Baker v. Ploetz

PAGE, Justice

(dissenting).

I respectfully dissent. It is the constitutional responsibility of this court to regulate the practice of law. See In re Integration of Bar of Minnesota, 216 Minn. 195, 199, 12 N.W.2d 515, 518 (1943). That responsibility includes protecting the public from unscrupulous attorneys. See In re Isaacs, 451 N.W.2d 209, 211 (Minn.1990). We have recognized this responsibility since at least 1945. See In re Smith, 220 Minn. 197, 199, 19 N.W.2d 324, 325 (1945). We have also recognized our responsibility to guard the administration of justice as well as to deter future misconduct by attorneys. See Isaacs, 451 N.W.2d at 211.

Today, the court neglects those responsibilities by holding that Minn.Stat. § 481.071 does not apply to attorney fraud perpetrated on a client outside of a judicial proceeding. Implicit in that holding is the notion that attorney fraud committed in a court or in a judicial proceeding is somehow more serious than attorney fraud committed outside of a court or judicial proceeding. In fact, attorney fraud, wherever it occurs, is extremely serious and certainly attorney fraud on a client that occurs outside of a court or judicial proceeding is neither less serious nor less harmful than that which occurs in court or within a judicial proceeding.

The real question here is whether we are going to protect the interests of attorneys and law firms or those of the public. For me, that is an easy question to answer. New York jurisprudence notwithstanding, I would vindicate our constitutional responsibility as well as give meaning to the language of Minn.Stat. § 471.071 by holding that the term “party,” as used in the statute, includes parties to transactions outside of judicial proceedings and that section 481.071 applies to those parties.