Opinion ID: 782573
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Petitioners' Assertions of Error

Text: 55 1. Constitutional right to choice of counsel; Section 455 required recusal of the judge 56 BellSouth and Price argue that they have a Sixth Amendment right to counsel that is implicit in the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, a right that encompasses a lawyer of choice. See Powell v. Alabama, 287 U.S. 45, 68-69, 53 S.Ct. 55, 77 L.Ed. 158 (1932); see also Potashnick v. Port City Constr. Co., 609 F.2d 1101, 1117 (5th Cir.1980) (recognizing that due process guarantee of right to counsel extends to civil as well as criminal proceedings). Petitioners fortify their position in this case by arguing that in 28 U.S.C. § 455, Congress purposefully set out a bright-line rule that the judge, not the lawyer, should be disqualified when a person within the third degree of relationship is acting as a lawyer in the proceeding. See 28 U.S.C. § 455(b)(5)(ii). 57 While it is true that there is a constitutionally based right to counsel of choice, it is also well established that the right is not absolute. See Wheat v. United States, 486 U.S. 153, 159, 108 S.Ct. 1692, 100 L.Ed.2d 140 (1988) ([T]he essential aim of the [Sixth] Amendment is to guarantee an effective advocate for each criminal defendant rather than to ensure that a defendant will inexorably be represented by the lawyer whom he prefers.); United States v. Dinitz, 538 F.2d 1214, 1219 (5th Cir. 1976) (en banc) (recognizing a Sixth Amendment right to counsel in a criminal case, but only a limited right to counsel of choice, and affirming the disqualification of counsel on account of misconduct impeding the orderly administration of justice); see also McCuin v. Texas Power & Light Co., 714 F.2d 1255, 1262 n. 21 (5th Cir.1983) (While the right to counsel is fundamental, there is no absolute right to a particular lawyer, citing Dinitz ). Accordingly, a litigant's freedom to hire the lawyer of his choice can be overridden if a court finds that the choice would interfere with the orderly administration of justice. Dinitz, 538 F.2d at 1219; Panzardi-Alvarez v. United States, 879 F.2d 975, 980 (1st Cir. 1989). 58 Before turning to the question of whether the district court patently erred in overriding BellSouth's right to counsel of choice in this case, we turn to Petitioners' similar argument that 28 U.S.C. § 455 creates an absolute duty on the part of the judge to recuse and a corresponding absolute right on the part of a party to select a lawyer notwithstanding knowledge that the selection of the lawyer would cause the recusal of the judge. While Section 455 does create a bright-line duty on the part of the judge to recuse, we do not believe it also creates an absolute right on the part of a party to select a lawyer with a specific purpose to cause the recusal of the judge. Petitioners' effort to demonstrate that the district court's disqualification order was patently erroneous, either as a violation of their right to counsel of choice or as being inconsistent with Section 455, fails for the following reasons. 59 When circumstances exist involving the selection of counsel with the sole or primary purpose of causing the recusal of the judge, we believe that the right to counsel of choice can be overridden. The binding decision of the former Fifth Circuit in Dinitz squarely holds that the right to counsel of choice (even in the criminal context of the Sixth Amendment) must yield to the district court's discretion to disqualify an attorney for misconduct impeding the orderly administration of justice. 538 F.2d at 1219. Petitioners' reliance upon § 455 fails for similar reasons. Every court to address the circumstance found in this case has held that the lawyer may be disqualified. 7 In McCuin, supra, the Fifth Circuit held that additional counsel must be disqualified if counsel ... [was] chosen solely or primarily for the purpose of disqualifying the judge. Id. at 1264. 8 In so holding, the court was cognizant of the right to counsel of choice, which it held may be overridden when compelling reasons exist, id. at 1263. The court was also cognizant of the dictates of Section 455, with respect to which it noted that the drafters of Section 455 had contemplated that judges must be alert to avoid the possibility that some would seek to disqualify a judge in order to avoid his expected adverse decision. Id. at 1264. The Fifth Circuit clearly considered such manipulation to be an obstruction of the orderly administration of justice. Id. at 1263. 9 In Robinson v. Boeing Co., 79 F.3d 1053 (11th Cir.1996), this court affirmed a district court's refusal to permit a party to add Price as additional counsel in a case already pending before Judge Clemon. Our opinion characterized a party's selection of counsel motivated by a desire to disqualify the trial judge to whom the case has been randomly assigned as a manipulation or impropriety. Id. at 1055-56. A similar situation arose in the appellate context in the Second Circuit case of In re FCC, 208 F.3d 137 (2nd Cir.2000). There the Second Circuit held: 60 Once the members of a panel assigned to hear an appeal become known or knowable, counsel thereafter retained to appear in that matter should consider whether appearing might cause the recusal of a member of the panel.... It is clear ... that tactical abuse becomes possible if a lawyer's appearance can influence the recusal of a judge known to be on a panel. Litigants might retain new counsel for rehearing for the very purpose of disqualifying a judge who ruled against them. As between a judge already assigned to a panel, and a lawyer who thereafter appears in circumstances where the appearance might cause an assigned judge to be recused, the lawyer will go and the judge will stay. This practice preserves the neutral and random assignment of judges to cases, and it implements the inherent power of this Court to manage and control its docket. Id. at 139. 10 61 Our research has uncovered only one other published case addressing, in a different context, an alleged attempt to manipulate the random assignment of cases by retaining counsel related to a judge. In its review of the state's Attorney Discipline Board, the Supreme Court of Michigan held as follows: 62 It is unethical conduct for a lawyer to tamper with the court system or to arrange disqualifications, selling the lawyer's family relationship rather than professional services. A lawyer who joins a case as co-counsel, and whose principal activity on the case is to provide the recusal, is certainly subject to discipline. 63 Grievance Adm'r v. Fried, 456 Mich. 234, 570 N.W.2d 262, 267 (1997). 11 Although only a few courts have addressed the issue, it has been said that attempts to manipulate the random case assignment process are subject to universal condemnation. United States v. Phillips, 59 F.Supp.2d 1178, 1180 (D.Utah 1999) (collecting cases and scholarly literature). 64 Thus, we reject Petitioners' argument that the district court's disqualification decision is patently erroneous in violation of their right to counsel of choice or in violation of § 455. 12 The right to counsel of choice is not absolute. While it is true that § 455(b) imposes a bright-line duty on judges to recuse in the designated circumstances, both litigants and lawyers also have a duty to disavow and avoid manipulations of the random assignment system. 2. Petitioners' Schlumberger argument 65 Petitioners' principal argument relies on the application of Schlumberger Tech., Inc. v. Wiley, 113 F.3d 1553 (11th Cir.1997). In Schlumberger, we held that the district court had improperly denied an out-of-state attorney admission to practice pro hac vice on the basis of the opposing party's allegations of unethical conduct. Specifically, the court found there that the attorney, who was representing a corporation suing several of its former officers and directors, had acted improperly during pre-litigation interviews with several of the officers by misleading them into believing that they did not need to retain counsel. We held that, in order to deny pro hac vice admission to an attorney who is a member in good standing of a state bar, a district court must find a violation of a specific ethical rule of such a nature as to warrant disbarment. Id. at 1559. We said there, in pertinent part: 66 The standards governing disqualification of an attorney already admitted to appear before the district court differ, depending on the circumstances. If the conduct at issue threatens disruption of the court proceedings ... or is a deliberate challenge to the authority of the district court ... we give great deference to a trial court's decision to disqualify the responsible attorney. If, however, the conduct at issue does not threaten the orderly administration of justice but is allegedly unethical, we insist that district courts rest their disqualification decisions on the violation of specific Rules of Professional Conduct(.) 67 Id. at 1561 (citations omitted) (emphasis added). Petitioners contend that before disqualifying Price, the court was required to make a finding that his appearance violated a specific Rule of Professional Conduct of a nature rising to the level of disbarment, which the district court did not do. We disagree; we conclude that Schlumberger does not control here. 13 68 In Schlumberger we expressly recognized and reconciled two lines of cases within the circuit involving attorney disqualifications. One line of cases, the line which we found applicable in Schlumberger, involved disqualification based on an alleged ethical violation that did not threaten the orderly administration of justice. There, the higher Schlumberger standard applied. The other line of cases involved conduct disruptive of the proceedings or constituting a threat to the orderly administration of the laws. Id. at 1560. Significant for the instant case is the fact that Schlumberger expressly distinguished Kleiner v. First Nat'l Bank of Atlanta, 751 F.2d 1193 (11th Cir.1985), as falling within the orderly administration of justice line of cases. We discuss Kleiner in some detail because we find it analogous to the instant case in important ways. 69 There, the attorney involved counseled his bank client with respect to the legality and mechanics of a campaign whereby the bank would communicate ex parte with bank customers in an effort to promote their opting out of the plaintiff class. We held that such communications were in violation of the unmistakable import of the district court's order in the case, which had taken the question of informal contacts with class members under advisement, thus acting as an order which barred opt-out solicitations and similar communications until further notice. Id. at 1200. The district court sanctioned the attorney, including disqualifying him from further representation in the case. Id. at 1199. This court affirmed the disqualification of counsel relying upon the inherent power of the district court to protect the orderly administration of justice and to preserve the dignity of the tribunal. Id. at 1209. In this regard, the court held: 70 A trial judge possesses the inherent power to discipline counsel for misconduct, short of behavior giving rise to disbarment or criminal censure, without resort to the powers of civil or criminal contempt. 71 Id. 72 Thus, it is clear that the Kleiner standard, and not the Schlumberger standard, applies where the conduct at issue threatens the orderly administration of justice. We have no difficulty concluding that a contrivance to interfere with the judicial assignment process constitutes a threat to the orderly administration of justice. Every court considering attempts to manipulate the random assignment of judges has considered it to constitute a disruption of the orderly administration of justice. In McCuin, the Fifth Circuit held that permitting such manipulation would bring the judicial system itself into disrepute and would permit unscrupulous litigants and lawyers to thwart our system of judicial administration. 714 F.2d at 1265. This court in Robinson, supra, expressed the obvious concern with respect to the effects of such manipulation and judge-shopping on the proper administration of justice. The Second Circuit's decision in FCC, supra, implicitly recognized that such manipulation is disruptive of the orderly administration of justice; the court used its inherent power to disqualify a lawyer in order to preserve the neutral and random assignment of judges to cases. 208 F.3d at 139. Similarly, the Supreme Court of Michigan, in Fried, supra, emphatically condemned such manipulation: It is prejudicial to the administration of justice, because it is an undue interference with the proper assignment of cases. 570 N.W.2d at 267. See also Standing Committee on Discipline v. Yagman, 55 F.3d 1430, 1443 (9th Cir.1995) (stating in dictum that [j]udge-shopping doubtless disrupts the proper functioning of the judicial system and may be disciplined.); United States v. Phillips, 59 F.Supp.2d 1178, 1180 (D.Utah 1999) (collecting cases and scholarly literature indicating that manipulation of the random case assignment process is universally condemned as a disruption of the integrity of the judicial system that would undermine public confidence in the assignment process). 73 In the instant case, the district court found an attempt to manipulate and to interfere with the random assignment of cases, and because that clearly threatens the orderly administration of justice, this case falls squarely within the line of cases distinguished by Schlumberger and expressly excluded from its ambit. See Schlumberger, 113 F.3d at 1561. 14 The instant case is more analogous to Kleiner, supra, and the other cases distinguished by Schlumberger. 74 For the foregoing reasons, we reject Petitioners' argument that the district court's disqualification decision is patently erroneous for failure to follow the Schlumberger standard. 3. Applicability of standing order 75 Petitioners' most persuasive contention is that the district court improperly shifted the burden to them to rebut the strong presumption (provided for in the Northern District's Standing Order) that Price's hiring was motivated by the desire to force recusal. The Standing Order, by its own terms, applies where a law firm whose appearance requires the judge to recuse attempts to enter a case in addition to, or in substitution of, a previously-appearing counsel. The district court acknowledged that this case was not strictly within the confines of the Standing Order because Price appeared for BellSouth from the outset. However, the court found the presumption was applicable by logical extension, because BellSouth knew that Judge Clemon was assigned to the case and that Price's appearance would require him to recuse. This extension, say BellSouth and Price, was error. 76 We agree with Petitioners that the burden-shifting presumption of wrongdoing in the Standing Order was not operable under these facts. The Northern District adopted the Standing Order against a backdrop of forced recusals of Judge Clemon occurring not only in mid-case but, in some instances, at critical junctures where decisive rulings were imminent. A party's midstream change of counsel obviously gives greater cause for suspicion than its initial hiring decision. A party should not be allowed to test the waters with a judge and, having found preliminary rulings not to its liking, stage a conflict so as to try its luck with a replacement judge. See Bivens Gardens Office Bldg. v. Barnett Banks, 140 F.3d 898, 913 (11th Cir. 1998) (holding that party that strategically withheld motion to recuse until after receiving unfavorable outcome at trial would not be allowed to raise it for the first time in conjunction with motion for post-judgment relief). When a party changes counsel under such circumstances so as to create a conflict where none existed, there is the combination of knowledge and suspicious timing that provides an inference of intent. It is too great an inferential leap to construe the Standing Order as reaching cases in which the inference is based solely on the fact that the judge's relative appears as counsel from the start. 15 77 Because a party is presumptively entitled to the counsel of his choice, that right may be overridden only if compelling reasons exist. Texas Catastrophe Property Ins. Ass'n v. Morales, 975 F.2d 1178, 1181 (5th Cir.1992) ( quoting McCuin, 714 F.2d at 1262); see also United States v. Locascio, 6 F.3d 924, 931 (2nd Cir.1993) (recognizing, in criminal case, presumption that party is entitled to counsel of choice, which may be overcome by a showing of an actual conflict or potentially serious conflict). The party moving to disqualify counsel bears the burden of proving the grounds for disqualification. Duncan v. Merrill Lynch, 646 F.2d 1020, 1028 (5th Cir. Unit B 1981); accord A.J. by L.B. v. Kierst, 56 F.3d 849, 859 (8th Cir.1995); see also American Airlines, 972 F.2d at 611 (holding that motions to disqualify are subject to exacting review because of potential for strategic abuse); Evans v. Artek Sys. Corp., 715 F.2d 788, 794 (2nd Cir.1983) (characterizing movant's task in seeking removal of opposing counsel as heavy burden). 78 Thus, we agree with Petitioners that the district court erred in applying the presumption. However, as noted above, mere error does not entitle one to the issuance of a writ of mandamus. We need not decide whether the presumption error was patent error, because we decline for other reasons to issue the writ because of this error. First, the writ of mandamus should not issue in the absence of a showing that Petitioners have a clear and indisputable right to relief. Petitioners have failed to demonstrate that there was not improper motive, that is, that the district court would not have found improper motive even without the presumption. Second, the district court in the instant case not only found that Price was selected for the sole or primary purpose of causing the recusal of Judge Clemon (a finding that may have been tainted by virtue of using the presumption), the court alternatively reached its disqualification decision on the basis of balancing the Robinson factors. We discuss below this alternative holding and conclude that, with respect to the Robinson balancing, Petitioners have failed to demonstrate a clear and indisputable right to relief. 4. Application of Robinson factors 79 Putting aside the presumption of the Standing Order, the district court applied the factors we enumerated in Robinson, 79 F.3d at 1055 — the fundamental right to counsel, the court's docket, the injury to the plaintiff, the delay in reaching decision, the judicial time invested, the expense to the parties objecting, and the potential for manipulation or impropriety — and found disqualification appropriate. In particular, the court observed that the impact on BellSouth's right from losing only one of its several attorneys at a very early stage of the litigation would be minimal when weighed against the considerable prospect of improper manipulation of the judiciary if recusal were required. 80 Petitioners argue that Robinson has no application where, as here, the disputed attorney's appearance occurs at the outset of the case rather than interrupting it after substantial judicial investment. We agree that Robinson is distinguishable in that regard; Robinson involved an attempt to add Price's law firm as additional counsel. However, we also believe that Robinson clearly evinces concerns relevant to this case. While it is true that the initial appearance of an attorney who would cause a recusal is likely to produce less disruption to the system with respect to some of the Robinson factors, e.g., the judicial time invested, it is also clear that other Robinson factors are implicated in both situations ( e.g., the fundamental right to counsel, the court's docket, delay in reaching a decision, expense to the parties objecting, and the potential for manipulation or impropriety). 16 It is also clear that Robinson evinced a concern about judge-shopping, a concern that is present in both situations. 81 While we disagree with Petitioners that Robinson is wholly inapplicable, we do believe that the Robinson factors are just that. In other words, they were intended as a guide for district courts in the exercise of their discretion with respect to such problems, not as a rigid formula dictating the proper resolution of every case. In this regard, we note that Robinson makes it clear that its factors are not exclusive; rather, the factors to consider merely include the listed factors. The relevant factors will vary with the circumstances. 82 We do believe that the Robinson approach of considering relevant factors is sound. We believe the approach is essentially a balancing approach, weighing the significance of each relevant factor. We agree with the district court that the most significant factor in this case involves the manipulation of the random assignment system. 83 However, we believe that there is at least one significant factor to which the district court apparently gave little attention. Most of the published cases addressing the issue of a disqualification of a party's attorney involve disqualification because of a particular instance or instances of misconduct. While the disqualification often would carry the potential for adverse consequences with respect to the attorney's reputation, the cases usually involve misconduct of a kind that need not and hopefully would not recur. The instant case potentially involves a significant difference. Price's status as the nephew of Judge Clemon, of course, is not something that will evaporate with this case. It is a status which will remain with him so long as he practices law and Judge Clemon is on the bench; it is a matter beyond his control. The potential significance of this fact can be illustrated by the following hypothetical. If Price's sole or primary area of practice and expertise were federal employment discrimination litigation, if Price's practice were focused primarily in the Northern District of Alabama, and if a court's disqualification ruling were so broad as to constitute a significant chill on any client's desire to retain Price ( e.g., a ruling that any time Price appeared in such a case that was ultimately assigned to Judge Clemon, the lawyer rather than the judge would be disqualified), 17 then the disqualification ruling, as a practical matter, would constitute or approach a disbarment. 84 If a disqualification ruling were, as a practical matter, the functional equivalent of a disbarment or approached that level, then it would seem appropriate that a considerably higher standard be employed. We find some support in the case law for this common-sense notion that as the seriousness of the consequences of a disqualification order increases, so too the care and caution exercised by the district court should be enhanced. 18 In the attorney disqualification context of Kleiner, we rejected what appears to have been an argument that a higher standard should apply. We said: 85 [P]etitioners fail to distinguish between disbarment and the less serious sanction of disqualification from a particular case. The standards are more relaxed for the latter. 86 751 F.2d at 1210 n.34. The suggestion is that a higher standard might apply in the case of a functional equivalent of disbarment. See also Steadman v. SEC, 603 F.2d 1126, 1139 (5th Cir.1979). There, in the context of reviewing an SEC order indefinitely barring an investment adviser from associating or affiliating with any investment adviser or company, and suspending him for one year from associating with any broker or dealer, we held: We subscribe to the common-sense notion that the greater the sanction the Commission decides to impose, the greater is its burden of justification. 19 87 To address this factor, the district court should have analyzed the consequences of any proposed ruling not only on BellSouth, but also on Price and his law firm. The district court should have made findings of fact, inter alia: findings with respect to the primary area or areas of Price's practice; and if his primary area had originally been employee benefits-related work, and if his practice after moving to Birmingham evolved in the direction of one that would place him often in Judge Clemon's court, whether that evolution was undertaken with an improper motive to take advantage of the fact that his presence would cause the recusal of Judge Clemon. 88 We noted above that, because of the nature of the conduct alleged, the instant case is potentially of a different character from the ordinary disqualification case. We can assume arguendo, without deciding, that a case such as the hypothetical noted above might warrant the exercise of our mandamus powers. However, Petitioners have failed to persuade us that the instant case is the case hypothesized. First, while Petitioners make conclusory assertions of dire consequences to Price's practice, their rhetoric is factually sparse. 20 Second, the district court's ruling is a narrow one in the following respects: 89 &#x2022; It placed significant reliance upon BellSouth's history in Northern District of Alabama litigation of retaining Price only in circumstances involving cases before his uncle; 90 &#x2022; The district court placed especially significant reliance on the fact that BellSouth had already been represented in related litigation in the Southern District of Alabama for 14 months by competent and well-respected attorneys in the Birmingham office of the Constangy firm. The district court considered this to be a fact of greater importance. 91 &#x2022; It placed significant reliance on the fact that BellSouth was interested in retaining Price in this case only if its extant discrimination litigation in the Southern District of Alabama were expanded to include a suit filed in the Northern District of Alabama. 92 &#x2022; It placed significant reliance upon its finding of fact that BellSouth was actually motivated by an intent to cause the recusal of Judge Clemon, and that Price lent himself to that purpose. 21 93 Accordingly, Petitioners have failed to demonstrate that this case rises to the level of the above hypothetical. We do not construe the order to indicate what another district court's ruling should be, for example, when Price appears initially for a client which did not labor under the history relied upon here and which was not already being represented by competent local counsel in a related case. Indeed, as previously noted, Price has been allowed to remain as counsel in two recent cases initially assigned to Judge Clemon, the Pierson and Grant matters, where he and his firm appeared from the start and the courts did not make a finding of improper circumstances as were found to exist here. It should therefore be obvious, to him and to his prospective clients, that he is not categorically barred from practice in the Northern District of Alabama, even in cases initially assigned to Judge Clemon. In sum, Price and LMPP have not only failed to establish, with sufficient clarity to meet mandamus standards, the dire consequences to their practice that they assert in conclusory fashion, but they have also failed to establish that the district court's narrow ruling on these facts will operate as the chill they fear. In short, Petitioners have failed to demonstrate a clear and undisputable right to relief. 94 For the foregoing reasons, we decline to issue the writ of mandamus. While we have noted several shortcomings in the decision of the district court, 22 we cannot conclude that Petitioners have demonstrated a clear and indisputable right to relief or demonstrable injustice. 23 Accordingly, the application for issuance of a writ of mandamus is DENIED. 24