TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on May 19, 2025

The Tennessee Supreme Court permanently disbarred McMinn County attorney Joseph Houston Crabtree Jr. from the practice of law on May 16. The court determined that in a personal injury matter, Crabtree abandoned his client and pending litigation, failed to respond to subsequent communications from his client and failed to turn over the client’s file to successor counsel. Further, when Crabtree was suspended from the practice of law on Nov. 22, 2022, for an unrelated matter, he failed to notify either his client or opposing counsel of the suspension. Finally, the court found that Crabtree failed to respond to the Board of Professional Responsibility regarding the disciplinary complaints. His actions were determined to violate Rules of Professional Conduct 1.3, 1.4, 1.16, 3.2, 3.4(c), 8.1(b) and 8.4(g).