Appellate Division: Second Judicial Department

M100290

E/ct

A. GAIL PRUDENTI, P.J.

WILLIAM F. MASTRO

REINALDO E. RIVERA

PETER B. SKELOS

ARIEL E. BELEN, JJ.

2003-09401 In the Matter of Claude Nelson Stuart, a suspended attorney. (Attorney Registration No. 2238061)

DECISION & ORDER ON MOTION FOR REINSTATEMENT

Motion by the respondent for reinstatement as an attorney and counselor-at-law. The respondent was admitted to the Bar at a term of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the Second Judicial Department on January 18, 1989. By decision and order on application of this court dated April 26, 2004, the Grievance Committee for the Second, Eleventh, and Thirteenth Judicial Districts was authorized to institute and prosecute a disciplinary proceeding against the respondent, and the issues raised were referred to John P. Clarke, Esq., as Special Referee to hear and report. By opinion and order of this court dated September 26, 2005, the respondent was suspended from the practice of law for a period of three years based on the Special Referee's report which sustained one charge of professional misconduct (see Matter of Stuart, 22 AD3d 131). By decision and order on motion of this court dated January 11, 2006, the respondent's motion, inter alia, for leave to renew and/or reargue the opinion and order dated September 26, 2005, or alternatively, for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeals from the opinion and order, was denied.

Upon the papers filed in support of the motion and the papers filed in relation thereto, it is

ORDERED that the motion is denied.

We find that the respondent does not demonstrate the requisite fitness and character to practice law.

PRUDENTI, P. J., MASTRO, RIVERA, SKELOS and BELEN, JJ., concur.

ENTER:

James Edward Pelzer

Clerk of the Court