Opinion ID: 2600722
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Actual fraud and collusion

Text: ¶ 29 We turn then to the core of the problemthe question of conducting a trial without disclosing to the trial judge that there was no result expected other than dismissal before the case went to the jury. While research and consultation on and about our previous cases might have led Respondents to conclude there was no duty to disclose the covenant, no research could have produced the conclusion that a lawyer could fail to tell a trial judge that the case being tried for two weeks was actually a moot court exercise. But the hearing officer actually found that the interests of Dr. Bair and Plaintiffs remained adverse; that, because the agreement might be unenforceable, there was no assurance that Plaintiffs' counsel would in fact dismiss the case with prejudice at the close of Plaintiffs' evidence; and that Respondents therefore had to prepare and try the case as if there had been no agreement. Report at 5. Thus, the hearing officer concluded, there was neither collusion, fraud [n]or unethical conduct. Id. ¶ 30 We reject these findings as clearly erroneous and the conclusion as legal error. The agreement is, on its face, collusive. Any agreement by which one purported opponent must allow another to conduct a supposedly adversarial trial in any manner it wants is inherently collusive. If the adversary system means anything, it means that opposing parties will adopt a self-serving strategy. Based on the facts and the law, this strategy may or may not require preventing one opponent from doing whatever it wants. But, the agreement in question provided that Dr. Bair would make no objection to whatever evidence and witnesses were presented by Plaintiffs, without regard to whether that evidence was helpful to Dr. Bair, whether it was admissible, or whether the witnesses were disclosed or even competent to testify. Whatever may have happened during the trial, the agreement itself transformed Dr. Bair from an adversary into a marionette that Plaintiffs' counsel could manipulate in furtherance of their own ends. In the long run, the agreement would have furthered Dr. Bair's interests because he benefitted from the covenant not to execute, but the agreement was inherently collusive because it committed Respondents to further a scheme to use a seemingly adversarial trial for an improper purpose. ¶ 31 We come then to the question of fraudthe so-called trial. Plaintiffs were obligated to put on their evidence and then dismiss with prejudice. While Respondents claim they had no way to know that the agreement was enforceable on this point, we are not so naive as to believe they would not have made every attempt to extricate their client from his precarious position by attempting to enforce the agreement. The combination of the agreement about presentation of evidence, the agreement to dismiss before the case went to the jury, and the covenant not to execute rendered this socalled jury trial a charade, evidently intended to improperly influence the trial judge. We can describe it best by quoting the words of Judge Moroney, the trial judge. When he finally discovered what had occurred, he had the following to say: The lawyers involved duped the court into conducting a mock trial at the taxpayers' expense to serve their own ends. Because of that fraud on the court, at least the following wrongful acts occurred. Nine citizens of this county were ordered by the court to set aside nine working days of their lives at $12.00 a day, minus parking, so that they could serve as props in a charade. This judge, the court staff, and the facilities of this division, were occupied for over two weeks to further a devious private purpose, thus robbing legitimate litigants of what it is this court is here to do. Lawyers, as officers of the court, abused their licenses and ordered persons to be witnesses, coercing their presence by the illegitimate invocation of the contempt power of this court. This judge was even induced to order a non-party to produce a witness who did not wish to play in the game. Minute Entry, May 20, 1996, at 5 (CV 92-22705). ¶ 32 Strong words, but we believe they were justified. The agreement was inherently collusive, and the manner in which it was implemented worked a fraud on the court, to say nothing of the jury, the witnesses, and the Hospital; all were led to believe Plaintiffs and Dr. Bair were engaged in a real trial with a real purposeto decide whether Dr. Bair was liable and, if so, to assess appropriate damages. In reality, it was prearranged that neither issue would be decided. The only explanation given for this entire charade was patently illegitimate. If the trial judge was to be educated for the pending motion on the order granting summary judgment to the Hospital, the parties should have presented whatever newly discovered evidence or argument there might have been in the motion proceedings and not by means of a mock trial in which the Hospital did not participate. The trial judge's characterization, quoted above, is accurate. Such conduct is inherently prejudicial to the administration of justice. Cf. In re Shannon, 179 Ariz. 52, 67, 876 P.2d 548, 563 (1994) (attorney's failure to execute satisfaction of judgment before cashing check, resulting in motion to compel and five-month delay, was undue waste of court resources and prejudicial to administration of justice). ¶ 33 We thus conclude that Respondents violated ER 8.4(d), which forbids conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice. Wasting weeks of court time and inconveniencing jurors and witnesses in a sham proceeding is a paradigm of such conduct.