web1_schram.jpg

Their view: Emerging truths about a national emergency

web1_casale_edit.jpg

Heart failure: Getting the numbers right with medical tests

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; James Hayward may have found it easy to get a job City Hall and retire, but he&#8217;s facing resistance in a bid to reinstate his law license.</p><p>The Pennsylvania Office of Disciplinary Counsel is opposing Hayward&#8217;s return to practice law after the state Supreme Court suspended him in 2011 for abandoning the cases of four clients.</p><p>A phone message left for Hayward Monday was not immediately returned.</p><p>The Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court scheduled a hearing for May 2 in Harrisburg on Hayward&#8217;s petition for reinstatement. It also set a deadline of April 18 for anyone who wants to be heard in the proceeding.</p><p>The Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed notice of opposition on Feb. 5, according to the Disciplinary Board&#8217;s website.</p><p>Hayward, who was born in 1951, filed his petition on Nov. 8. 2018, according to the website. By then he had retired from his $26,000-a-year job as a health educator in the city&#8217;s Health Department, putting in the minimum 12 years to be eligible for a pension. As it turned out, Hayward needed just one day of employment after factoring in his four years of military service and the seven years, 11 months and 30 days earned from his previous employment with the city. He left with an annual pension of $18,390.</p><p>Mayor Tony George hired Hayward in March of 2018 after he called looking for a job in order to pay for his daughter&#8217;s tuition at a private school and to take courses to reactivate his license. George had expressed shock at Hayward&#8217;s early exit from the job that was paid with a state grant, saying &#8220;No good deed goes unpunished.&#8221;</p><p>Hayward attended George&#8217;s campaign kickoff for a second term last month at the Riverside Cafe on Old River Road.</p><p>The Disciplinary Board offered pointed remarks when it<a href="http://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/DisciplinaryBoard/out/32DB2010-Hayward.pdf" target="_blank"> recommended a four-year suspension for Hayward on June 9, 2011</a> and it cited prior discipline by state and federal courts.</p><p>&#8220;(Hayward&#8217;s) misconduct warrants suspension. Here, he has already been deemed unfit to practice law and suspended for one year and one day for misconduct involving one client,&#8221; the board said in reference to the <a href="http://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/DisciplinaryBoard/out/123DB2009-Hayward.pdf" target="_blank">state Supreme Court&#8217;s order of Jan. 19 </a><a href="http://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/DisciplinaryBoard/out/123DB2009-Hayward.pdf" target="_blank">2011</a>.</p><p>The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania also suspended him for five years Sept. 29, 2010.</p><p>The Disciplinary Board equated Hayward&#8217;s misconduct in federal court with actions in state court. &#8220;He neglected his client&#8217;s (bankruptcy) case with the added seriousness of making a misrepresentation to the court,&#8221; the Disciplinary Board said.</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_Hayward.cropped-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">James Hayward</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_Hayward.cropped-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>James Hayward</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>Notice of Hearing regarding Petition for Reinstatement by James D. Hayward</strong></p><p>Anyone who wants to be heard regarding the petition is asked to contact:</p><p>District III Office of the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania</p><p>601 Commonwealth Ave.</p><p>Ste. 5800</p><p>Harrisburg, PA 17106</p><p>Phone number (717) 772-8572</p><p>The deadline is April 18.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

State opposes reinstatement of law license to ex-WB employee Hayward