NEW ORLEANS (Louisiana Record) – A judge in Vermilion Parish received a partially deferred suspension and a Lafayette attorney received a fully deferred suspension in separate Louisiana Supreme Court attorney disciplinary proceedings issued Nov. 14.
Kaplan City Judge Frank Stanton Hardee III received a partially deferred suspension following his no contest plea to multiple misdemeanors arising from alcohol-related offensive conduct, according to the high court's single-page attorney disciplinary proceeding. The high court suspended Hardee for a year and a day, deferring six months of the suspension, and placed him on probation for the term of the deferral.
The high court's attorney disciplinary proceeding followed a joint petition for consent discipline filed with the court by Hardee and the office of disciplinary counsel. The court also ordered Hardee to pay all costs and expenses in the matter.
Hardee, owner of Hardee Law Firm & Mediation Center and a former assistant district attorney, was elected Kaplan City judge in November 2014 when he defeated incumbent Judge Frank LeMoine, taking about 60 percent of the vote. His term is set to expire Dec. 31, 2020.
In May 2017, Hardee, then 41, agreed to an 18-month plea in abeyance to charges of sexual battery, failure to disclose identity and interference with an arresting officer, according to information provided by the Summit County, Utah, attorney's office.
Hardee was admitted to the bar in Louisiana on April 13, 2006, according to his profile on the Louisiana State Bar Association's website. No prior discipline was listed on his state bar profile.
In a separate matter, Larry Curtis, a maritime personal injury lawyer whose office is in Lafayette, received a fully deferred six-month suspension after he admitted to filing an affidavit which he knew had been improperly notarized. Curtis' suspension followed a joint petition for consent discipline filed by the attorney and the office of disciplinary counsel, according to the high court's single-page attorney disciplinary proceeding.
Curtis also was ordered to pay all costs and expenses in the matter.
Curtis was admitted to the bar in Louisiana on April 28, 1978, according to his profile on the Louisiana State Bar Association's website. No prior discipline was listed on his state bar profile.