The state Supreme Court has suspended the law license of an attorney for 2020 Republican gubernatorial candidate Loren Culp for abusing the legal system by making frivolous claims of widespread voter fraud in that election.
Stephen W. Pidgeon, the attorney who sued the state on Culp’s behalf, claiming the 2020 election was illegitimate, only to withdraw the case under threat of legal sanctions, will be prohibited from practicing law in the state for one year, according to the Supreme Court order. The suspension is effective Aug. 21.
In suspending Pidgeon, the state Supreme Court upheld charges by the state bar association’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel, which brought a formal complaint against him in December 2022.
A hearing officer in April of this year concluded that Pidgeon had violated rules of professional conduct for lawyers by knowingly “bringing a frivolous proceeding and asserting frivolous claims.”
Pidgeon’s actions caused injury “to the legal system and legal profession,” wrote the hearing officer, Randolph Petgrave III, adding that “aggravating factors” in the case included Pidgeon’s refusal to admit his “wrongful” conduct and his failure to respond to the bar association’s formal charges.
In a phone interview Monday, Pidgeon shrugged off the penalty, saying he has not been working as an attorney since the Culp lawsuit, and now lives in Alaska, where he gives religious talks. He voluntarily resigned from the state bar last year, records show.
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