Source: https://casetext.com/case/richardson-merrell-inc-v-koller
Timestamp: 2019-12-07 05:04:54
Document Index: 739933157

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1291', '§ 1291', '§ 1291', '§ 1291', '§ 1291', '§ 1291', '§ 1291', '§ 1291', '§ 1291', '§ 1291', '§ 3907', '§ 1291', '§ 1292', '§ 332', '§ 1291', '§ 1291', '§ 1291']

Richardson-Merrell Inc. v. Koller, 472 U.S. 424 | Casetext
472 U.S. 424 (1985)
ReadReadAttorney AnalysesAnalyses1Citing BriefsBriefs11Citing CasesCiting Cases489
Richardson-Merrell Inc.v.Koller
Law Offices of Seymour M. Chase, v. F.C.C
I conclude that an order disqualifying an attorney from appearing as counsel in an FCC proceeding is…
In re Estate of Chuong
Flanagan, supra, 465 U.S. at 268, 104 S.Ct. at 1056. Finally, in Richardson-Merrell, Inc. v. Koller, 472 U.S.…
holding an order disqualifying counsel in a civil case did not qualify for immediate appeal under the collateral order doctrine
holding that orders disqualifying counsel in civil cases are categorically considered intertwined with the merits because many are even though some aren't
holding the same for orders disqualifying counsel
Summary of this case from Klestadt & Winters, LLP v. Cangelosi
Argued February 26, 1985 Decided June 17, 1985
Respondent Anne Koller was born without normal arms or legs. She filed suit in Federal District Court, alleging that during pregnancy her mother had taken an antinausea drug manufactured by petitioner and that this drug had caused respondent's birth defects. Respondent was initially represented by Miami and Washington law firms, but a Los Angeles law firm later took the lead in trial preparation. Before trial, the District Court disqualified the Los Angeles firm and revoked the appearances of two of its attorneys because of misconduct. Respondent appealed the disqualification to the Court of Appeals, which stayed all proceedings in the District Court pending the outcome of the appeal. The Court of Appeals thereafter held that 28 U.S.C. § 1291 — which grants courts of appeals jurisdiction of appeals from all "final decisions of the district courts," except where a direct appeal lies to this Court — confers jurisdiction over interlocutory appeals of orders disqualifying counsel in a civil case. The Court of Appeals then held that the disqualification in question was invalid.
(a) To fall within the "collateral order" exception to the "final judgment" rule, an order must "conclusively determine the disputed question," "resolve an important issue completely separate from the merits of the action," and "be effectively unreviewable on appeal from a final judgment." Coopers Lybrand v. Livesay, 437 U.S. 463, 468. Pp. 429-432.
(c) Civil disqualification orders do not meet the requirements of the "collateral order" exception. If prejudice is not a prerequisite to reversal of a judgment following disqualification of counsel, the propriety of the disqualification order can be reviewed as effectively on appeal of a final judgment as on a interlocutory appeal. If prejudice is a prerequisite to reversal, disqualification orders are not sufficiently separate from the merits to qualify for interlocutory appeal. Flanagan v. United States, 465 U.S. 259. Even apart from Flanagan's analysis, civil disqualification orders are often inextricable from the merits of the litigation. Pp. 436-440.
Page 425 Jonathan D. Blake, Charles S. Sims, Burt Neuborne, and Arthur B. Spitzer filed a brief for the Washington Post et al. as amici curiae urging affirmance.
Last Term, in Flanagan v. United States, 465 U.S. 259 (1984), the Court unanimously held that pretrial orders disqualifying counsel in criminal cases are not subject to immediate appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. In this case, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held that § 1291 confers jurisdiction over interlocutory appeals of orders disqualifying counsel in a civil case. 237 U.S.App.D.C. 333, 737 F.2d 1038 (1984). Because we conclude that orders disqualifying counsel in a civil case are not collateral orders subject to immediate appeal, we reverse.
Respondent was initially represented by Cohen Kokus, a Miami law firm, and by local counsel in Washington. As discovery progressed into 1981, however, a Los Angeles law firm, Butler, Jefferson, Dan Allis, took the lead in trial preparation. James G. Butler entered an appearance pro hac vice for respondent on January 26, 1981; his partner Nicholas Allis was admitted pro hac vice on October 19, 1982. As the case neared trial in early 1983, respondent's counsel of record included at least eight lawyers from the Cohen firm, the Butler firm, and two Washington firms.
On December 22, 1982, Nicholas Allis' secretary, Krystyna Janowski, twice called the offices of Davis, Polk Wardwell, Richardson-Merrell's attorneys. Janowski left messages indicating that Koller's suit was fraudulent and that Cynthia Koller had not taken Bendectin during the crucial early weeks of her pregnancy. App. 19-20. Janowski subsequently regretted her actions, and on December 26 she told a paralegal at her firm that investigators for Richardson-Merrell had been attempting to persuade her to sign a statement indicating that Koller's case was fraudulent.
The next day, Allis twice went to see Janowski, first at a hospital where the secretary was visiting her child, and later at the secretary's apartment. During the second visit, Allis was accompanied by a private investigator who surreptitiously taped the conversation on a concealed tape recorder. Allis presented Janowski a typed statement indicating that "[a]t no time did I ever hear Cynthia Koller or anyone else say that Cynthia Koller did not take Bendectin." Id., at 26-27. Janowski signed the statement. The following day, December 28, 1982, Allis received a copy of a letter that Davis, Polk Wardwell had sent to the District Court. The letter recounted Janowski's telephone calls, informed the court that petitioner had engaged independent counsel for Janowski, and requested a hearing. Id., at 21-22. Allis' firm responded with its own letter to the court. The letter recounted the story Janowski had told Allis. A copy of the statement obtained from Janowski was attached. Id., at 23-25. During subsequent discovery into the matter, Janowski recanted the signed statement.
Respondent appealed the disqualification to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which stayed all proceedings in the trial court pending the outcome of the appeal. App. 339. The Court of Appeals subsequently held that it had jurisdiction to entertain the appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. On the merits, the panel held that the District Court's disqualification order was invalid and that the appearances of Allis, Butler, and their firm should be reinstated. 237 U.S.App.D.C. 333, 737 F.2d 1038 (1984). We granted certiorari to review the Court of Appeals' jurisdictional ruling as well as its decision on the merits of the disqualification. 469 U.S. 915 (1984).
Title 28 U.S.C. § 1291 grants the courts of appeals jurisdiction of appeals from all "final decisions of the district courts," except where a direct appeal lies to this Court. The statutory requirement of a "final decision" means that "a party must ordinarily raise all claims of error in a single appeal following final judgment on the merits." Firestone Tire Rubber Co. v. Risjord, 449 U.S. 368, 374 (1981). As the Court noted in Firestone, the final judgment rule promotes efficient judicial administration while at the same time emphasizing the deference appellate courts owe to the district judge's decisions on the many questions of law and fact that arise before judgment. Ibid.; Flanagan v. United States, 465 U.S., at 263-264. Immediate review of every trial court ruling, while permitting more prompt correction of erroneous decisions, would impose unreasonable disruption, delay, and expense. It would also undermine the ability of district judges to supervise litigation. In § 1291 Congress has expressed a preference that some erroneous trial court rulings go uncorrected until the appeal of a final judgment, rather than having litigation punctuated by "piecemeal appellate review of trial court decisions which do not terminate the litigation." United States v. Hollywood Motor Car Co., 458 U.S. 263, 265 (1982).
The collateral order doctrine is a "narrow exception," Firestone, supra, at 374, whose reach is limited to trial court orders affecting rights that will be irretrievably lost in the absence of an immediate appeal. See Helstoski v. Meanor, 442 U.S. 500, 506-508 (1979); Abney v. United States, 431 U.S. 651, 660-662 (1977). To fall within the exception, an order must at a minimum satisfy three conditions: It must "conclusively determine the disputed question," "resolve an important issue completely separate from the merits of the action," and "be effectively unreviewable on appeal from a final judgment." Coopers Lybrand v. Livesay, 437 U.S. 463, 468 (1978). Our recent decisions have strictly applied this test when parties pursued immediate appeal of trial court rulings on motions to disqualify counsel.
In Firestone, supra, the Court held that a trial court order denying a motion to disqualify counsel in a civil case was not subject to immediate appeal. The Court assumed without deciding that such a ruling resolves an important issue completely separate from the merits, and thus meets the second part of the Coopers Lybrand test. 449 U.S., at 376. Nevertheless, the Court refused to permit an interlocutory appeal because it found an order denying disqualification to be reviewable on appeal after a final judgment. JUSTICE MARSHALL's opinion for the Court observed:
"An order refusing to disqualify counsel plainly falls within the large class of orders that are indeed reviewable on appeal after final judgment, and not within the much smaller class of those that are not. The propriety of the district court's denial of a disqualification motion will often be difficult to assess until its impact on the underlying litigation may be evaluated, which is normally only after final judgment. The decision whether to disqualify an attorney ordinarily turns on the particular factual situation of the case then at hand, and the order embodying such a decision will rarely, if ever, represent a final rejection of a claim of fundamental right that cannot effectively be reviewed following judgment on the merits." Id., at 377 (emphasis added).
Flanagan v. United States, supra, decided one of the issues left open in Firestone. There the Court held that a district court's pretrial order granting disqualification of defense counsel in a criminal case was not immediately appealable under § 1291. The unanimous opinion in Flanagan emphasized the strong interest of both the parties and society as a whole in speedy resolution of criminal cases. This important interest counsels application of the final judgment rule with "utmost strictness." 465 U.S., at 265. The Court then applied the standards enunciated in Coopers Lybrand and concluded that criminal disqualification orders do not qualify for immediate appeal.
Since Flanagan was decided, the Courts of Appeals have divided on the appealability of orders disqualifying counsel in a civil case. Compare Gibbs v. Paluk, 742 F.2d 181, 184 (CA5 1984) (rejecting appeal pursuant to § 1291 in reliance on Flanagan), and Kahle v. Oppenheimer Co., 748 F.2d 337 (CA6 1984) (rejecting appeal of order disqualifying counsel who was needed as witness), with Banque de Rive, S. A. v. Highland Beach Development Corp., 758 F.2d 559 (CA11 1985) (distinguishing Flanagan and accepting appeal pursuant to § 1291); Interco Systems, Inc. v. Omni Corporate Services, Inc., 733 F.2d 253, 255 (CA2 1984) (same); and Panduit Corp. v. All States Plastics Manufacturing Co., 744 F.2d 1564 (CA Fed. 1984) (same). We granted certiorari to resolve the conflict.
The decision below allowing immediate appeal of the disqualification order rests primarily on two lines of reasoning. First, the Court of Appeals identifies policy considerations that suggest civil disqualification orders should fall within the collateral order doctrine even though criminal disqualification orders do not. Second, the court attempts to distinguish Flanagan's application of the Coopers Lybrand test.
We do not find these policy arguments persuasive. Although delay is anathema in criminal cases, it is also undesirable in civil disputes, as the Court of Appeals itself recognized. One purpose of the final judgment rule embodied in § 1291 is to avoid the delay that inherently accompanies time-consuming interlocutory appeals. Flanagan, 465 U.S., at 264. When an appellate court accepts jurisdiction of an order disqualifying counsel, the practical effect is to delay proceedings on the merits until the appeal is decided. As in this case, the appellate court may stay all proceedings during appellate review. Even where the appellate court fails to impose a stay, it would take an intrepid District Judge to proceed to trial with alternate counsel while her decision disqualifying an attorney is being examined in the Court of Appeals.
The delay accompanying an appeal results not only when counsel appeals "injudicious use of disqualification motions," but also when counsel appeals an entirely proper disqualification order. Most pretrial orders of district judges are ultimately affirmed by appellate courts. 15 C. Wright, A. Miller, E. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure § 3907, p. 433 (1976). Given an attorney's personal and financial interest in the disqualification decision, orders disqualifying counsel may be more likely to lead to an interlocutory appeal than other pretrial rulings, whether those rulings are correct or otherwise. To be sure, an order granting disqualification itself leads to delay. Alternate counsel must often be retained. Even in cases like this one where competent alternate counsel had already entered appearances and participated in the litigation, such counsel will need time to gain the knowledge of the disqualified attorneys. But where the disqualification decision of the trial court is correct, this delay is unavoidable. We do not think that the delay resulting from the occasionally erroneous disqualification outweighs the delay that would result from allowing piecemeal appeal of every order disqualifying counsel.
We also decline to view the disqualified attorney's personal desire for vindication as an independent ground for interlocutory appeal. An attorney who is disqualified for misconduct may well have a personal interest in pursuing an immediate appeal, an interest which need not coincide with the interests of the client. As a matter of professional ethics, however, the decision to appeal should turn entirely on the client's interest. See ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct 1.7(b), 2.1 (1985). In neither Firestone nor Flanagan did the Court regard the attorney's personal interest in a disqualification ruling as relevant or dispositive. Moreover, a rule precluding appeal pursuant to § 1291 would not necessarily leave the client or the disqualified attorney without a remedy. As we noted in Firestone, "a party may seek to have the question certified for interlocutory appellate review pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b), . . . and, in the exceptional circumstances for which it was designed, a writ of mandamus from the court of appeals might be available." 449 U.S., at 378-379, n. 13. Alternatively, if the client obtains an unsatisfactory judgment with substitute counsel, the disqualification ruling may be challenged on appeal of a final judgment. Even when the client is satisfied with the judgment obtained by substitute counsel, an attorney whose reputation has been egregiously injured by the trial court's disqualification decision might be able to obtain relief from the Circuit Judicial Council pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 332(d) (1).
Although it is well established that Judicial Councils do not exist to review claims that a particular trial judge's rulings were erroneous, In re Charge of Judicial Misconduct, 613 F.2d 768 (CA9 1980), they do exist "to provide an administrative remedy for misconduct of a judge for which no judicial remedy is available." In re Charge of Judicial Misconduct, 595 F.2d 517 (CA9 1979). Cf. In re Complaint of A. H. Robins Co., JCP 84-001 (CA8 Judicial Council, Dec. 26, 1984) (noting that Judicial Council conducted hearings, received briefs, and heard oral arguments on complaint that Federal District Judge improperly accused counsel of misconduct, and then dismissed complaint as moot only because a Circuit panel found separate grounds to permit an appeal in Gardiner v. A. H. Robins Co., 747 F.2d 1180 (CA8 1984)).
Finally, we share the Court of Appeals' concern about "tactical use of disqualification motions" to harass opposing counsel. Nevertheless, we do not believe that this "dangerous game" constitutes an independent justification for immediate appeal of an order disqualifying an attorney. Implicit in § 1291 is Congress' judgment that the district judge has primary responsibility to police the prejudgment tactics of litigants, and that the district judge can better exercise that responsibility if the appellate courts do not repeatedly intervene to second-guess prejudgment rulings. Cf. Cohen v. Beneficial Loan Corp., 337 U.S., at 546 ("Appeal gives the upper court a power of review, not one of intervention"). Like any referee, the district judge will occasionally make mistakes. A mistaken ruling disqualifying counsel imposes financial hardship on both the disqualified lawyer and the client. But the possibility that a ruling may be erroneous and may impose additional litigation expense is not sufficient to set aside the finality requirement imposed by Congress. Coopers Lybrand, 437 U.S., at 476, and n. 28; Will v. United States, 389 U.S. 90, 98, n. 6 (1967). "If the expense of litigation were a sufficient reason for granting an exception to the final judgment rule, the exception might well swallow the rule." Lusardi v. Xerox Corp., 747 F.2d 174, 178 (CA3 1984). The Coopers Lybrand test looks not to the litigation expense imposed by a possibly erroneous ruling, but rather to whether the right affected by the ruling can and should be protected by appeal prior to judgment. To that inquiry we now turn.
In Flanagan, the Court held that orders disqualifying counsel in criminal cases cannot satisfy either the second or the third parts of the Coopers Lybrand test: If a showing of prejudice is a prerequisite to reversal, then the ruling is not "completely separate" from the merits because it cannot be assessed until a final judgment has been entered; on the other hand, if a showing of prejudice is not required, then the ruling can be effectively reviewed on appeal of the final judgment. 465 U.S., at 267-269. Apart from its policy discussion, the Court of Appeals held that Flanagan's analysis is inapplicable in the civil context.
The Court of Appeals relies on a requirement of prejudice to overcome the third Coopers Lybrand requirement that the ruling "be effectively unreviewable on appeal from a final judgment." 437 U.S., at 468. Yet by reversing the decision of the District Court on the interlocutory appeal, the Court of Appeals implicitly held that a showing of prejudice is not required on interlocutory appeal. We are unpersuaded by this analysis. As in Flanagan, we conclude that, if establishing a violation of one's right to counsel of choice in civil cases requires no showing of prejudice, then "a pretrial order violating the right does not meet the third condition for coverage by the collateral-order exception: it is not `effectively unreviewable on appeal from a final judgment.'" 465 U.S., at 268. Absent a requirement of prejudice, the propriety of the trial court's disqualification order can be reviewed as effectively on appeal of a final judgment as on an interlocutory appeal.
Even apart from Flanagan's analysis, we would conclude that orders disqualifying counsel in civil cases are not "completely separate from the merits of the action." Coopers Lybrand, 437 U.S., at 468. The Court of Appeals asserts that, in this particular case, the extensive record "presents an entirely adequate basis for determining whether the district court's order was proper." 237 U.S. App. D.C., at 348, 737 F.2d, at 1053. This Court, however, has expressly rejected efforts to reduce the finality requirement of § 1291 to a case-by-case determination of whether a particular ruling should be subject to appeal. Coopers Lybrand, supra, at 473-475. Even if some orders disqualifying counsel are separable from the merits of the litigation, many are not. Orders disqualifying attorneys on the ground that they should testify at trial, for example, are inextricable from the merits because they involve an assessment of the likely course of the trial and the effect of the attorney's testimony on the judgment. Kahle v. Oppenheimer Co., 748 F.2d, at 339. Appellate review of orders disqualifying counsel for misconduct may be entwined with the merits of the litigation as well. If reversal hinges on whether the alleged misconduct is "likely to infect future proceedings," 237 U.S.App.D.C., at 351, 737 F.2d, at 1056, courts of appeals will often have to review the nature and content of those proceedings to determine whether the standard is met. In this case, for example, the Court of Appeals opinion exhaustively discusses respondent's claim on the merits, the relevance of the alleged instances of misconduct to the attorney's zealous pursuit of that claim, the pretrial proceedings in the trial court, and the danger that it will be difficult for the trial judge "to act with complete impartiality in future proceedings." Id., at 359, 737 F.2d, at 1064. In light of these factors, we conclude that orders disqualifying counsel in civil cases, as a class, are not sufficiently separable from the merits to qualify for interlocutory appeal.
We hold that orders disqualifying counsel in civil cases, like orders disqualifying counsel in criminal cases and orders denying a motion to disqualify in civil cases, are not collateral orders subject to appeal as "final judgments" within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1291. The Court of Appeals lacked jurisdiction to entertain respondent's appeal and should not have reached the merits. Firestone, 449 U.S., at 379. We accordingly do not address the additional issues on which we granted certiorari, and we do not intimate any view on the merits of the District Court's disqualification decision.
The Court holds that the plaintiff in this case must undergo the burdens of trial without the counsel of her choice before being permitted to obtain appellate review of what may well be an erroneous disqualification. As the Court points out, this result is in accord with our recent decisions in Firestone Tire Rubber Co. v. Risjord, 449 U.S. 368 (1981), and Flanagan v. United States, 465 U.S. 259 (1984). Today's case, however, is somewhat different from both of those cases. Respondent's attempt to vindicate her right to the attorney of her choice is substantially more compelling than the claim in Firestone of a "right" not to have one's opponent represented by counsel who has misbehaved. And permitting an interlocutory appeal here would not implicate the strong public interest in speedy disposition of criminal trials that influenced the decision in Flanagan. Nonetheless, a litigant's right to retain an attorney of choice can be protected on review of final judgment if appellate courts are willing when necessary to set aside verdicts — even when they result from lengthy civil proceedings. Moreover, today's result could well give pause to a party considering an abusive disqualification motion, for an improper grant of such a motion could jeopardize an ultimate jury verdict in his favor. On the understanding that the courts of appeals will develop standards for reviewing final judgments that will effectively protect each litigant's right to retain the attorney of choice, I join the Court's opinion.
Everyone must agree that the litigant's freedom to choose his own lawyer in a civil case is a fundamental right. The difficult question presented by this case is whether the denial of that right by a district court's disqualification order can effectively be reviewed following a judgment on the merits.
See Coopers Lybrand v. Livesay, 437 U.S. 463, 468 (1978) (matters "effectively reviewable" after final judgment not subject to interlocutory appeal).
In my opinion, Flanagan v. United States, 465 U.S. 259 (1984), does not control the decision in this case. The strong public interest in the prompt disposition of criminal charges — an interest shared by both the prosecutor and the defendant — is not present to the same extent in the civil context where the defendant's interest in delay may motivate a motion to disqualify in a borderline case. Moreover, in a criminal case an erroneous order disqualifying the lawyer chosen by the defendant should result in a virtually automatic reversal; review after trial on the merits is therefore "effective" to protect the right.
In the civil context, I do not believe a pretrial disqualification order would similarly be effectively reviewable after the entry of a final judgment. Prejudice to a litigant's right to go to trial with the advocate of his choice is suffered the moment a disqualification order is granted. Nevertheless, after a trial with substitute counsel has been held, I would be most reluctant to subscribe to a rule requiring reversal without a showing of some impact on the outcome. Yet I believe it would be virtually impossible to demonstrate that an outcome has been affected by the change of counsel as opposed to the other myriad variables present in civil litigation. Both prejudice to the litigant's freedom of choice and the substantive basis of attorney disqualifications based on pretrial actions are "completely separate" from the underlying merits. I am therefore persuaded that a disqualification order fits squarely within the classic formulation of an appealable collateral order:
Page 443 Coopers Lybrand, supra, at 468.