Disbarred Alabama Lawyer’s Suit Seeking Reinstatement Rejected

An Alabama lawyer who was disbarred in 2012 for bringing frivolous proceedings and other ethical breaches had his latest suit contesting that disbarment rejected by the state’s highest court.

Gatewood A. Walden filed a suit in 2018 against the state bar and several of its officers in the Montgomery Circuit Court, according to the Alabama Supreme Court’s March 27 ruling.

Alleging contract, tort, and statutory claims, he’d asked for declaratory and injunctive relief, including an order that he be reinstated as a member of the state bar in good standing. Walden also sought $750,000 in compensatory damages and $5,000,000 in punitive damages, it said. He was unsuccessful.

“The trial court correctly concluded that it did not have the power to grant Walden the relief he seeks,” the state’s supreme court said..

Walden was disbarred in 2012 after a complaint that he was using the litigation process to harass opposing parties and counsel in a lawful he filed on behalf of his mother and that she ultimately lost. According to the court, he “continued to initiate proceedings in both the state and federal courts complaining about the alleged unfairness of his disbarment.”

But he lost every case, it said.

And here, the lower court had no jurisdiction to hear the matter, the Supreme Court said.

“Simply put, circuit courts in this state have no authority to reverse a judgment made by the State Bar in a disciplinary proceeding, to admit an attorney to the State Bar, or to direct the State Bar to reinstate an attorney who has previously been disbarred,” it said.

Furthermore, in his appeal, Walden failed to address the defendants’ argument that they were shielded from suit by state and quasi-judicial immunity, the court said.

“That omission is fatal to Walden’s appeal,” because without it, the trial court had no ability to award him monetary damages the court said, affirming the dismissal.

The case is Walden v. Ala. State Bar Ass’n, 2020 BL 114924, Ala., No. 1180203, 3/27/20.