Opinion ID: 652883
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: misconduct by lightning lube's counsel

Text: 79 In its final challenge, Witco contends that the district court erred in its treatment of misconduct by Lightning Lube and its trial counsel, Steven Kramer. More specifically, Witco focuses on attempted witness tampering by Kramer. During the course of the trial, Kramer contacted Robert Roe and Rufus Knowlin, former Lightning Lube franchisees, who were going to testify against Venuto, and Irving Pollack, whose wife was a Lightning Lube franchisee and who was also expected to testify adversely to Lightning Lube. 80 Kramer telephoned Pollack and told him that it would not be in his wife's interest to testify against Lightning Lube, because if Lightning Lube won it would pay the franchisees to whom Venuto owed money out of the award. Kramer further threatened that if his wife testified adversely to him and he lost, Venuto would sue her. Kramer approached Robert Roe in the bathroom of the courthouse, prior to Roe's testimony, advising him that Venuto intended to pay his promissory note to Roe if Lightning Lube won. Finally, Kramer telephoned Rufus Knowlin, saying he wanted to discuss a settlement of franchise fees which Knowlin owed. 81 When the district court became aware of these tactics, it conducted a voir dire of these witnesses outside the presence of the jury. All of the witnesses denied that Kramer's overtures had intimidated them and claimed that they would not change their expected testimony. Indeed, all three testified adversely to Lightning Lube at the trial. Following the voir dire, the district court found: 82 Mr. Kramer's approach to the witnesses was done to improperly influence their testimony adversely to Witco. The circumstances surrounding his approach to the witnesses, the timing of opening settlement discussions of a witness's claim against Lube on the eve of trial and Mr. Knowlin's own evaluation of Mr. Kramer's conduct all serve to depreciate Mr. Kramer's dissembling disavowal of an errant motive. 83 802 F.Supp. at 1201 n. 10. But based on the demeanor of the witnesses, the district court further determined that there is no indication that their testimony was 'chilled' or altered by Mr. Kramer's importuning them. 802 F.Supp. at 1201. 84 Witco moved for an immediate mistrial or, in the alternative, for permission to call Kramer to the stand before the jury to examine him about his contacts with the witnesses. The district court denied both motions. However, it permitted the three witnesses to testify about what Kramer told them, although not what they perceived to be his intentions. The district court also instructed the jury that it could infer, based on Kramer's conduct, that Lightning Lube did not have confidence in its case. See Newark Stereotypers' Union v. Newark Morning Ledger, 397 F.2d 594, 599 (3d Cir.1968) (recognizing that an attempt by a litigant to persuade a witness not to testify is properly admissible against him as an indication of his own belief that his claim is weak or unfounded or false), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 954, 89 S.Ct. 378, 21 L.Ed.2d 365 (1969). 85 Witco now argues, as it did before the district court in seeking a new trial, that the district court should have granted a mistrial, or at the very least permitted Witco to call Kramer as a witness and examine the three witnesses as to their perceptions of what Kramer intended when he contacted them.
86 We do not ignore the seriousness of Kramer's attempt to interfere with opposing witnesses. This conduct threatened to undermine the integrity of the trial proceedings and demonstrated a complete disregard of his obligations as an officer of the court. However, in considering the district court's refusal to grant a mistrial because of this misconduct, we must keep in mind our limited scope of review. Our standard of review with respect to the grant of a new trial for prejudicial conduct by counsel is deferential. Fineman, 980 F.2d at 207. We recognize that the trial judge has considerable discretion in determining whether conduct by counsel is so prejudicial as to require a new trial. Draper v. Airco, Inc., 580 F.2d 91, 94 (3d Cir.1978) (citations omitted). The trial judge is entrusted with wide discretion  'because he is in a far better position than we to appraise the effect of the improper [conduct] by counsel.'  Fineman, 980 F.2d at 207 (quoting Reed v. Philadelphia, Bethlehem & New England R.R. Co., 939 F.2d 128, 133 (3d Cir.1991) (citations omitted)). When measured against this deferential standard, the district court's refusal to grant a mistrial did not constitute an abuse of discretion. 87 It is clear that no prejudice resulted to Witco from Kramer's attempted witness tampering, inasmuch as the witnesses themselves claimed under oath not to have felt intimidated; they testified adversely to Lightning Lube; and the district court made an express finding based on their demeanor that their testimony did not seem to have been altered by Kramer's overtures. Furthermore, we find it significant in assessing the risk of any prejudice to Witco that the witnesses testified before the jury as to the attempted witness tampering and the district court instructed the jury that it could draw an adverse inference against Lightning Lube based on this testimony. Thus, if anything, Witco benefitted from Kramer's conduct, inasmuch as it received the opportunity to damage his credibility and that of his client in front of the jury. 88 Additionally, Witco has not explained what benefit that it legitimately hoped to gain from a mistrial. Once the factor of possible prejudice is discarded, Witco's only argument is that because, after the lawsuit began, Lightning Lube issued promissory notes to many of the franchisees, telling them explicitly that they would be paid out of any judgment, 14 a mistrial would have enabled Witco to investigate whether Venuto or Kramer was responsible for the refusal of a number of former franchisees to testify or even be interviewed. But as the district court accurately noted, Witco knew prior to trial that many former Lightning Lube franchisees possessed promissory notes from Lightning Lube. Thus, Witco had ample opportunity during discovery to investigate whether prospective witnesses had been intimidated or inhibited by either Kramer or Venuto. Witco's speculation, which it raised only at trial, that Venuto may have dissuaded other witnesses from testifying favorably to Witco, does not support the grant of a mistrial. We therefore will defer to the district court's judgment that a mistrial was unnecessary. 15 2. Refusal to Allow Kramer to Testify 89 Witco also argues that the district court's refusal to allow Kramer to testify about the allegations of witness tampering is grounds for a new trial. We reject this argument for the same reasons as discussed above. Considering that the court gave a jury instruction adverse to Lightning Lube's case and that the witnesses testified about the tampering, which, as the district court put it, exposed the jury to the full flavor of what transpired, it is difficult to imagine how Witco was prejudiced by the failure of Kramer to testify. Because we find that Kramer's testimony was not critical to Witco's case, we also hold that the court was well within its discretion not to disqualify Kramer from representing Lightning Lube in this case. 90 Witco argues that Kramer's cross-examination of these witnesses was fraught with leading questions which it likened to testimony that matched his credibility against theirs. But the district court found that Witco had ample opportunity to explore the witnesses' responses to Kramer's cross-examination and thus was not prejudiced. Accordingly, we will defer to the trial judge's assessment. 3. Limiting the Witnesses' Testimony 91 Witco argues that the district court handicapped its examination of the three witnesses by preventing it from asking them what they thought Kramer meant when he spoke with them. Witco claims that Kramer, in his cross-examination of the witnesses, convinced the jury of his good intentions because in his out-of-court encounters he carefully had avoided asking explicitly that the witnesses not testify or slant their testimony. According to Witco, the effect of that bit of disingenuousness could have been vitiated only by asking each witness what he understood Kramer was communicating. Thus, only by permitting lay opinion testimony pursuant to Fed.R.Evid. 701 could Kramer's credibility be evaluated properly. Relying on our holding in United States v. Dicker, 853 F.2d 1103, 1109 (3d Cir.1988), the district court held that the witnesses' interpretation of what they thought Kramer meant was inadmissible because his statements, as recounted to the jury, were clear. 92 In United States v. De Peri, 778 F.2d 963, 977-98 (3d Cir.1985), we held that a police officer's explanations of cryptic remarks made in tape recorded conversations between drug traffickers were admissible under Fed.R.Evid. 701 because they rationally were based on his perception of the conversation and helpful to the trier of fact. In Dicker, however, we explained that De Peri did not authorize the admission of all opinion testimony regarding the substance of a recorded or recalled conversation. Rather, such testimony is admissible only to assist in the jury's interpretation of coded portions of the conversation. 853 F.2d at 1109. But we held that where the statements are clear, such opinion testimony is not helpful to the trier of fact and is inadmissible under both Rules 701 and 702. Thus, under the facts of that case, we found that a customs agent should not have been allowed to interpret a defendant's potentially legitimate reference to export certificates as phony documents when the reference was clear and straightforward. 93 Similarly, in this case, regardless of what Kramer intended by his comments to the three witnesses, the comments, as recounted by those witnesses, were in themselves clear and straightforward, and thus we cannot say that the district court erred in holding that they did not need clarification by way of the witnesses' interpretations. The testimony of the witnesses accurately conveyed to the jury Kramer's words, which strongly suggested Kramer's intent to influence them and which further suggested Kramer's lack of confidence in Lightning Lube's case. Thus, even without the witnesses' lay opinion as to Kramer's intent, the jury was very likely to draw inferences from the witnesses' testimony against Lightning Lube. In addition, the court's special instruction to the jury advising it that any such negative inferences which it might make would be permissible, as well as Witco's closing argument, mitigated any remotely arguable prejudice to Witco.4. General Prejudice Claim 94 Aside from its contention that it is entitled to a new trial because of Kramer's attempted witness tampering, Witco also argues that the district court, having recognized that other misconduct by Kramer 16 and other trial errors caused Witco enough prejudice to necessitate a new trial on punitive damages and fraud, erred in not granting a new trial on Lightning Lube's other claims on that basis. In granting a new trial on punitive damages, the district court noted that it had erred in permitting the admission of evidence from Lightning Lube of statements attributable to Witco implying that Witco filed a counterclaim against Lightning Lube merely to destroy its business. Samuel Kleger, Lightning Lube's vice-president, testified that after Lightning Lube filed suit against Witco, John Bain, a lawyer for Witco, threatened that we'll bury you. In addition, Venuto testified that after Witco filed its counterclaim, Benjamin Liebowitz, a Witco attorney, kind of laughed at me, says [sic], you can't sell no [sic] franchises now can you Ralph? This evidence was offered by Lightning Lube in an attempt to demonstrate the malice and evil minded acts necessary to support its claim for punitive damages based on the counterclaim. 95 In granting Witco a new trial on punitive damages, the district court ruled that the evidence of these statements should not have been admitted over Witco's objections, because Lightning Lube failed to adduce proof that Witco ratified or authorized these statements. 802 F.Supp. at 1198-99. Furthermore, in the court's view, the statements could not have been authorized implicitly because they were not related to the management of the litigation. Id. 96 The district court further held that Venuto's contrived efforts (even after judicial admonition) to appeal to the sympathy of the jury through emotional displays inflamed the jury and provided an additional reason to set aside the punitive award. Mr. Venuto's persistent theatrical displays--tears, raised eyebrows and facial grimaces--all done to arouse undue passion and prejudice, effectively impeded defendant's chance for a fair trial. Id. at 1200. 97 Additionally, in granting a conditional new trial on two of the fraud claims, the district court determined that it had erred both in giving over Witco's objection a missing witness charge, and in permitting Lightning Lube to argue on summation that a Witco word processor who typed the Avis-Witco partnership draft agreements was a missing witness who the jury should presume would have failed to support Witco's claim as to why the wrong dates appeared on those documents. Id. at 1190. The district court concluded that there was no such witness and that the jury could have predicated its fraud verdict on a presumption not based on evidence of record, but simply on the unfounded speculation of Lightning Lube's counsel. Id. The court also found that none of the evidence presented at trial reasonably supported Lightning Lube's Avis-Witco conspiracy theory of fraud. 98 Witco now argues that the prejudice from these errors spilled over into the rest of the verdict, and thus the court should have granted a new trial as to the entire case. This argument is without merit. All of these errors related to whether Witco acted with the requisite malice to entitle Lightning Lube to punitive damages, and at most were only related remotely to the question of liability on the tortious interference and contract claims. Indeed, the missing witness instruction and reference by Kramer to that witness during summation concerned the timing of the Avis-Witco partnership agreement, an issue germane only to the fraud claim. The missing witness error thus could not have affected the jury's deliberations on the contract and tortious interference claims. Similarly, the threatening statements by Witco's lawyers related to Witco's malice in filing the counterclaim. This issue was irrelevant to the breach of contract claim and could not have affected the jury's deliberations as to the issue of tortious interference, inasmuch as there was more than sufficient evidence to establish Witco's liability on this claim. Likewise, we believe that Venuto's conduct in trying to get sympathy from the jury would not have affected the compensatory damages award which was supported fully by the evidence. 99 We also note that a jury's determination of punitive damages invariably involves a much more emotional decisionmaking process than does its determination of liability and compensatory damages. In awarding punitive damages, the jury in a sense vents society's collective anger. Punitive damages ... serve to express the community's disapproval of outrageous conduct--the 'admonitory' function. Fischer v. Johns-Manville Corp., 103 N.J. 643, 512 A.2d 466, 473 (1986). For this reason, they have been described as a  'display of ethical indignation.'  Id. (citation omitted). Thus, it stands to reason that a jury is much more susceptible to being inflamed when considering a punitive award than it would be in formulating a liability or compensatory damages verdict. In a recent case the Supreme Court of New Jersey recognized a jury's increased vulnerability to inflammatory tactics when assessing punitive damages: 100 We have proceeded with an appreciation that at the core of punitive damages lurks a volatile dilemma: the same findings necessary for the award of punitive damages can incite a jury to act irrationally. A condition precedent to a punitive damages award is the finding that the defendant is guilty of actual malice. The purposes of the award--the deterrence of egregious misconduct and the punishment of the offender--when mixed with a finding that the defendant is malicious, can readily inflame an otherwise-dispassionate jury. 101 Herman v. Sunshine Chem. Specialties, Inc., 133 N.J. 329, 627 A.2d 1081, 1085 (1993) (citation omitted). 102 Given that a jury's approach when considering punitive damages is so volatile, we think it not unlikely that an evidentiary error which could prejudice a defendant in regard to the jury's determination of punitive damages, would not affect determinations on liability or the quantum of compensatory damages. For this reason, and given the record before us, we find that the district court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that, although the wrongful admission of the evidence and the misconduct by Kramer and Venuto could have inflamed the jury during its deliberation of punitive damages, they did not affect its determination of the other claims. We thus will affirm on this point.