Tripati v. Corizon Incorporated

CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedNovember 18, 2019
Docket4:18-cv-00066
StatusUnknown

This text of Tripati v. Corizon Incorporated (Tripati v. Corizon Incorporated) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tripati v. Corizon Incorporated, (D. Ariz. 2019).

Opinion

1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

9 Anant Kumar Tripati, No. CV-18-00066-TUC-RM

10 Plaintiff, ORDER

11 v.

12 Corizon Incorporated, et al.,

13 Defendants. 14 15 Pending before the Court are numerous miscellaneous motions. The Court 16 addresses below all motions filed in August and September 2019, as well as a Motion to 17 Disqualify the Arizona Attorney General (Doc. 61) that the Court previously took under 18 advisement (see Doc. 100 at 15). Any pending motions filed in or after October 2019 19 will be resolved separately. 20 I. Motion to Disqualify the Arizona Attorney General (Doc. 61) 21 Plaintiff moves for an order disqualifying the Arizona Attorney General. He avers 22 that Jonathan Henry Schwartz (“Schwartz”) was his trial and sentencing judge and is 23 currently a member of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. Defendants Daniel 24 Moreno (“Moreno”) and Jose Ramos (“Ramos”) filed a Response, confirming that 25 Assistant Attorney General Schwartz presided over Plaintiff’s criminal case when he was 26 a Maricopa County Superior Court Judge. (Doc. 72.) Defendants avow that Schwartz 27 has been screened from this case. (Id.) Defendants later filed a Supplemental Response, 28 asking the Court to deny Plaintiff’s Motion and providing a more detailed overview of 1 the applicable law and Defendants’ screening of Schwartz. (Doc. 76.) 2 Defendants attach to their Supplemental Response a declaration by Assistant 3 Attorney General Paul Carter (“Carter”), who represents Defendants Moreno, Ramos, 4 George Osler (“Osler”) and Glenn Schletter (“Schletter”) in this matter, as well as a 5 declaration by Schwartz. (Doc. 76-1 at 2-4, 6-7.) In his declaration, Carter states that he 6 has been assigned to defend Tripati v. Corizon, CV 13-615-TUC-DCB (“Corizon”) and 7 Tripati v. Osler, CV 18-66-TUC-RM (“Osler”). Immediately upon his receipt of 8 Plaintiff’s Motion to Disqualify the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, Carter confirmed 9 that Schwartz sentenced Plaintiff to a term of imprisonment in State v. Tripati, CR1992- 10 008576 and CR1992-009620. (Id. at 2.) Upon confirming the conflict, Carter 11 immediately contacted the Attorney General Office’s Ethics Counsel, who prepared a 12 screening memorandum to all persons who have or potentially will have information 13 concerning Corizon and Osler. (Id.) The screening memorandum, which was issued on 14 April 18, 2019, instructed recipients not to discuss or convey information regarding 15 Corizon or Osler to Schwartz or his immediate staff; required all files maintained in and 16 related to Corizon or Osler to be prominently marked as screened from Schwartz; 17 required that Schwartz’s access to electronic records concerning Corizon or Osler be 18 restricted; and directed staff working with Schwartz not to communicate in any manner 19 with him regarding Corizon or Osler. (Id. at 2-3.) Carter avers that physical and 20 electronic Corizon and Osler files have been marked and restricted from Schwartz, in 21 compliance with the screening memorandum. (Id. at 3.) He further avers that he has not 22 disclosed material confidential information relating to Corizon or Osler to Schwartz and 23 is unaware of anyone who has done so. (Id.) Finally, Carter promises that his office will 24 respond promptly to any future written inquiries or objections by the parties or the Court 25 regarding its screening procedure. (Id.) 26 Schwartz’s declaration confirms his conflict and avers that he knows nothing 27 about Plaintiff’s two pending lawsuits other than what Plaintiff wrote in a July 2018 letter 28 concerning Schwartz’s conflict. (Id. at 6.) Schwartz states that he is aware of his ethical 1 obligations to be screened from Plaintiff’s two pending lawsuits and that he intends to 2 abide by the requirements of the Ethics Counsel’s screening memorandum. (Id. at 7.) 3 Plaintiff filed Replies (Docs. 77, 80) in which, among other things, he complains 4 that privileged documents regarding Schwartz’s rulings and this case were seized from 5 him; that his computer time has been restricted and he has been denied calls to counsel; 6 that Corizon canceled medical treatment and Plaintiff’s special-needs diet; that 7 representation by the Arizona Attorney General creates an appearance of impropriety 8 mandating disqualification; and that Ethics Rule 1.12 and Ethics Opinion 88-04 mandate 9 disqualification. Plaintiff attaches his computer-use calendar, a restricted diet order, a 10 letter he wrote to Carter, an inmate property/contraband receipt, newspaper articles, and 11 an inmate request for paralegal assistance. (Docs. 77-1, 80-1.) In an Order dated July 12 24, 2019, the Court took this Motion under advisement. (Doc. 100 at 15.) 13 The Arizona Rules of Professional Conduct provide that “a lawyer shall not 14 represent anyone in connection with a matter in which the lawyer participated personally 15 and substantially as a judge or other adjudicative officer . . . unless all parties to the 16 proceeding give informed consent confirmed in writing.” E.R. 1.12(a). The merits of 17 Plaintiff’s underlying criminal case before former Judge Schwartz are not at issue in the 18 above-captioned matter, but there is no dispute that Schwartz is disqualified from 19 representation in this matter. Schwartz’s disqualification is not directly in issue because 20 he does not represent any party in this matter. Carter represents Defendants Osler, 21 Moreno, Ramos, and Schletter, and thus the issue is whether Carter is disqualified from 22 representation due to the disqualification of Schwartz, given that both attorneys now 23 work for the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. Arizona Rule of Professional Conduct 24 1.12(c) governs that issue: 25 If a lawyer is disqualified by paragraph (a), no lawyer in a firm with which that lawyer is associated may knowingly undertake or continue 26 representation in the matter unless: (1) the disqualified lawyer is timely screened from any 27 participation in the matter and is apportioned no part of the fee therefrom; and 28 (2) written notice is promptly given to the parties and any appropriate tribunal to enable them to ascertain compliance 1 with the provisions of this Rule, including a description of the particular screening procedures adopted; when they were 2 adopted; a statement by the personally disqualified lawyer and the new firm that the parties’ and tribunal’s material 3 confidential information has not been disclosed or used in violation of the Rules; and an agreement by the new firm to 4 respond promptly to any written inquiries or objections by the parties or the tribunal about the screening procedure; and 5 (3) the personally disqualified lawyer and the new firm reasonably believe that the steps taken to accomplish the 6 screening of material confidential information will be effective in preventing such information from being disclosed 7 to the new firm and its client. 8 E.R. 1.12(c). 9 Upon review of Defendants’ Response and Supplemental Response, and of the 10 declarations of Carter and Schwartz, the Court is satisfied that the screening procedures 11 put into place by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office comply with Arizona Rule of 12 Professional Conduct 1.12(c). Therefore, although Schwartz is disqualified from 13 undertaking representation in this matter, Carter is not disqualified from continuing his 14 representation. Plaintiff’s Motion will be denied. 15 II. Motion to Hold ADOC in Contempt (Doc. 103), Motion Under General Order 16 18-19 (Doc. 104), and Motion to Serve Schletter/Osler by Publication (Doc. 109) 17 On January 29, 2019, the Court directed the Arizona Department of Corrections 18 (“ADOC”) to provide the last-known addresses of Defendants Schletter and Osler. (Doc. 19 41 at 15.) ADOC did not comply with the Court’s Order.

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