Source: https://casetext.com/case/united-states-v-ross-3
Timestamp: 2020-02-22 16:30:36
Document Index: 305815014

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1927', '§ 371', '§ 1927', '§ 1927', '§ 1927', '§ 1927', '§ 1927', 'art, 149', '§ 833', '§ 1927']

United States v. Ross, 535 F.2d 346 | Casetext
" Id. at P 13. Personal liability should be imposed only where the court finds counsel's conduct demonstrates…
Baker Industries, Inc. v. Cerberus Ltd.
Any attorney or other person admitted to conduct cases in any court of the United States or any Territory…
Full title:UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, v. RALPH W. ROSS,…
Date published: May 11, 1976
535 F.2d 346 (6th Cir. 1976)
holding that an unintended inconvenience caused by counsels failing to appear at a court hearing was not sanctionable under Section 1927
Summary of this case from Carillo v. State of New Mexico Workers Compensation Admin.
Argued February 13, 1976.
Fredrick M. Coleman, U.S. Atty., David Felman, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Cleveland, Ohio, Michael W. Farrell, c/o T. George Gilinsky, Washington, D.C., for plaintiff-appellee.
This appeal requires us to determine whether a district court may require an attorney who fails to appear at a scheduled trial date to pay, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1927, the costs of summoning a jury venire of 42 persons. The statute permits a district court to require an attorney to personally satisfy costs when he "so multiplies the proceedings in any case as to increase costs unreasonably and vexatiously." We determine (1) that the attorney's conduct did not "unreasonably and vexatiously" increase costs, and (2) that the expense of the jury is not a "cost" within the meaning of the statute. Accordingly, we reverse the district court's judgment.
On November 16, 1973, appellant Ross, a lawyer who resided in Canton, Ohio, entered his appearance for defendant Florea in a federal criminal case docketed in the Northern District of Ohio charging George M. Florea and Raymond Vara with gambling in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 and 1084. Two weeks later, Attorney Robert J. Rotatori of Cleveland, Ohio, entered his appearance as co-counsel for defendant Florea in the same case. On June 25, 1974, the district court notified both defendants and their attorneys that trial was scheduled to begin Monday, July 15, 1974. On the morning of Friday, July 12, 1974, Mr. Rotatori informed the district judge before whom the case was to be tried that both defendants in the case were considering guilty pleas. Later that afternoon he returned to the district judge to advise the court that Florea had discharged him as counsel. In response to a specific inquiry from the district judge, Mr. Rotatori told the judge that appellant Ross would conduct Florea's defense at trial on Monday.
At 9:15 a.m. on Monday, July 15, when the case was called for trial, all parties were present except Florea's attorney, Ross. The district court learned from Florea that Mr. Ross was defending another client in a murder trial in the Stark County Common Pleas (state) Court. Thereupon the district court dismissed the panel of 42 persons which had been summoned as prospective jurors specifically for this case, and adjourned the proceedings until Wednesday, July 17, 1974, at 9:15 a.m.
On July 17, Mr. Ross was present, and the district judge asked him to explain his absence on Monday. Ross apologized to the court for the inconvenience he had caused and explained that on the previous Wednesday, July 10, he had accepted employment as defense counsel in a murder case in Stark County, Ohio. Ross said that he originally expected that the murder trial would be concluded by Friday, in time for him to be present for the Monday federal trial. He stated that on Friday morning, July 12, when it appeared that the trial would continue until Monday, he instructed his secretary to notify Mr. Rotatori that he could not be in federal court on Monday. Ross explained that his secretary informed him that she did, and that Rotatori told her: "He had talked to Mr. Florea today and there was going to be a plea because that [sic] things had been worked out." Some confusion was introduced when Ross related that he returned a telephone call to an assistant United States Attorney who had called him while he was at trial in Stark County. The government attorney informed Ross for the first time, at about 4:30 p.m. Friday afternoon, that Rotatori had been discharged by Florea. Nevertheless, Ross told the court that he assumed that Rotatori, whom he viewed as the principal attorney in their joint representation of Florea, was going to appear at federal court to act as counsel for Florea when he pled guilty.
The Court well appreciates the fact that you commenced a murder trial a week ago today, and your involvement in that trial was, of course, a valid reason for your not — your failure to appear here. And the Court, upon proper notification, would certainly have extended you the courtesy as well as the excuse for not appearing here on Monday.
I believe your complete negligence in failing to take into consideration the proceedings scheduled before this Court to commence on July 15th constituted a violation of that section. [ 28 U.S.C. § 1927]
The legislative history of the statute is sparse, and the cases interpreting it are not very helpful in divining the congressional purpose. Nevertheless, the precedents that we have found recognize that the Congress intended to impose a sanction on conduct more culpable than mere unintentional discourtesy to a court when it conjoined the word "vexatiously" with "unreasonably." Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1971) defines "vexatious" as "lacking justification and intended to harass." [Emphasis supplied.]
This circuit spoke long ago on the subject in Toledo Metal Wheel Co. v. Foyer Bros. Co., 223 F. 350 (6th Cir. 1915). In that case the district court invoked the predecessor statute to 28 U.S.C. § 1927 and imposed upon defendant's attorney the costs of taking a deposition because the attorney excessively cross-examined two witnesses and unwarrantably instructed another witness not to answer proper questions. We upheld the district court's finding that the attorney's conduct was "obnoxious to the orderly, reasonable, and proper conduct of an examination" and determined that this was sufficient for imposition of the costs.
A more recent case from the Seventh Circuit, Kiefel v. Las Vegas Hacienda, Inc., 404 F.2d 1163, 12 A.L.R.Fed. 895 (7th Cir. 1968), cert. denied, 395 U.S. 908, 89 S.Ct. 1750, 23 L.Ed.2d 221 (1969), held that the power to impose costs under 28 U.S.C. § 1927 should be exercised "only in instances of a serious and studied disregard for the orderly processes of justice." See also West Virginia v. Charles Pfizer Co., 440 F.2d 1079 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 871, 92 S.Ct. 81, 30 L.Ed.2d 115 (1971) (requiring a "clear showing of bad faith"). In the Kiefel case, the court noted that defendant's attorney had engaged in such professional misconduct before the district court (including using harassing and obstructionist tactics) as to require a new trial. During the second trial, the attorney continued this course of conduct by seeking postponements of the trial and then appearing on the trial date to ask for a stay due to appeal of the assessment of costs in the first trial. The Seventh Circuit approved assessing costs against the attorney in these circumstances, specifically observing that: "His acts of misconduct were correctly found to be intentional, involving serious breaches of the Canons of Ethics." 404 F.2d at 1167. [Emphasis supplied.]
[T]he section does not deal with the question of the nature or amount of costs to be allowed, but authorizes imposition of otherwise allowable costs on counsel personally in place of the party for whom he appeared where the circumstances mentioned in the section have occurred.
As succinctly put by another court, the section "merely authorizes the taxing of such excess of costs as arose from unreasonable and vexatious conduct of an attorney, to the attorney himself, as opposed to his client, and does not create any penalty in favor of the prevailing party, nor does it sanction the taxing of any additions over regular costs." 1507 Corp. v. Henderson, 447 F.2d 540, 542 (7th Cir. 1971), quoting In re Realty Associates Securities Corp., 53 F. Supp. 1013 (E.D.N.Y. 1943). [Emphasis supplied.]
The Seventh Circuit affirmed the district court's determination that § 1927 did not permit taxation of attorney's fees as part of the costs. Because § 1927 is penal in nature, we believe that it should be strictly construed, and we agree with the Seventh Circuit's determination that "costs" should be limited to taxable costs. Cf. Lockett v. Hellenic Sea Transports, Ltd., 60 F.R.D. 469 (E.D.Pa. 1973).
We do not find any authority for holding that such governmental expense can be taxed against one convicted of a criminal offense as "costs of the prosecution" in the absence of statute or established local practice. The expression "costs of prosecution" means such items of costs as are taxable by statute or by established practice or rule of court based on statute, and in the federal courts, where no federal statute is found to be directly applicable, recourse may sometimes be had to the statutes and practice of the state. See Henkel v. Chicago, St. P., M. O. Ry. Co., 284 U.S. 444, 52 S.Ct. 223, 76 L.Ed. 386, Ex parte Peterson, 253 U.S. 300, 316, 40 S.Ct. 543, 64 L.Ed. 919, U.S. v. Minneapolis, St. P. S.S.M. Ry. Co. (D.C.) 235 F. 951, 954, and cases cited in these opinions. It does not include the general expense of maintaining the system of courts and the administration of justice, all of which is an ordinary burden of government. That the enumerated items could not be taxed as costs was expressly held in United States v. Murphy (D.C.) 59 F.2d 734, and we are satisfied with the conclusions concerning taxation of costs there indicated. See, also, U.S. v. Wilson (C.C.) 193 F. 1007; State v. Morehart, 149 Minn. 432, 434, 183 N.W. 960; Board of Com'rs v. Board of Com'rs, 84 Minn. 267, 269, 87 N.W. 846; McLean v. People, 66 Colo. 486, 497, 180 P. 676; Saunders v. People, 63 Colo. 241, 165 P. 781; People v. Kennedy, 58 Mich. 372, 373, 25 N.W. 318; Stanton County v. Madison County, 10 Neb. 304, 308, 4 N.W. 1055, citing 1 Bouvier Law Dict. 370; Corpus Juris, vol. 15, § 833, page 330.
Accordingly, because Attorney Ross' conduct did not evidence a serious and studied disregard for the orderly processes of justice, and because the cost of a jury is not a taxable cost within the meaning of the statute, we reverse the judgment of the district court.
If the district court's analysis were carried to its logical conclusion, an attorney who caused the proceedings to be extended "unreasonably and vexatiously" could be required to pay the pro rata salaries of the judge, his staff, the U.S. Attorney and marshals, in addition to the expenses for any witnesses called. We do not believe that the statute was meant to include such "costs."
In United States v. Ross, 535 F.2d 346 (6th Cir. 1976), this court noted that section 1927 should be strictly construed because it is penal in nature, id. at 350, and interpreted the "unreasonably and vexatiously" language of the statute to require that an attorney's personal responsibility "flow only from an intentional departure from proper conduct or, at a minimum, from a reckless disregard of the duty owed by counsel to the court."
Summary of this case from Smith v. Detroit Federation of Teachers, Local 231
In United States v. Ross, 535 F.2d 346 (6th Cir. 1976), we initially defined "unreasonably and vexatiously" to mean "an intentional departure from proper conduct, or, at a minimum,... a reckless disregard of the duty owed by counsel to the court," Id. at 349.
In United States v. Ross, 535 F.2d 346 (6th Cir. 1976), the court defined "unreasonably and vexatiously" to mean "an intentional departure from proper conduct, or, at a minimum, from a reckless disregard of the duty owed by counsel to the court", 535 F.2d at 349.
Summary of this case from Piljan v. Mich. Dept. of Social Services
In Ross, counsel failed to appear on the day of trial and failed to notify the court that he would be unable to appear due to the necessity of his appearance at an on-going murder trial.
Summary of this case from People v. Manibusan
interpreting the term "vexatious" as used in federal statute 28 U.S.C. § 1927
In United States v. Ross, 535 F.2d 346 (6th Cir.1976), the appellate court vacated the trial court's order against a defense attorney for the costs incurred in assembling forty-two prospective jurors on the day the lawyer negligently failed to appear in court.
Summary of this case from State v. Rideau