Opinion ID: 2570487
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Topliff v. Gross

Text: Boone represented the plaintiff in this medical malpractice case. Magistrate Reid presided over the case. On January 18, 1996, the defendant filed a motion to compel discovery. Boone failed to respond to the motion. Pursuant to Rule 7.4 of the United States District Court for the District of Kansas, Magistrate Reid considered and decided the motion as uncontested and granted the motion. Magistrate Reid further provided in the order that Boone show cause why the court should not assess against Boone the reasonable expenses that the defendant incurred in making the motion, including attorney fees. Magistrate Reid set March 1, 1996, as the deadline for Boone to respond to the show cause order. In addition, the court ordered Boone to reimburse the defendant $2,000 for expert fees which had been incorrectly billed to and paid by the defendant. On April 22, 1996, Magistrate Reid ordered Boone to pay to the defendant's attorney expenses of $1,587 incurred by the defendant in prosecuting the motion to compel. The deadline for payment of this amount was May 15, 1996. On May 31, 1996, Boone had not paid the court-ordered sanction, filed a request for an extension of time to pay, or filed an appeal of the order. Magistrate Reid issued an order dated May 31, 1996, which ultimately became the impetus for this disciplinary proceeding. In the order, Magistrate Reid recounted Boone's history of failing to meet deadlines and the order in the Paulie case where Magistrate Reid had strongly advised Boone to file no more cases until he demonstrated an ability to meet the deadlines in the cases he currently had on file. Magistrate Reid also noted that in Paulie, Boone had been warned that the court would grant no further extensions of time in any of Boone's cases pending before the court absent the most compelling circumstances. Magistrate Reid also noted in the order that Boone was delinquent in submitting a final pretrial order in the case. The final pretrial conference had been held on April 2, 1996. Boone had made repeated promises since that date to the court and to the defendant regarding completion of the order, but, as of May 31, 1996, Boone had not delivered the completed order. The May 31, 1996, order also stated that the $2,000 reimbursement for expert fees which Boone had been ordered on February 15, 1996, to repay to the defendant remained unpaid and Boone had filed no requests for extensions of time to make the payment. Magistrate Reid found that Boone had simply ignored a clear order of the court regarding the reimbursement. In the order, Magistrate Reid found that Boone appeared to be incapable of handling the cases he had on file with the court, yet, in contravention of the express advice of the court, Boone had filed five new cases with the court in the month of May. The May 31, 1996, order provided that Boone appear in person and show cause to the court why the Topliff case should not be dismissed or Boone be held in contempt and/or referred to the Committee on Conduct of Attorneys and the Disciplinary Panel of the federal Kansas District Court to be suspended, disbarred, or otherwise disciplined for continued failure to obey the orders of the federal court. A hearing to show cause was scheduled for June 18, 1996. In an order dated June 27, 1996, Magistrate Reid set out the results of the show cause hearing. Regarding the order for Boone to pay defense counsel sanctions in the amount of $1,587 in connection with the motion to compel, Boone showed that the amount was paid on June 13, 1996. As to the overpayment of $2,000 in expert witness fees which Boone had been ordered to repay the defendant, Boone indicated that he thought that the amount was owed by his client, not by him. However, Boone acknowledged his responsibility in seeing that the amount was paid, and presented a check for the $2,000 at the hearing. The court then addressed the issue of the pretrial order which was provided to the court on June 15, 1996. Boone apologized for his failure to provide the order in a more timely manner and took full responsibility for not providing it sooner. Finally, Boone related to the court that he was in the process of withdrawing from all but five cases in federal court. Magistrate Reid considered and declined to dismiss the Topliff case as a sanction. Magistrate Reid stated in the order: [T]he court finds that defendant has certainly suffered some prejudice from the failure of Caleb Boone to handle matters in a timely fashion, and from his failure to timely pay the monetary amounts ordered. However, Caleb Boone has now paid the amounts owing in full, and has now provided all the material necessary for this court to file the final pretrial order. Therefore, the actual prejudice, while real, is not severe. While the actions of Caleb Boone has interfered with the judicial process, his corrective actions have limited the amount of interference. From the hearing, the court determined that plaintiffs have no culpability in the actions of their counsel. Defense counsel even acknowledged that there is no culpability by the plaintiffs. Neither the plaintiffs nor their counsel had ... been warned in advance of the May 31, 1996 order that dismissal would be a likely sanction for noncompliance. The final factor to consider is the efficacy of lesser sanctions. The court does not believe the conduct of plaintiffs'] counsel to be willful; plaintiffs were completely unaware that their counsel was not complying with orders of this court or meeting various deadlines. Most importantly, plaintiffs and their counsel have now fully complied with the previous sanction orders, and plaintiffs'] counsel has agreed to seek to withdraw from the vast majority of the cases in this court and has apologized for his behavior which led to the May 31, 1996 order. The court therefore finds that the payment of the financial sanctions, coupled with counsel's representation that he will seek to withdraw from most of his cases before this court, are sufficient penalties or corrective action at this time. Defense counsel, after reviewing the above factors, represented at the hearing that dismissal with prejudice does not seem warranted. Therefore, the court finds that dismissal is not an appropriate sanction at this time, and the court will therefore not recommend to the district court dismissal of this action. As to the contempt proceedings for Boone's failure to comply with court orders, Magistrate Reid found that the conduct of Boone was not so egregious as to justify punishment for contempt. In light of the corrective actions taken by Boone, including compliance with orders of the court, Magistrate Reid did not file a complaint with the Disciplinary Panel of the Kansas District Court. At the disciplinary hearing before the Panel, Boone explained that the $2,000 he had been ordered to reimburse the defendant was not an order to pay out of his own funds. The overpayment made by the defendant was the result of a surcharge by the expert witness referral service, which was later determined by the court to be excessive, and the court accordingly ordered that the unauthorized amount be reimbursed to the defendant. Boone's client was ultimately responsible for the reimbursement. Based on the facts, the Panel concluded that in Topliff, Boone intentionally disobeyed several court orders and, as a result of the misconduct, the defendant suffered actual prejudice. Boone takes exception to the Panel's finding that he intentionally disobeyed orders of the court. He asserts that his misconduct in this regard was negligent rather than intentional. Boone also objects to the Panel's finding that the defendant suffered actual prejudice as a result of Boone's misconduct. He states that the finding does not take into account that he took corrective actions to ameliorate potential prejudice to the defendant, and Magistrate Reid found that Boone's corrective actions satisfied the court that Boone should not be subject to discipline for misconduct.