On September 6, 202, the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board issued an interesting opinion in the matter of In re Felix Anthony Dejean, IV. The LADB imposed a public reprimand on the respondent, principally for a violation of Rule 8.4(b) through committing the criminal act of “simple assault.” More particularly, the board found that the respondent’s threat to the complainant that he was “ready to kick [the complainant’s] ass” was enough to constitute simple assault.
Notably, three board members dissented and voted to defer to the hearing committee’s recommended dismissal of the complaint. One dissenter noted that a mere threat is not enough to constitute “assault,” but that the threat must be one that would place a recipient in “reasonable apprehension of receiving a battery.” Another dissenter noted that “there is a great deal of distance between unprofessional and wrong conduct, and a disciplinary violation.”
