The board that governs the conduct of Maine lawyers on Tuesday sanctioned a Presque Isle attorney who admitted that he threatened to have a person involved in a probate court dispute criminally prosecuted.
Richard Currier agreed to the sanction.
Currier declined to comment on the reprimand after a three-person panel of the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar accepted the joint recommendation from his attorney, James Bowie of Portland, and Alan Kelley, the assistant bar counsel who represented the board.
The panel, made up of two Bangor attorneys and a member of the public, convened Tuesday at the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor.
By agreeing to the reprimand, Currier admitted that he violated the bar rule that says a lawyer shall not threaten prosecution or disciplinary action against another attorney solely to obtain an advantage in a civil matter.
Currier was reprimanded in June 2012 for similar conduct, according to information posted on the Board of Overseers’ website.
The case that led to the most recent reprimand involved a disputed will.
Currier threatened to take information to the district attorney’s office if the person disputing the will did not drop his case.
In a separate case, the panel rejected a joint recommendation that Eugene McLaughlin Sr. of Presque be reprimanded for telling a client involved in a domestic dispute that he could retrieve property after the court-ordered window expired.
That means a new panel will be convened and a hearing on McLaughlin’s alleged conduct will be held. A date for that hearing has not been set.
