Legal News

Extradition Battle Pits Texas Against Lawyer-Turned-Veggie-Farmer

By Dan Slater

In one of the more improbable lawyer-turned-something-else stories, Stuart Bryson Collins gave up his Texas law license amid a flap with the Commission for Lawyer Discipline and moved to Canada to become an organic farmer. He eventually launched Bryson Farms in Shawville, Quebec. But now, after years of growing French melons, Patty-Pan Squash, Pak Choy, Japanese pumpkins and “Much, much more!!!!!!”, Collins may be heading back to Texas — via an extradition order from the DOJ.

According to this report in the Texas Lawyer, in 1995, after Collins (U. of Houston Law), had already moved to Canada, a grand jury indicted him on two felony charges of misappropriation of fiduciary property from clients of his former law practice. Collins says he’s not guilty, and that he thinks he didn’t learn about the indictments until 1999.

Harris County Assistant DA Lester Blizzard, who heads the Major Fraud Division, says the county asked the DOJ to start extradition proceedings after the office learned Collins, now 53 years old, was in Canada. So in 2003, the DOJ initiated extradition proceedings, and three years later, a judge of Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice committed Collins for extradition, and then-Canadian Justice Minister Vic Toews ordered Collins to surrender. Now the two sides are squabbling over Collins’s right to appeal to Canada’s Supreme Court.

In 1993, the Commission for Lawyer Discipline filed a suit against Collins in state court, which resulted from several grievances filed against Collins, then a partner in Archer, Collins & Associates, which reportedly included allegations Collins converted $10,000 in settlement proceeds for his use; improperly withdrew $37,000 from an estate for which Collins was the Chapter 11 trustee; and forged the name of a former partner to a settlement check. James McCormack, the GC of the Texas bar, also alleged in the report that Collins improperly sued a former client on behalf of another client, and paid office expenses with $10,280 he received on behalf of a client.

Meanwhile, Collins’s farming employees are behind him. Christine Douaire, a lettuce picker at Bryson Farms, has started a petition drive urging Canadian officials to reject the extradition request. “I’m going to fight for him until I just can’t anymore, until my dying breath. I really, really believe in him,” she says.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on May 27, 2008 (boomark / email).