Jones v. Clinton

57 F. Supp. 2d 719, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11509, 1999 WL 555622
District Court, E.D. Arkansas·Decided July 29, 1999·No. LR-C-94-290·Published·Cited by 12 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

SUSAN WEBBER WRIGHT, Chief Judge.

On April 12, 1999, this Court entered a Memorandum Opinion and Order adjudging William Jefferson Clinton, President of the United States, to be in civil contempt of court pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(b)(2) for his willful failure to obey certain discovery Orders of this Court in a lawsuit brought against him by Paula Corbin Jones. See Jones v. Clinton, 36 F.Supp.2d 1118 (E.D.Ark.1999). The Court determined that the President violated this Court’s discovery Orders by giving false, misleading and evasive answers that were designed to obstruct the judicial process, and that sanctions must be imposed, not only to redress the misconduct.of the President in this case, but to deter others who might themselves consider emulating the President of the United States by engaging in misconduct that undermines the integrity of the judicial system. See id. at 1127, 1131-32, 1134. The Court ordered the President to pay plaintiff any reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees, caused by his willful failure to obey this Court’s discovery Orders, and directed plaintiffs former counsel to submit to this Court a detailed statement of any expenses and attorney’s fees incurred in connection with the matter. Id. at 1132, 1134-35. The Court additionally ordered the President to deposit into the registry of this Court the sum of $1,202.00, the total expenses incurred by this Court in traveling to Washington, D.C. at the President’s request to preside over his January 17, 1998 deposition. Id. 1 However, the Court stayed enforcement of its Order for thirty days to give the President an opportunity to file a notice of appeal or to request a hearing in which to demonstrate why he is not in civil contempt of court, why sanctions should not be imposed, or why the Court is otherwise in error in proceeding in the manner in which it has. Id. at 1134-35. The Court stated that should the President fail to file a notice of appeal or request a hearing within the time allowed, it would enter an Order setting forth the time and manner by which the President is to comply with the sanctions being imposed. Id. The President subsequently notified this Court that while he disputes allegations that he knowingly and intentionally gave false testimony under oath, he will not request a hearing or file a notice of appeal. Accordingly, the Court addresses at this time the sanctions to be imposed in accordance with the April 12th Order.

I.

On May 7, 1999, this Court received in response to its April 12th Order a statement of fees and expenses totaling $437,-825.00 from the law firm of Rader, Camp *721 bell, Fisher & Pike (“RCFP”) and a statement of fees and costs totaling $58,-533.03 from John W. Whitehead and The Rutherford Institute (collectively, “TRI”). That same day, the President, through his attorney, Robert S. Bennett, submitted a letter to this Court stating that he would timely file a formal pleading objecting to the “excessive” amount of the claim for fees and expenses by plaintiffs attorneys — characterizing the claim as “unreasonable and inconsistent with the Court’s Order and governing law” — but that he did not otherwise intend to request a hearing or file a notice of appeal with respect to the April 12th Order. See May 7, 1999 Letter.

On May 21, 1999, the President filed his formal response to the statements of fees and expenses submitted by plaintiffs attorneys. In his response, the President states that due to the public interest in providing an expeditious resolution to this matter, and due to the urgent duties of his office, he recognizes that it is in the best interests of the country to forego his right to a hearing under the Order. 2 Resp. of Pres, at 1. The President further states that while he does not concur with the findings of this Court, he will pay the $1,202.00 levied by this Court for its expenses in attending his January 17th deposition at his request, and will pay the reasonable costs incurred by plaintiff as a result of those actions that this Court found to be at odds with its discovery Orders — his answer to Interrogatory No. 10, submitted on December 23, 1997, and certain limited portions of his January 17th deposition testimony, insofar as either pertained to his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Id. at 1-2. As in his May 7th letter, however, the President contends that the fees and expenses requested by RCFP and TRI are unreasonable in that for the most part they bear no relationship to the actions that gave rise to the April 12th Order, are “demonstrably overreaching,” and, with the exception of certain fees and expenses in the range of $12,300.00 to $33,700.00, should thus be denied. Id. at 2-3.

RCFP and TRI each filed a reply to the President’s response. RCFP asserts that the work included in their statement of fees and expenses is directly related to the President’s misconduct and that the President’s dishonesty caused their work, both before and after the specific instances of his misconduct referenced in this Court’s April 12th Order, to be rendered useless. Reply of RCFP at 2-3. TRI, in turn, asserts that the sanctions proposed by the President, “if adopted by this Court, would do precious little to ‘redress the misconduct of the President in this case,’ ” and would not only fail to deter others who might consider emulating the President’s misconduct, “but would actually serve to create an unintended incentive for such conduct by imposing de minimus consequences on conduct that, in the words of [this] Court, has ‘undermined the integrity of the judicial system’ itself.” Reply of TRI at 1-2 (quoting April 12th Order).

The Court has carefully considered the pleadings submitted in response to this Court’s April 12th Order (doe.#’s 488-497) and, without objection, will require that the President pay the $1,202.00 levied by this Court for its expenses in attending his January 17th deposition at his request and will require that the President pay the reasonable fees and expenses incurred by plaintiff as a result of those actions that this Court found to be at odds with its discovery Orders. The Court finds, however, that the claims for fees and expenses included in RCFP’s and TRI’s statements are excessive and must be reduced.

A.

As a preliminary matter, the Court addresses a motion filed by RCFP and *722 joined by TRI to conduct limited discovery of the President’s attorneys’ fees and expenses. RCFP seeks to determine the amount of time expended by the lawyers who represented the President in connection with his contemptible conduct, the hourly rates charged for that work, and the nature and amount of the expenses incurred in connection with that work. Mot. of RCFP at 1. RCFP states that this discovery is necessary in light of the position taken by Mr. Bennett in his May 7th letter to this Court. Id.

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Jones v. Clinton, 57 F. Supp. 2d 719, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11509, 1999 WL 555622 (E.D. Ark. 1999).

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