Court Opinion

ID: 9491904
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 14:27:14.85284+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:55:00.441101
License: Public Domain

FLAUM, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I join the court’s opinion with respect to the merits resolution of this appeal. I write separately because I am unable to associate myself with my colleagues’ disposition of the improper post-verdict conduct attributed to the attorneys for Northwest Airlines. Clearly, the misuse of the juror interviews deserves appropriate admonishment. As the *967record discloses, the district court addressed this subject when considering the post-trial motions. In this case an experienced jurist decided not to proceed beyond his critical comments of counsel. If he had chosen, as an initial matter, to impose a harsher sanction I would not take exception to such a result. However, I would not, in the context of this litigation and from our detached appellate vantage point, invite the trial judge to revisit the issue. Nor would I, in advance of further reflection by the district court, direct the Clerk of this Court to forward a copy of this opinion to the Wisconsin Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility. The violation of the Eastern District of Wisconsin Local Rule 8:07 has been duly noted by the district court and now by this tribunal in a published opinion. In my judgment, this dual recognition and condemnation of the performance in question should suffice.