# State Ex Rel. Nebraska State Bar Ass'n v. Butterfield

> Nebraska Supreme Court · November 10, 1961 · 172 Neb. 645

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9532751

## Case

- **Full name:** State of Nebraska Ex Rel. Nebraska State Bar Association, Relator, v. Elven A. Butterfield, Respondent
- **Court:** Nebraska Supreme Court
- **Decided:** November 10, 1961
- **Citations:** 172 Neb. 645; 111 N.W.2d 543; 1961 Neb. LEXIS 122
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Simmons
- **Judges:** Simmons, Carter, Messmore, Yeager, Spencer, Boslaugh, Brower
- **Cited by:** 33 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9532751

## Opinion text

Simmons, C. J.,
concurring in dissent.
I concur in Judge Yeager’s dissent. I desire to add a bit thereto.
In connection with Judge Yeager’s discussion of the evidence, I desire to direct attention to the standard of quality of evidence which we have stated is applicable in this type of case. It is: “The findings to sustain disbarment must be sustained by a higher degree of proof than that required in civil actions, yet falling short of the proof required to sustain a conviction in a criminal action.” State ex rel. Nebraska State Bar Assn. v. Richards, 165 Neb. 80 , 84 N. W. 2d 136 .
It now appears that when the respondent was suspended we left him with a sword of Damocles hanging over his head in that we deprived him of all the rights of a lawyer while suspended but now hold him subject to all the standards of a lawyer during that period.
A suspended lawyer has to live and do and earn. Respondent is now being disbarred for doing those things which it is common knowledge are done by laymen without citations for contempt for practicing law. He *662 should not be held to have forfeited being restored to the status of a lawyer because of it.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9532751. Public record. Not legal advice.