Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Local Union 542

73 F.R.D. 544, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12878, 20 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 30,244, 20 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 454
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 6, 1976
DocketCiv. A. No. 71-2698
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 73 F.R.D. 544 (Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Local Union 542) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Local Union 542, 73 F.R.D. 544, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12878, 20 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 30,244, 20 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 454 (E.D. Pa. 1976).

Opinion

OPINION

HIGGINBOTHAM, District Judge.

On the afternoon of Tuesday, September 28, 1976, I found Abraham E. Freedman, Esquire, counsel for one of the defendants, guilty of criminal contempt committed in the actual presence of the court and thus in violation of Rule 42(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.

Though sentenced for thirty days he was granted the right “to be on his own recognizance to challenge the validity of this order”. An appeal from the contempt sentence has been filed with the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and now Local Union 542, for which Mr. Freedman is counsel, has filed a Motion for Stay of Proceedings of this civil action until such time as the Court of Appeals decides the validity of the criminal contempt order and sentence. The Motion for Stay of Proceedings is DENIED.

Trial in this case started on January 19, 1976. It has been estimated that the trial will take an additional two to five months for completion.

The basis for Local 542’s request for the stay is:

It would be detrimental to the rights and interests of Mr. Freedman’s clients in this matter that he proceed with the instant trial while under the shadow of a criminal contempt Order and sentence. In the interest of justice, it is necessary that counsel and the Court in this matter have instructions from the Court of Appeals upon the issue of the right of counsel to state his position on the record, which was involved in the said contempt proceedings. (¶ 4)

To put the case in proper perspective, the relevant portions of the transcript must be read and are attached as Appendix A. Within brackets I have noted what in my opinion were at least ten warnings given to Mr. Freedman before he was held in contempt. The Order, Findings and Commit[546]*546ment of Contempt is attached as Appendix B.

I.

The record demonstrates clearly that Mr. Freedman persistently refused to comply with my ruling that he refrain from stating the reasons for his objections. He had been given full latitude to state his objections and furthermore had an automatic exception to my ruling. See F.R.C.P. 46.

The issue involved in the instant motion to stay is: will Mr. Freedman’s clients be prejudiced simply because the case will proceed and he will be obligated to comply with the trial rulings of this court just as all of the other lawyers in this case are similarly obligated? His clients will not be prejudiced if he is willing to comply with the rulings of this court. I have not expected in the past, and do not expect in the future, counsel to be subservient, docile, or even civil. I seek neither adulation or obsequiousness, but I will not abdicate from my judicial obligation to preside over the trial and make the prerequisite trial rulings. Trial judges in court, like umpires at home plate, cannot always be right, but rulings they must make. Thus to correct trial errors of substance, there is an orderly appellate process recognized by the judiciary since the memory of man runneth not to the contrary. At the conclusion of the trial, counsel has ample opportunity to file an appeal, challenge rulings — particularly where, as here, he has had an ample opportunity to note his objections. Further, even during the trial counsel has the opportunity to file for a Writ of Mandamus or of Prohibition. But trial counsel cannot be permitted to persistently and deliberately flout the rulings of the trial court, regardless as to how vehemently he may disagree with the ruling. Mr. Freedman is intimately familiar with the appellate process; for even in this case, during and before this trial, he has filed several appeals and petitions for Writ of Mandamus and Prohibition — all of which have been thus far denied.1 Mr. Freedman’s conduct was so egregious that to tolerate it the judicial process would degenerate to whatever might be the personal whims of counsel on any particular day. To grant him the latitude he seeks, one might as well have counsel wear the robes, ascend the bench and then make irrevocable rulings while the trial judge patiently awaits the command of counsel. A court trial is not a process in anarchy to be engineered by trial counsel; rather it is an effort to try the case within the parameters of the historic role where there is always some semblance of order and rationality.

The judgment of criminal contempt was not made precipitously or lightly. I am well aware that the use of a criminal contempt citation is an extraordinary process which should be used with greatest reluctance, and always sparingly. It requires judicial reluctance so that one uses “the least possible power adequate to the end proposed.” See generally, Criminal Law Contempt in the Federal Courts, 55 F.R.D. 102. Before the citation of contempt I cited U. S. v. Proffitt, 498 F.2d 1124 (3rd, 1974). For months during this protracted trial I have reflected on Judge Weis’s admonition that “The trial judge is called upon to apply an understanding of [547]*547the defendant’s viewpoint, make certain that his rights are not violated, and strain the outer limits of patience.” 498 F.2d at 1129 (emphasis added) After ten warnings in one hour Mr. Freedman had strained the outer limits of my patience and I submit would have strained the outer limits of patients of any rational judicial official. Thus then it was appropriate to invoke the corollary which Judge Weis also suggested in Proffitt: “Nonetheless, the judge must be firm as well as fair because otherwise he is derelict in his duty to properly administer the laws”. 498 F.2d 1129.2

II.

In less than one hour he was given ten chances to start acting like a responsible lawyer rather than an unrestrained protagonist. A week later, on October 5,1976, he stated:

I regret the incident on Tuesday. But I must say, Your Honor, that I was correct on my position. If you make an objection, you must, under the law, give the reason for it. If you don’t give the reason for it, you waive it. This has been so held by the Supreme Court of the United States and lesser Courts of Appeal.
I must say that I make this statement without any requests or inducement of concession or favor.

From his comments I still do no know whether he regretted my findings or regretted his conduct. If he does not regret his conduct and plans to pursue that same lack of decorum he will have no immunity from any further judicial responses which will always be commensurate to the magnitude of the infraction. However, if he refrains from, the type of conduct which he displayed on September 28, 1976, neither he nor his clients will have any problems in the orderly litigation of this case. I will not act in a punitive or vindictive fashion to any party or to any counsel. While I am not interested in Mr. Freedman serving any significant time of incarceration, I expect for him to act like a responsible lawyer. All of the parties here are entitled to a reasonably expeditious trial and that trial should not be delayed any further so that the very counsel who so flagrantly flouted the ruling of the court can further postpone the case.

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Related

Mayes v. Gordon
536 F. Supp. 2 (E.D. Tennessee, 1981)
Johnson v. Trueblood
476 F. Supp. 90 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1979)
Com. of Pa. v. LOCAL U. 542, INTERN. U.
469 F. Supp. 329 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1978)

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Bluebook (online)
73 F.R.D. 544, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12878, 20 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 30,244, 20 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 454, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-of-pennsylvania-v-local-union-542-paed-1976.