Court Opinion

ID: 9456840
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 20:03:49.229781+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:35:07.062596
License: Public Domain

WILLIAM E. MILLER, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
With deference to the views of my fellow judges in this case, I find it necessary to dissent. In my view the attorney-client contracts involved here were pregnant with a potential conflict of interest and were so susceptible of a violation of the strict fiduciary duty imposed upon attorneys, that the burden of going forward with evidence to demonstrate the falsity of the plaintiff’s claim was shifted to the defendants. Tennessee law exacts an exceedingly strict standard of conduct from attorneys, creating a fiduciary relationship, as reflected by the early case of Planter’s Bank of Tennessee et al. v. Hornberger et al., 44 Tenn. 443, 476-483 (1867), and many later cases. The courts of Tennessee have, to my knowledge, never deviated from this rule. I believe that the rationale of these cases requires us to hold that where a contract concerning an attorney’s compensation for legal services is suspect1 on its face and is challenged by the client, the attorney has the burden of going forward with proof that no misconduct or over-reaching was involved. Ordinarily, and I think here, his own personal explanation should at least be given. Indeed, the majority opinion itself recognizes in its closing paragraph that the contracts here involved may raise a serious question of conflict of interest between attorney and client and “create incentives to undermine the judicial process * * * because of the publicity value of sensational tactics and disruptions of trials.” Like the majority, I would not declare the contracts void for these reasons as against public policy, but at least I would require the attorney to remove any suspicion of breach of duty, if he could do so, by making a full disclosure of his representation of his client pursuant to *1271the contracts. Although for some purposes the questions of burden of proof and the burden of going forward may be regarded as procedural and not substantive, it is obvious that the basic issue here presented concerns itself with the relationship between attorney and client, a matter of substance and vital importance under Tennessee law. The law of that state should apply under the Erie and Guaranty Trust doctrines. Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64, 58 S.Ct. 817, 82 L.Ed. 1188 (1938); Guaranty Trust Co. of New York v. York, 326 U.S. 99, 65 S.Ct. 1464, 89 L.Ed. 2079 (1945). I would, therefore, vacate the judgment of the District Court in dismissing the action at the close of the plaintiff’s proof and remand it to that court for further proceedings.

. That the contracts now under consideration are “suspect” on their face is obvious from an examination of them. Indeed, under such contracts, it is difficult to see how an attorney could represent his client with that degree of detachment and objectivity required by the high standards of his profession and particularly by the standards imposed by Tennessee law. The contracts are strongly suggestive of an inherent conflict of interest on the part of the defendant attorney.