Training-video sanction for deposition interruptions by Jones Day partner is tossed on appeal
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A Jones Day partner won’t have to make a training video explaining the impropriety of excessive deposition interruptions as a result of a ruling by a federal appeals court.
The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday, the National Law Journal (sub. req.) reports. The decision reversed an order by U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett, who decried “winning through obstruction” and required partner June Ghezzi to make a video explaining “the impropriety of unspecified ‘form’ objections, witness coaching, and excessive interruptions.” How Appealing links to the appellate decision (PDF).
The appeals court cited two reasons for reversing the sanction. First, the sanction wasn’t imposed soon enough. Bennett imposed the sanction without any request by opposing counsel after Ghezzi’s client won at trial, some two years after the depositions.
Second, Ghezzi never had any advance notice of the unusual nature of the sanction under consideration. “Once information about an unusual sanction appears in public,” Judge Diana Murphy wrote for the appeals court, “the damage to the subject’s career, reputation, and future professional opportunities can be difficult if not impossible to repair.”
The appeals court noted that Ghezzi had never been sanctioned in her 31-year career. The court found no need to remand for further proceedings. Ghezzi had already suffered financial and personal costs, and any additional proceedings so long after the disputed conduct would not serve as a deterrent, Murphy wrote.
Bennett, of the Northern District of Iowa, is known for his criticism of “East Coast law firms,” according to the National Law Journal, which links to an Above the Law story about an email in which Bennett said he was “underwhelmed” by such firms.
In the Abbott litigation, Bennett told Jones Day lawyers in an email that they should think about reasonable trial time limits because in his experience “out of state large firms waste tons [of] time.” Ghezzi is based in Jones Day’s Chicago office.
Bennett also criticized Jones Day lawyers for producing too many trial exhibits because they had “a lot of associates to keep busy.” The judge also suggested the lawyers didn’t learn the concept of pretrial stipulations “at Rambo litigation school.”
Jones Day partner Dan Reidy argued the appeal. “We are gratified that the 8th Circuit agreed with us that the district court’s order should be reversed in its entirety and no sanction imposed,” he told the National Law Journal in an email.
Several amicus briefs had sought to uphold the sanctions order, according to the National Law Journal story. They included briefs by the American Association for Justice, the Iowa Association for Justice and the American Board of Trial Advocates.
