Opinion ID: 165481
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Dunton Conflicts

Text: 47 Finally, Plaintiffs argue the district court erred by refusing to disqualify Defendants' attorney. They claim defense counsel's decision not to settle for $60,000 created a conflict of interest between the State and the individual defendants in their individual capacities. We review a district court's decision on a motion to disqualify counsel for abuse of discretion. McEwen v. City of Norman, 926 F.2d 1539, 1550 (10th Cir.1991). 48 Plaintiffs' claim is based on Dunton v. County of Suffolk, 729 F.2d 903, 907 (2d Cir.1984), in which one attorney defended both a governmental entity and an individual defendant in his individual capacity in a § 1983 case. The County's defense — that its co-defendant police officer acted outside the scope of his official duties — undermined the police officer's good faith immunity defense, thereby creating a conflict of interest between the attorney's two clients. See id. Neither plaintiff's nor defendants' counsel raised the conflict, although the Second Circuit noted that even plaintiff's counsel should ... have been aware of the problem and should have called it to the attention of the court. Id. at 909. In the end, the Second Circuit vacated the judgment against the police officer defendant and remanded the case for a new trial because the trial court had a duty to inform [defendant] of the conflict. Id. at 909. 49 A degree of skepticism is in order when one party seeks disqualification of opposing counsel based on allegedly deficient representation of the opposing party. In Dunton, the defendant benefitted when the court disqualified his defense counsel because the result of the disqualification was reversal of a decision in plaintiff's favor; we are reluctant to allow Plaintiffs to employ a similar motion to reverse a decision in Defendants' favor. And in any event, Plaintiffs have failed to present any evidence suggesting that Defendants' attorney took action to benefit the State or the CYFD at the individual Defendants' expense. Absent evidence of a conflict of interest, we cannot conclude that the district court abused its discretion by denying Plaintiffs' disqualification motion. We therefore AFFIRM the district court's ruling on this issue.