Court Opinion

ID: 9472767
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:10:07.001728+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:43:08.012091
License: Public Domain

BENNETT, Circuit Judge,
dissenting in part.
I concur in the court’s able opinion except for Part II wherein it is stated: “The precise rule on disqualification applied in the Eighth Circuit (the circuit in which this District Court lies) is not clear____”
As the majority opinion indicates, In re Multi-Piece Rim Products Liability Litigation v. Risjord, 612 F.2d 377 (8th Cir. 1980) (en banc), unanimously overruled Arkansas v. Dean Foods Products Co., 605 F.2d 380 (8th Cir.1979), an earlier Eighth Circuit decision which held there was an irrebuttable presumption when counsel switched sides that client confidences had impermissibly been disclosed. Not mentioned, but also overruled explicitly by name, was Fred Weber, Inc. v. Shell Oil Co., 566 F.2d 602 (8th Cir.1977), which also approved such an irrebuttable presumption. The opinion in Multi-Piece Rim Products states, in relevant part:
We have reconsidered Weber and Dean Foods ...; it is the opinion of this court that Weber and Dean Foods should be and hereby are overruled. [612 F.2d at 378.]
In so holding, the Eighth Circuit necessarily decided that the aforesaid presumption was indeed rebuttable. While appellate jurisdiction was the main issue in Multi-Piece Rim Products, nevertheless Arkansas v. Dean Foods Products and Fred Weber, Inc. v. Shell Oil were overruled in toto, without qualification or reservation.
To me, the position of the Eighth Circuit is thus clear. I think we should take that court at its word and not raise unnecessary doubts as to whether it meant what it said in its en banc opinion.