Court Opinion

ID: 9774754
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 18:32:39.265635+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:15.136076
License: Public Domain

Steele Hays, Justice, concurring. With some misgivings, I concurred in our original opinion on the issue of whether attorney Roger Glasgow should be permitted to testify on behalf of the appellee on retrial, and still retain a substantial fee contingent on the outcome of the trial. I found no clear authority on the point and thought that since the jury would be informed of the fee arrangement, that would cure the obstacle. I believe that was a mistake that should be corrected on rehearing. I have come to this view: Mr. Glasgow may testify on retrial on condition that he entirely disassociate himself from the case or any interest in the outcome. Such hourly fee as he had earned at the time he withdrew and associated other counsel is, of course, due him, but it is due irrespective of the trial and its result. I have nothing definitive to anchor this position to, but if DR 7-109 of the Canons makes it improper for a lay witness to be paid contingent on the outcome, how can it be acceptable for a lawyer witness to be paid on that basis? Beyond that, if a lawyer is not professionally associated in a case regardless of who actually tries it, why is he being paid a contingent percentage of any recovery? The very fact of a contingent fee arrangement suggests that he is still associated in the case. I have no concern that Roger Glasgow would not adhere strictly to the truth as he sees it, I simply think it is impossible for any witness, however well-intentioned, to weigh facts and retain impressions of events, so as to testify with objectivity when they have a heavy stake in the outcome. The law makes exception for the litigant, of course, but that exception should not be extended to witnesses who are not parties.