Camelot Enterprises, Inc. v. Mitropoulos

444 N.W.2d 401, 151 Wis. 2d 277, 1989 Wisc. App. LEXIS 623
CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedJune 8, 1989
Docket88-0584
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 444 N.W.2d 401 (Camelot Enterprises, Inc. v. Mitropoulos) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Camelot Enterprises, Inc. v. Mitropoulos, 444 N.W.2d 401, 151 Wis. 2d 277, 1989 Wisc. App. LEXIS 623 (Wis. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

GARTZKE, P. J.

Irene Mitropoulos appeals from a judgment in favor of Camelot Enterprises, Inc., for $47,600.85 damages and costs, and from an order denying her motion for a new trial. Mitropoulos contends that the trial court abused its discretion in three respects: first, by refusing to allow her substitute counsel to undertake additional discovery and designate experts after her original counsel withdrew from the case; second, by quashing a subpoena served on Camelot's principal owner to produce business records at the trial; and third, by failing to order a new trial in the interests of justice. For her first point, she relies on Alexander v. Riegert, 141 Wis. 2d 294, 414 N.W.2d 636 (1987). We conclude that Alexander is inapplicable. We find no merit in the remaining points she raises and we decline her request that we order a new trial under sec. 752.35, Stats. We therefore affirm.

Mitropoulos leased part of a building to Camelot for use as a nightclub. In February 1983 the principal owner of the nightclub went to Mexico and authorized the club manager to close it temporarily. Camelot did not pay the rent due on the 15th of that month. After consulting her lawyer, Mitropoulos cancelled Camelot's lease and *280 locked out the tenant. When the nightclub's owner returned, Camelot obtained a temporary restraining order authorizing its reentry. After again consulting her lawyer, Mitropoulos refused to let Camelot reenter. Camelot sued Mitropoulos for damages arising from the lockout and violation of the court order. The same lawyer who advised Mitropoulos on the lockout represented her in the lawsuit.

On July 9,1985 the trial court entered a scheduling order. The order required Mitropoulos to designate her expert witnesses by September 1,1985 and provided that all discovery would be completed by November 1, 1985. Camelot timely designated its experts. Mitropoulos designated none and undertook no discovery before November 1, 1985.

The case was set for jury trial, beginning June 25, 1986. The first trial date was adjourned and rescheduled when her lawyer failed to appear for jury selection. The trial date was reset to December 23, 1986. Before that date, no motion was filed by or on behalf of Mitropoulos to name expert witnesses or to undertake any discovery. Because of the death of Mitropoulos's father, the trial was again postponed until February 16, 1987.

On January 14,1987, Mitropoulos, through her lawyer, served a request for production of documents on Camelot. Camelot sought a protective order on grounds that the request was no more than attempted discovery which was untimely because of the discovery cutoff. The court granted a protective order. In late January 1987, Mitropoulos retained two additional attorneys as co-counsel with her first lawyer. The new attorneys decided that her first lawyer's involvement in the underlying dispute required his testimony at the trial.

On February 12, 1987, four days before the scheduled trial date, Mitropoulos's new attorneys moved for *281 an adjournment and a new scheduling order to allow counsel to take discovery and present expert witnesses at trial on grounds that Mitropoulos's first lawyer had withdrawn as counsel. On February 13, 1987 the court denied the motion, noting that the first lawyer had not yet asked the court's permission to withdraw from the case.

On the day of the trial, Mitropoulos's first lawyer moved to withdraw as counsel on grounds that he was to be a witness. 1 Mitropoulos's new attorneys moved for a continuance to implead the first lawyer as a party on grounds that he had misadvised Mitropoulos. The trial court granted the first lawyer's motion to withdraw but denied the motion for continuance.

The jury was drawn, but because of voir dire problems, the trial court granted Camelot's motion for a continuance. Mitropoulos renewed her request for a new scheduling order but none was issued, and the case was reset for trial commencing October 12, 1987. At a pretrial conference, Mitropoulos's new attorneys again moved to be allowed to undertake discovery and name expert witnesses. They argued they should not be compelled to defend her without pretrial discovery and designation of expert witnesses, merely because of the first lawyer's inaction. The trial court denied the motion.

On October 6, 1987 Mitropoulos's new attorneys served a subpoena on the principal owner of Camelot. The subpoena directed the owner to produce certain bus *282 iness records at the trial. The trial court quashed the subpoena on grounds that it was unduly burdensome and had been issued in an attempt to evade the discovery deadlines.

After a verdict in favor of Camelot, Mitropoulos sought a new trial in the interest of justice and because of the trial court's alleged error in refusing to modify the pretrial order to allow pretrial discovery and designate expert witnesses. She relied on Alexander. The trial court denied the motions, entered judgment on the verdict, and this appeal ensued.

Alexander is not in point. In Alexander the trial judge issued a scheduling order directing the plaintiffs to name their expert witnesses within ten days. 141 Wis. 2d at 296, 414 N.W.2d at 637. Plaintiffs timely named their experts. Id. Because plaintiffs' counsel had represented a defendant on other matters, the trial court later ruled that a potential conflict of interest existed and ordered plaintiffs' attorney to withdraw. Id. at 297, 414 N.W.2d at 638. Plaintiffs' new counsel moved to modify the scheduling order to allow calling additional expert witnesses, but the trial court denied the motion. Id.

On appeal, the Alexander court held that failure to modify the scheduling order was an abuse of discretion. Id. at 295, 414 N.W.2d at 637. Since the request to modify the scheduling order was by "a successor attorney who was unable to present plaintiffs' case properly due to a prior attorney's judgment or decisions which may have been at least influenced by a real or apparent conflict of interest," the Alexander court held that the motion should have been granted. Id. at 301, 414 N.W.2d at 640.

Alexander is distinguishable on the facts. In that case, the conflict arose out of the prior relationship of *283 the plaintiffs attorney with a defendant and the conflict could have interfered with adequate representation. As the Alexander court noted, the purpose of the trial court's order that the plaintiff's attorney withdraw was "to assure the plaintiffs that to which all litigants are entitled: the single-minded representation of an advocate devoted exclusively to their interests." 141 Wis. 2d at 300, 414 N.W.2d at 639.

Nothing in the record before us suggests that Mitro-poulos's first lawyer had any prior connection with Camelot Enterprises.

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444 N.W.2d 401, 151 Wis. 2d 277, 1989 Wisc. App. LEXIS 623, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/camelot-enterprises-inc-v-mitropoulos-wisctapp-1989.