NEW ORLEANS (Louisiana Record) — New Orleans attorney Tracey Michel Favorite has been disbarred following a Nov. 5 Louisiana Supreme Court attorney disciplinary proceeding regarding allegations she wrote a series of bad checks over three years.
"The record supports a finding that respondent knowingly, if not intentionally, violated duties owed to the public, the legal system, and the legal profession, causing actual harm," the high court said in its 11-page attorney disciplinary proceeding. "The baseline sanction for this type of misconduct is disbarment. The record supports the aggravating and mitigating factors found by the board."
Favorite also was ordered to "make full restitution to her victims" and to pay all costs and expenses in the matter, according to the attorney disciplinary proceeding.
Favorite was admitted to the bar in Louisiana on April 25, 2013, according to her profile at the Louisiana State Bar Association's website.
Favorite allegedly issued multiple worthless checks between 2014 and 2016, including those written to a townhouse owner, a law firm association, her office manager, a third party vendor, an office furniture store and a furniture and appliance store. One series of bad checks Favorite allegedly wrote in January 2016 to pay for home furnishings totaled about $8,005, according to the attorney disciplinary proceeding.
Favorite has been charged multiple times in Jefferson Parish with felony issuing worthless check charges, most recently in September 2016, according to the attorney disciplinary proceeding. Court documents indicate a number of failures to appear for hearings and "numerous arraignments have been continued due to the state's inability to locate" Favorite, the attorney disciplinary proceeding said.
The state of Louisiana currently is attempting to obtain service on Favorite in North Carolina, according to the attorney disciplinary proceeding. Favorite received notice of the disciplinary complaint against her in June 2016, according to the attorney disciplinary proceeding.
"Three months later she provided the office of disciplinary counsel with a brief initial response and indicated therein that she would be supplementing her response," the attorney disciplinary proceeding said. "She did not. During her sworn statement, [Favorite] provided explanations for the attachments and offered that she would 'take care of all that as soon as possible.' According to the online database for Jefferson Parish, a third attachment remains outstanding."