2nd Circuit Knocks Settlement Plan to Remove Sanction from Databases
A federal appeals court has refused to vacate a trial judge’s sanctions against three lawyers found to have filed a meritless lawsuit. The court also criticized their attempt to remove the ruling from online databases.
The three lawyers had agreed to settle with the defendant—but only if the New York City-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the judgment ordering them and their firms to pay more than $64,000, the New York Law Journal reports. The lawyers also sought a court order directing Westlaw, LexisNexis and other legal publishers to remove the lower court decision from their databases.
The story identifies the lawyers as Maryann Peronti of New York, and Gary Jewell and Stephen Smith of Houston.
The 2nd Circuit cited U.S. Bancorp Mortgage v. Bonner Mall Partnership, which holds that courts generally cannot vacate judgments because of a settlement, the story says. The lawyers had argued U.S. Bancorp should not apply because the settlement would not take effect until the appeals court vacated the sanctions ruling. “We disagree,” the court wrote in its opinion (PDF). “The parties cannot change that result by sleight of the draftsman’s hand.”
The court also criticized the request for an order to remove the ruling from databases. “We note the extraordinary nature of a request to require privately owned and operated publishers to discontinue publishing public records, raising as it would serious constitutional questions,” the court said.
