Opinion ID: 787206
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: IAM's Challenges to Evidentiary Rulings

Text: 30 IAM also argues that the judge made two erroneous evidentiary rulings that require reversal or a new trial. First, IAM maintains that the judge improperly precluded cross-examination of a witness regarding a key element of plaintiffs' case. Second, it contends that the judge abused his discretion in permitting the testimony of an attorney who previously had represented plaintiffs. We reject both arguments. 31 1. Judge Korman's Limitation of Cross-Examination 32 Plaintiffs' first witness was Raymond Grebey, a former Trump official. Through Mr. Grebey, plaintiffs introduced a legal memorandum from 1991 that was filed in the Eastern bankruptcy proceeding. The memorandum demonstrated that IAM had, at the time of the bankruptcy proceeding, taken the position that plaintiffs should be treated as transitional employees from Eastern to Trump, rather than as typically resigning employees. This evidence was crucial to plaintiffs' case because it undermined IAM's position at trial that a key consideration in reaching its seniority decision was that plaintiffs had resigned from their positions at Eastern before becoming Trump employees, resulting in the loss of their Eastern seniority status. In other words, plaintiffs used this evidence to argue that IAM's position at trial was pretextual. The jury's verdict suggests that this evidence had that effect. 33 On cross-examination, IAM's counsel questioned Grebey about the proceedings in bankruptcy court. In particular, counsel elicited from Grebey that the bankruptcy judge had rejected IAM's position that plaintiffs should be considered as transitional employees and instead ruled that they were to be considered as resigning employees. Before counsel could proceed further with this line of questioning, Judge Korman addressed the jury and stated that [t]he [only] relevance of [the 1991 legal memorandum introduced by plaintiffs] is... for what was represented by [IAM] ... and the position [IAM] took [with respect to the proper classification of plaintiffs]. Whatever happened in the bankruptcy court is otherwise irrelevant. The judge thus prohibited further questioning regarding the bankruptcy proceedings. 34 On appeal, IAM argues that this ruling constituted reversible error because the judge wrongly excluded relevant evidence. IAM maintains that the outcome of the bankruptcy proceeding was directly relevant to issues central to the case. According to IAM, it intended to argue to the jury that although it had sided with plaintiffs in the bankruptcy proceedings on the issue of whether they were to be considered as having resigned or merely transitioned, IAM was forced to reevaluate its position in light of the bankruptcy judge's ruling that plaintiffs were to be treated as resigning employees for the purposes of the bankruptcy proceeding. In other words, IAM wanted to argue that although it had changed its position, it had done so reasonably and not out of malice or animus towards plaintiffs. 35 An evidentiary ruling is reversible if it constitutes an abuse of discretion and affects a party's substantial rights. Schering Corp. v. Pfizer, 189 F.3d 218, 224 (2d Cir.1999). However, a party seeking to preserve an objection to the [district] court's ruling [on an evidentiary issue] must `mak[e] known to the court ... the party's objection to the action of the court and the grounds therefor.' Beech Aircraft Corp. v. Rainey, 488 U.S. 153, 174, 109 S.Ct. 439, 102 L.Ed.2d 445 (1988) (quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 46). 36 We do not require trial counsel to provide a detailed explanation of the basis for an objection to an evidentiary ruling in the heat of a trial. We require only that the court be put[]... on notice of the party's concern and the basis therefor. Id. In this case, however, IAM's counsel did not make even the barest attempt to preserve the issue for appeal. No objection or counter-argument was made when the judge ruled the evidence in question to be inadmissible. Counsel never explained to the judge his purpose in eliciting this testimony, and his purpose was by no means clear from the questions. Judge Korman may well have thought that defense counsel meant to imply to the jury that the position taken by IAM during the bankruptcy proceeding was somehow wrong as a matter of law and that IAM was therefore required by law to adopt the position that plaintiffs had retired from Eastern. If this had been the purpose of the elicited testimony, then the district judge surely was correct in excluding it as irrelevant to the issues in the case. Defense counsel failed to articulate that he intended to introduce the bankruptcy ruling only to explain to the jury why IAM's change in position was reasonable. We therefore cannot find that the judge was put on notice as to the purpose of IAM's objection to his ruling. Accordingly, we will not entertain this challenge to the judge's evidentiary ruling. 37 2. The Testimony of Plaintiffs' Former Attorney 38 During the course of the trial, plaintiffs called Mr. Lee Seham to testify. From approximately 1991 through at least the time of trial, Seham was an attorney who represented AMFA. In 1993, when negotiations concerning mainlining originally took place, Seham represented plaintiffs and wrote a number of letters to IAM and USAir in which he argued that plaintiffs were entitled to their Eastern seniority. Some of the letters threatened litigation, but Seham never filed a case on behalf of plaintiffs, perhaps because it became clear that mainlining would not take place in 1993. It is undisputed that since 1993, Seham never has performed further work for plaintiffs or represented them in any capacity. 39 The substance of Seham's testimony at trial was that he had been subject to hostility and animus from IAM as a result of his representation of AMFA. Seham testified that beginning roughly in 1991, IAM officials repeatedly and publicly accused him of being a liar and of being in it [just] for the money for no reason other than his relationship with AMFA. In addition, he testified that meetings at which he spoke were frequently interrupted by catcalls from IAM representatives. He also testified that various written materials produced by IAM had depicted him as a liar who was controlling AMFA for his own financial gain. 40 Plaintiffs elicited this testimony to demonstrate that IAM was hostile to those associated with AMFA. This, in turn, supported their claim that IAM's adverse decision concerning plaintiffs' seniority was a result of plaintiffs' association with AMFA before IAM took control of their unit, rather than a neutral policy related to plaintiffs having resigned from Eastern before moving to Trump. 41 Prior to Seham's being called to the stand, IAM objected to his testimony on the ground that lawyers representing litigants should not be called as witnesses in trials involving those litigants if such testimony can be avoided consonant with the end of obtaining justice. United States v. Alu, 246 F.2d 29, 33 (2d Cir.1957). Judge Korman rejected this application of the so-called advocate-witness rule because Seham never represented plaintiffs in the case at bar — or any case, for that matter. Further, Seham would testify merely to facts of which he had personal knowledge, namely the hostility he encountered from IAM officials simply as a result of his association with AMFA. IAM has renewed its argument against Seham's testimony on appeal. 6 42 Judge Korman properly recognized that there is no hard-and-fast rule against testimony by attorneys who have represented clients in the past. The advocate-witness rule applies, first and foremost, where the attorney representing the client before a jury seeks to serve as a fact witness in that very proceeding. The concerns implicating the rule are that (1) the lawyer will appear to vouch for his own credibility, (2) the lawyer's testimony will put opposing counsel in a difficult position when he has to vigorously cross-examine his lawyer-adversary and seek to impeach his credibility, and (3) there may be an implication that the testifying attorney may be distorting the truth as a result of bias in favor of his client. See Culebras Enterprises Corp. v. Rivera-Rios, 846 F.2d 94, 99-100 (1st Cir.1988). Most important, when one individual assumes the role of both advocate and witness it [may] so blur[ ] the line between argument and evidence that the jury's ability to find facts is undermined. United States v. Arrington, 867 F.2d 122, 126 (2d Cir.1989). 43 For the most part, these concerns are absent or, at least, greatly reduced, when [as here] the lawyer-witness does not act as trial counsel. Culebras Enterprises Corp., 846 F.2d at 100. The only concern that may remain is the implication that Seham may have been biased in his testimony as a result of his former representation of plaintiffs. If the fear of bias were sufficient on its own to prevent Seham from testifying, then a similar argument could be made that an accountant, doctor, or anyone else who ever had a relationship with a party should be forbidden to testify out of a concern for potential bias. That, of course, is not the rule. Rather, we permit the opposing party to cross-examine the witness and raise to the jury any challenges to the credibility of the witness. See 27 Charles Alan Wright & Victor James Gold, Federal Practice and Procedure § 6012, at 179, 180 (1990) (noting that potential bias alone does not justify the advocate-witness rule). Indeed, IAM's counsel elicited from Seham his prior relationship with plaintiffs, apparently in an attempt to impeach his credibility. 44 Given that the professional relationship between Seham and the plaintiffs was of short duration, and ended long before the case came to trial, we do not see how this relationship alone would disqualify Seham from testifying, particularly since his testimony — that IAM was hostile to those who associated with AMFA — went to the heart of the case. 45 This conclusion is supported by the way in which we have addressed the advocate-witness issue in previous cases. We have suggested that where an attorney must take the stand to represent a client, a trial judge could, in his or her discretion, avoid any problems simply by requiring the party to retain new counsel. See United States v. Kwang Fu Peng, 766 F.2d 82, 86-87 (2d Cir.1985); United States v. Cunningham, 672 F.2d 1064, 1074 (2d Cir.1982). In other words, the remedy where an attorney is called to testify may be to disqualify the attorney in his representational capacity, not necessarily his testimonial capacity. See 27 Wright & Gold, supra, § 6012, at 176, 183. Here, of course, there was no need to disqualify Seham from representing plaintiffs because, at the time of the trial, he no longer represented them. For these reasons, Judge Korman did not abuse his discretion in permitting Seham to testify.