b); and, second, the
Kentucky Bar Association's agreement that the Movant should be publicly reprimanded
as a consequence of that violation . If the Dissenting Opinion advocates that we should
discontinue approving agreed dispositions of disciplinary charges, it should simply so
state. It is demeaning to the members of this Court to imply that we are "rubber
stamping" motions without thought or consideration . Nothing could be further from the
truth .
Stumbo and Wintersheimer, JJ., join .
AS MODIFIED : MAY 27, 2004
TO BE PUBLISHED
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CLEMENT L . BEZOLD
MOVANT
V.
IN SUPREME COURT
KENTUCKY BAR ASSOCIATION
RESPONDENT
DISSENTING OPINION BY JUSTICE KELLER
This Court disciplines attorneys who violate Kentucky's Rules of Professional
Conduct ["Rules"], but we exercise our disciplinary authority only when we are
presented with a violation of those Rules . And, although today's Opinion and Order
would appear to suggest otherwise, the Rules do not expressly prohibit romantic
relationships between lawyers and clients . Accordingly, this Court has no power to
discipline a member of the Kentucky Bar Association simply because he or she has
been involved in a romantic relationship with a client unless the attorney has also
violated a provision of the Rules . Here, the Inquiry Commission charged Movant with a
violation of a specific provision of the Rules, i .e. , SCR 3.130-1 .7(b), which states that
"[a] lawyer shall not represent a client if the representation of that client may be
materially limited by the lawyer's responsibilities to another client or to a third person, or
by the lawyer's own interests[,]" and Movant now asks us to publicly reprimand him for a
violation of that provision.
In order to make a meaningful ruling upon that Motion, i .e . ,
to do more than "rubber stamp" the motion in light of Bar Counsel's agreement, I
believe that I must first answer two questions : (1) how did Movant violate SCR 3.1301 .7(b)? and (2) is a public reprimand an appropriate disciplinary sanction for that
violation? Because the present record before us fails to indicate how Movant's
"romantic relationship" with Spafford "materially limited" his representation of her, I can
answer neither of these questions . And, given the vague Opinion and Order entered in
this case, which offers no insight as to how Movant may have violated SCR 3.1301 .7(b), the majority of this Court voting to grant Movant's motion appears similarly
uncertain of the nature of Movant's violation . In fact, the only indication of misconduct
in this case is a conclusory sentence in Movant's motion that tracks the language of the
rule and states that Movant "violated SCR 3 .130-1 .7(b) when he represented Jaclyn
Spafford in a divorce case in which child custody and visitation were an issue despite
the fact that the representation was materially limited by Movant's own interests in
connection with his personal relationship with his client"' As such, this Court has no
information before it from which we can determine whether any disciplinary sanction is
appropriate, let alone whether a public reprimand is an appropriate sanction . For that
reason, I dissent and vote to deny Movant's motion for a public reprimand .
In order for Movant's conduct to constitute a violation of SCR 3 .130-1 .7(b), it
must have "materially limited" his representation of Stafford . And, while it may be the
case that Movant's own interests concerning his romantic relationship with his client did,
in fact, materially limit the representation, it is impossible for us to determine from the
The supporting documents contained in the record reveal that Spafford did not
have custody of the minor child and was, in effect, seeking only visitation with her child
who was in the physical custody of her father. The record contains no evidence that
Movant himself was personally opposed to such visitation or that Movant did anything in
the scope of his representation or otherwise that would have interfered with his client's
wishes .
record before us whether that was the case . Further, and perhaps more important, the
practicing bar certainly cannot make this determination from the Court's Opinion and
Order that requires practitioners to speculate not only as to the nature of the romantic
relationship between Movant and Spafford but, more importantly, as to how the
romantic relationship materially limited Movant's representation of Spafford . In other
words, the Opinion and Order provides no guidance to the practicing bar in determining
how a romantic relationship may undermine representation of a client .
I realize that, in effect, the motion before the Court asks us only to approve an
agreement reached between Movant and the KBA. By imposing the requested
discipline, however, the Court's Opinion and Order places this Court's imprimatur upon
a bare-bone charge that Movant violated the Rules apparently merely by having a
romantic relationship with Spafford during his representation of her. Under the existing
Rules, more is required . For that reason, I would deny the Motion for a Public
Reprimand and either allow the charge to proceed against the Movant in its normal
course or permit the Movant and the KBA to supplement the record with facts that
support a conclusion that Movant's representation of Spafford was undermined by his
romantic relationship with her so that the Opinion and Order could reflect those facts for
the benefit of the practicing bar.
Finally, I would emphasize that the message being sent to practitioners by the
Court's Opinion and Order is that this Court has evidently adopted a bright-line rule that
a lawyer-client romantic relationship during representation of the client, regardless of
the nature of the relationship or when it commenced, is a violation of the Rules. At the
least, the Court's Opinion and Order has created uncertainty regarding such a
relationship . Although I believe that Kentucky, like many jurisdictions ,2 should consider
adding such a rule to its existing Rules, we have not done so at this time, and if we are
doing so today by judicial fiat, the practicing bar deserves to be informed of that fact in
no uncertain terms .
Graves, J ., joins this dissenting opinion .
2 See Abed Awad, Attorney-Client Sexual Relations, 22 J . LEGAL PROF. 131
(1998).
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2004-SC-0153-KB
CLEMENT L . BEZOLD
V.
MOVANT
IN SUPREME COURT
KENTUCKY BAR ASSOCIATION
RESPONDENT
ORDER CORRECTING
On the Court's own motion, a corrected Opinion and Order shall be substituted in
place of the opinion and order herein . Said substitution is made only to reflect the
proper entered date of May 20, 2004, and to correct a typographical error on page two
of the concurring opinion and to modify footnote one of the dissenting opinion .
Entered : May 27, 2004.
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