Today in Supreme Court History: August 21

Matter of Disbarment of Gottfried, 518 U.S. 1043 (decided August 21, 1996): the Court disbars Lawrence R. Gottfried, who had been convicted of removal and destruction of government records under 18 U.S.C. §2071. Working for the VA, he evaluated appeals of denials of benefits. He made his job easier by extracting and throwing out documents and then referring the files back because they were incomplete. Eventually this attracted suspicion and then investigation. “From February 9, 1994, to May 10, 1994, the Inspector General copied thirty-eight veterans’ appeals files before the cases were assigned to Gottfried. In thirty-two of the cases, Gottfried removed and destroyed medical records, service records and other documents, and, in each case, he recommended that the Board remand without deciding the merits of the appeal. Some of the missing documents were found among trash on the curb outside Gottfried’s home and in his garage.” (58 F.3d 648 (D.C. Cir. 1995).) (When I was a new lawyer, in the days before e-mail, with a more subversive sense of humor, I asked some older attorneys: “What if every time something came to you, you threw it out without looking at it? How long could you get away with that?” The general answer was: about six months. I never tested this theory -- though I later had a boss who seemed determined to explore the limits.) As for Gottfried, he was on the job for 23 years before the roof fell in.