Court Opinion

ID: 9470159
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:58:25.071497+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:41:45.608732
License: Public Domain

GRANT, Senior District Judge,
dissenting:
I must respectfully dissent from the majority decision in this case, believing as I do, that the distinguished trial judge properly and responsibly acted within his discretion in supervising the conduct of a member of the bar appearing before the court, and by compliance with the provisions of Canon 3(B)(3) of the ABA Code of Judicial Conduct, which reads:
A judge should take or initiate appropriate disciplinary measures against a judge or lawyer for unprofessional conduct of which the judge may become aware.
The majority opinion concludes that Judge Grady exceeded the bounds of this judicial authority, and that he should have referred the issue either to the Illinois Bar Ethics Committee or the Executive Committee of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. (At p. 807). However, nowhere is there any clear directive or procedure, nor is there any caselaw from this Circuit, mandating such action. The commentary to Canon 3(B)(3) itself indicates that “[disciplinary measures may include reporting a lawyer’s misconduct to an appropriate disciplinary body.” (emphasis added).
Judge Grady, in a very scholarly Memorandum Opinion, United States v. Vague, 521 F.Supp. 147 (N.D.Ill.E.D.1981), outlined the basis upon which he concluded that he had the right, the duty and the obligation to investigate and prevent this fee gouging. This appears to be a matter of first impression in the Circuit but, as Judge Grady points out, other circuits have examined and sustained a trial court’s right to supervise attorney’s fees. See Coffelt v. Shell, 577 F.2d 30 (8th Cir.1978); In re Michaelson, 511 F.2d 882, 888 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 421 U.S. 978, 95 S.Ct. 1979, 44 L.Ed.2d 469 (1975); In re Silver, 508 F.2d 647 (9th Cir.1974); Cappel v. Adams, 434 F.2d 1278, 1280 (5th Cir.1970). Since Judge Grady’s district court decision, Senior Circuit Judge Fairchild, concurring in another case in this Circuit, wrote:
In my opinion, a court has some degree of supervisory power over attorney’s fees charged for services in a case before the court. The power is derived from the relationship between the court and its officers ...
In The Matter of Innkeepers of New Castle, Inc., 671 F.2d 221, 232 (7th Cir.1982).
In a later case, Rosquist v. Soo Line R.R., 692 F.2d 1107 (7th Cir.1982), this Court sustained Judge Grady’s reduction of attorney fees. In that case, as here, the adult parties to the fee arrangement had not objected to the amount of fees. The District Court sua sponte, raised and pursued the subject of the amount of the fee awarded.
The supervision of attorneys before the court is a discretionary function of the trial court, and the decision of the trial court in such a function can be reversed only upon a showing of abuse of that discretion. Judge Grady acted very reasonably and very responsibly in questioning the fee exacted in this case, and inquiring into its continued validity after the plea bargain. There was more than ample precedence for his decision. There is no clear mandate by the Code of Judicial Conduct to refer the incident to others, but only the comment that he “may” do so. It was an alternative that he might have chosen but, rather, he opted to exercise his discretion by taking appropriate action.
I find no abuse of discretion by Judge Grady. I would affirm his judgment.