Court Opinion

ID: 9842874
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 02:20:21.828122+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:14:01.440347
License: Public Domain

MOORE, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
In my opinion the order of Judge Her-lands is appealable and should be affirmed. As a result of the denial of plaintiff’s motion to disqualify the law firm of Phillips Nizer Benjamin & Krim from appearing as attorneys for the defendants the case will have to proceed to trial on the merits against the various defendants, represented by the same attorneys who had represented plaintiff in previous matters. If such representation may be a violation of the canons of ethics so as to taint the entire proceeding this possibility should be tested at the threshold. The disqualification question is wholly collateral to the issues in the litigation and should not be mingled with matters which will be resolved only in a final judgment on the merits. Orderly and expeditious trial procedure would scarcely be achieved were a lengthy trial to be held which might be reversed on appeal were it determined that defendants’ attorneys should have been disqualified. The time spent in seeking an adjudication on the merits would thus have been wasted because of an error unrelated to the issues of the case. This court in Harmar Drive-In Theatre, Inc. v. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2 Cir., 1956, 239 F.2d 555, 556, rehearing denied 2 Cir., 1957, 241 F.2d 937, certiorari denied 1957, 355 U.S. 824, 78 S.Ct. 31, 2 L.Ed.2d 38, held that an order disqualifying an attorney had elements of collateral finality and hence was “within the class of orders described in Cohen v. Beneficial Indus. Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 546, 69 S.Ct. 1221, 1225, 93 L.Ed. 1528.” The majority were of the “opinion that with respect to appealability no distinction exists between orders granting disqualification and those refusing to do so” (239 F.2d at page 556). Accordingly the court concluded that the order was appealable.
The illustration used by the majority to demonstrate the difference between granting and denying a motion for summary judgment is inapposite. The granting of a motion for summary judgment terminates the action with finality, whereas the denial reserves final decision for the trial. Issues collateral to the litigation are not being tested on such motions.
The philosophy of appealability expressed by the Supreme Court in the Cohen case, supra, is most applicable here. A comparison of the issues involved in the main litigation and those in this proceeding now on appeal illustrates how unrelated they are. An adjudication of the right of this law firm to remain as the attorneys for the defendants will not “make any step toward final disposition of the merits of the case and will not be merged in final judgment.” The determination by the Dis*519triet Court on this motion resulted in the final disposition of a right “which is not an ingredient of the cause of action and does not require consideration with it” (Cohen, supra, 337 U.S. at pages 546-547, 69 S.Ct. at page 1225, 93 L.Ed. 1528).
Here, plaintiff is suing various corporations and an individual for wrongs allegedly perpetrated upon him by them. The disqualification of the attorneys selected by the defendants is wholly collateral to the issues in that case. Useful analogy is to be found in a proceeding to remove administrators. Were the administrators not removed the administration of the estate would have continued under their supervision. If this were improper it would have been “too late effectively to review the order” on final distribution of the estate (Collins v. Miller, 91 U.S.App.D.C. 143, 1952, 198 F.2d 948, 950). The order dismissing the petition for removal was held appealable. So here the question of disqualification of defendants’ attorneys can be decided upon facts which are not necessary or relevant to the issues upon which the final judgment must ultimately rest.
As to the merits of the motion to disqualify, the district court carefully and ably reviewed the facts. His conclusion that “ [p] laintiff has failed to sustain his burden of proof of establishing a prima facie basis for said motion” is sound. Affirmance should dispose now and for always of this highly collateral controversy. Mere dismissal of the appeal will permit this issue to remain alive only to be reactivated upon a possible future appeal in which the mingling of these diverse issues will create confusion. Consideration should also be given to the practical situation with which some future trial judge will be confronted in ruling on questions of admissible evidence. Plaintiff has had his day (even many days) in court on the merits of disqualification. He has lost on the merits and properly so in my opinion. If there be merit to the principal litigation it should be pursued and disposed of without further delay.