CHARLESTON – The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has issued an order for the annulment of an attorney’s law license.
James P. Carbone’s law license was annulled on April 4 and he was ordered to also pay the costs of the proceedings, according to the order.
On Feb. 20, the Hearing Panel Subcommittee of the Lawyer Disciplinary Board presented the Supreme Court with its written recommended disposition in the disciplinary action, recommending that the same sanctions that Pennsylvania issued by imposed.
On March 16, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed its consent to the recommendation.
The respondent did not file an objection or consent to the recommendation.
The ODC was notified that Carbone, who was suspended from practicing law in West Virginia at that time, was disciplined by way of disbarment from the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts on Jan. 30, 2017, and the disbarment arose as a result of a reciprocal matter initiating from Pennsylvania, where Carbone was disbarred on Aug. 12, 2015.
The ODC filed a Notice of Reciprocal Disciplinary Action Pursuant to Rule 3.20 of the Rules of Lawyer Disciplinary Procedure on March 22, 2017, but the notice was returned as undeliverable.
On Nov. 3, 2017, the ODC filed a Motion for Reciprocal Discipline. The motion was mailed to Carbone and was published in a legal advertisement in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The mailing was returned as undeliverable.
Carbone was admitted to the West Virginia Bar in 1990. He was administratively suspended for not paying his membership dues and for failing to comply with his financial responsibility disclosure.
The court documents don’t mention what Carbone was disbarred for in Pennsylvania.
W.Va. Supreme Court of Appeals case number: 17-0277