Opinion ID: 2977529
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The withdrawal of Attorney Ita

Text: Attorney Ita was originally held jointly and severally liable for the attorney fees along with the appellants. Before the fees were calculated, however, the district court allowed Ita to withdraw nunc pro tunc, even though he filed his motion to withdraw after the court had already sanctioned him. Attorney Frost did not object to Ita’s withdrawal when it occurred. See Part I.B.3. above. The appellants now contend for the first time on appeal that the district court’s decision constituted reversible error. Rule 3(c)(1)(B) of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure requires an appellant, in the notice of appeal, to “designate the judgment, order, or part thereof being appealed.” In this case, the appellants’ notice of appeal specifies that they are appealing only “the judgment entry dated March 30, 2007 granting the defendants sanctions in the amount of $660,103.49.” The notice fails to mention Ita’s withdrawal. Moreover, the appellants have not served Ita with any of the papers filed in this appeal, as would be required by Rule 25(b) of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure were Ita a party to the appeal. In short, we lack jurisdiction over this belated claim and decline to address the merits of the argument. 2. Availability of sanctions against Attorney Frost There is tension within this court’s jurisprudence as to the proper standard to apply in determining whether sanctions are warranted under § 1927. The district court relied upon the following standard set forth in Wilson-Simmons v. Lake County Sheriff’s Department, 207 F.3d 818 (6th Cir. 2000): Sanctions under § 1927 are warranted when an attorney has engaged in some sort of conduct that, from an objective standpoint, falls short of the obligations owed by a member of the bar to the court and which, as a result, causes additional expense to the opposing party. . . . [W]hen an attorney knows or reasonably should know that a claim pursued is frivolous, or that his or her litigation tactics will needlessly obstruct the litigation of nonfrivolous claims, a trial court does not err by assessing fees attributable to such actions against the attorney. Bad faith is not required to support a sanction under § 1927. Id. at 824 (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). No. 07-3602 Garner et al. v. Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court et al. Page 27 A more recent case, however, states that sanctions are appropriate under § 1927 only where the attorney “intentionally abuses the judicial process or knowingly disregards the risk that his actions will needlessly multiply proceedings.” Red Carpet Studios, 465 F.3d at 646. This language suggests a higher standard than the one described above in Wilson-Simmons. But we need not reconcile this apparently conflicting language because the district court found that Attorney Frost “intentionally pursued meritless claims,” a finding that would satisfy either standard. Curiously, the appellants never mentioned § 1927 in their briefs, focusing instead on Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. This focus is misplaced because the district court’s order granting sanctions actually denied sanctions to the extent that they were based on Rule 11. And even if we were to construe the appellants’ Rule 11-based arguments as a general objection to the imposition of sanctions under § 1927, the appellants have failed to raise any cognizable legal argument against the decision to impose sanctions under that section. Nor do the appellants point to any fact in the record that would justify disturbing the court’s factual finding that Attorney Frost intentionally pursued meritless claims. We therefore find no error with respect to the imposition of sanctions under § 1927 against Frost, although the amount and relative responsibility as between her and her clients is to be determined on remand. 3. Appropriateness of joint and several liability as a sanction An attorney may be held liable under 28 U.S.C. § 1927 “solely for excessive costs resulting from the violative conduct.” Ridder v. City of Springfield, 109 F.3d 288, 299 (6th Cir. 1997) (emphasis added) (holding that the district court did not abuse its discretion by imposing sanctions on an attorney for unreasonably and vexatiously multiplying proceedings in a civil rights lawsuit). Where an attorney’s unreasonable and vexatious conduct “began with the filing of the complaint and persisted throughout the pendency of the case,” this court affirmed the district court’s finding that the attorney was liable under § 1927 to pay attorney fees that began to accrue when the complaint was filed. Id. This court has also upheld a judgment holding an attorney jointly and severally liable for attorney fees along with his clients as an appropriate sanction under § 1927. Wilson-Simmons, 207 F.3d at 821. No. 07-3602 Garner et al. v. Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court et al. Page 28 Because we are reversing the district court’s judgment imposing $660,103.47 in attorney fees jointly and severally among the employees, we also reverse the court’s judgment holding Attorney Frost jointly and severally liable for the same amount. But this does not mean that Frost will escape liability. In fact, Frost herself conceded during oral argument that she, if anyone, should be held liable for the attorney fees. We therefore remand with instructions to consider any proof that Frost may wish to present regarding her inability to pay, and to consider the appropriate amount of sanctions against her vis-a-vis her clients. Holding a sanction hearing as to both plaintiffs and their attorney, where the plaintiffs are not separately represented, is inherently problematic because of the conflict of interest presented. See In re Ruben, 825 F.2d 977, 985 (6th Cir. 1987) (noting the “inherent problem in a sanction hearing addressed to both a plaintiff and her attorneys, where the plaintiff and [the] attorneys are not separately represented,” because the attorneys might abandon their client’s interests during the hearing). But many civil rights plaintiffs might be able to retain an attorney only on a contingency basis, and requiring such plaintiffs to obtain an attorney to defend themselves against sanctions might be unrealistic. Although Frost asserted during oral argument that she obtained her clients’ informed consent to represent them on this appeal, we express no opinion on whether the applicable professional responsibility standards permit Frost to continue representing her clients in this matter. We leave the consideration of such representation issues to the district court on remand.