In Re George

28 S.W.3d 511, 43 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 1073, 2000 Tex. LEXIS 79, 2000 WL 898313
CourtTexas Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 6, 2000
Docket99-0616, 99-0648
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 28 S.W.3d 511 (In Re George) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re George, 28 S.W.3d 511, 43 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 1073, 2000 Tex. LEXIS 79, 2000 WL 898313 (Tex. 2000).

Opinions

Chief Justice PHILLIPS

delivered the opinion of the Court,

in which Justice BAKER, Justice ABBOTT,, Justice O’NEILL, and Justice CAYCE (Assigned)1 joined.

In these consolidated mandamus proceedings, we decide whether attorneys can have access to the work product of their client’s previous attorney when that attorney has been disqualified for representing the opposing party in a prior, substantially related matter. We hold that a successor’s access to a disqualified attorney’s work product should be restricted or denied to the extent that such a remedy furthers the purposes underlying the disqualification. Because we establish for the first time a standard for trial courts to follow when deciding this issue, we deny , the petitions for mandamus without prejudice to afford Relators an opportunity to reurge their motions to the trial court in light of this opinion.

I

This is the second mandamus proceeding arising out of this case. See In re EPIC Holdings, 985 S.W.2d 41 (Tex.1998) (EPIC I), In EPIC I, we disqualified the law firms of McKool Smith and Jordaan, Howard & Pennington (“McKool and Pennington”) from representing plaintiff and real-party-in-interest Vicki Anderson in her lawsuit against HealthTrust, Inc.-The Hospital Company, Kenneth George and other directors of EPIC Holdings, Inc. (“EPIC”). We ordered disqualification because attorneys at those firms previously worked at Johnson & Gibbs, which represented Kenneth George and EPIC during EPIC’s formation. We held that the firms violated Texas Disciplinary Rule of Professional Conduct 1.09 in two ways. First, their representation of Anderson was substantially related to their prior representation of EPIC because there was a genuine threat that confidential information obtained during the earlier representation would be disclosed in the course of then-current representation. See Tex. DisciplinaRY R. Prof’l Conduct 1.09(a)(3) reprinted in Tex. Gov’t Code, tit. 2, subtit. G app A (Vernon Supp.2000) (Tex. State Bar R. art. X § 9). Second, the firms questioned the validity of the work performed for EPIC by their former firm. See Tex. Disciplinary R. Prof’l Conduct 1.09(a)(1). We concluded that the principles embodied in Rule 1.09, including preserving confidences and maintaining the integrity of the bar, required disqualification. We delivered our decision in EPIC I on December 31,1998.

On February 5, 1999, McKool and Pennington filed their notice of withdrawal. That same day, The Hartnett Law Firm (“Hartnett”) entered an appearance on Anderson’s behalf. Counsel for both EPIC and George immediately notified Hartnett of them position that new counsel should not receive, review or . use any of [513]*513McKool and Pennington’s work product. They also instructed Hartnett not to view any documents from this case that are in the public record. When Hartnett advised that it did not agree, EPIC and George each filed Motions for an Order Prohibiting Turnover of Work Product and Related Material. During the hearing, an attorney with Hartnett revealed that he had already read portions of the public record. Without inspecting the work product in question, the trial court denied both motions. In its order, the trial court permitted McKool and Pennington to transfer Anderson’s files to Hartnett, but prohibited the firms from communicating with each other about the case except to discuss the logistics of transferring the files.

Both EPIC and George sought writs of mandamus from the court of appeals. But the court denied all relief without reaching the merits of their claims, holding that EPIC and George had waived any rights by not timely moving to restrict Hartnett’s access to the work product. EPIC and George then both filed petitions for mandamus in this Court. We granted the petitions on January 6, 2000, with JUSTICE ENOCH, JUSTICE HANKINSON, and JUSTICE GONZALES recusing themselves. 43 Tex. Sup.Ct. J. 236 (Jan. 6, 2000). The CHIEF JUSTICE certified the facts of the recusals to the Governor, who thereupon commissioned the Honorable Tom B. Ramey, Jr., Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals for the Twelfth District of Texas at Tyler, the Honorable John Cayce, Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals for the Second District of Texas at Fort Worth, and the Honorable Scott Bris-ter, Judge of the 234 th District Court of Texas, Harris County, to hear and decide the case. See Tex. Gov’t Code § 22.005 (Vernon Supp.2000).

II

Before reaching the merits, we first consider the court of appeals’ holding that relators waived their rights, if any, to prohibit Hartnett from accessing the work product. As a rule, “[a] party who fails to file its motion to disqualify opposing counsel in a timely manner waives the complaint.” Vaughan v. Walther, 875 S.W.2d 690, 690 (Tex.1994) (per curiam). This rale applies equally to motions to restrict access to work product. Anderson argued, and the court of appeals agreed, that a timely motion must have been filed when Epic and George filed their motions to disqualify in 1995 and 1996. We disagree.

Although some courts have decided the disqualification and work product issues in the same proceeding, see Quark, Inc. v. Power Up Software Corp., 812 F.Supp. 178 (D.Colo.1992); Reardon v. Marlayne, Inc., 83 N.J. 460, 416 A.2d 852 (1980), we are unwilling to hold that Relators’ failure to bring both motions at the same time constitutes a waiver. Access to McKool and Pennington’s work product only became a ripe issue once those firms were disqualified. Upon learning that Hartnett intended to seek access to the work product, Relators immediately moved to restrict access. On this record, we conclude that no waiver has occurred. See First Wisconsin Mortgage Trust v. First Wisconsin Corp., 584 F.2d 201, 203 (7 th Cir.1978) (en banc); Wagner v. Lehman Bros. Kuhn Loeb, Inc., 683 F.Supp. 189, 190 (N.D.Ill.1987) (both considering the work product issue after disqualification had been decided previously).

Ill

A

Relators argue that by ordering McKool and Pennington to turn over all of their work product to Hartnett, the trial court in essence defeated this Court’s disqualification order. The threat of disclosing confidential information led to disqualification in the first place, they reason, and it still exists because McKool and Pennington’s work product contains confidential information they learned during the prior, sub[514]*514stantially related representation. Furthermore, the work product gives Hartnett access to McKool and Pennington’s theories for attacking their prior firm’s work. Because the harm from McKool and Pennington’s conduct would be perpetuated, the trial court’s failure to restrict the transfer of work product constitutes an abuse of discretion.

Anderson responds that McKool and Pennington were not disqualified because of their work product. Neither the work product they created nor the confidential information they possessed caused this Court to order their removal, she says. Instead, the basis for disqualification arose only after McKool and Pennington challenged their prior firm’s work during the trial. Any harm caused by this conduct was fully remedied by disqualification, and no further restrictions are necessary.

B

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
28 S.W.3d 511, 43 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 1073, 2000 Tex. LEXIS 79, 2000 WL 898313, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-george-tex-2000.