Whitehead v. K Mart Corp.

202 F. Supp. 2d 525, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23093, 1999 WL 33504635
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Mississippi
DecidedMarch 30, 1999
DocketCIV.A. 3:95CV827WS
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 202 F. Supp. 2d 525 (Whitehead v. K Mart Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Whitehead v. K Mart Corp., 202 F. Supp. 2d 525, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23093, 1999 WL 33504635 (S.D. Miss. 1999).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING SANCTIONS

WINGATE, District Judge.

Before the court is the defendant’s motion asking this court to impose sanctions upon plaintiffs’ attorney, Paul S. Minor. Defendant’s motion is predicated upon Rule 11 1 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and upon. Title 28 U.S.C. § 1927. 2 This court has reviewed the briefs, heard the argument of counsel and, notwithstanding Minor’s objection, finds that defendant’s motion has merit and that this court should impose appropriate sanctions upon the plaintiffs’ attorney.

Background

On May 27, 1997, this court entered a judgment in the amount of approximately 3.4 million dollars in the above-styled and numbered cause in favor of the plaintiffs after a jury verdict determining that the defendant was liable to the plaintiffs. Plaintiffs had charged, and the jury had agreed, that defendant K-Mart Corporation had negligently failed to provide safe premises for plaintiffs who had been kidnapped from defendant’s parking lot, unattended by security, and later sexually assaulted.

After entry of judgment, the defendant timely moved for a new trial 3 or for remit- *527 titur on June 9, 1997. The defendant also asked for stay of execution of judgment under Rule 62(b) 4 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure pending disposition of its motion for new trial or to alter or amend the judgment which was made pursuant to Rule 59. This court entered Orders denying defendant’s request for a new trial; denying the motion for remittitur; and denying the Rule 62(b) motion for stay on August 18, 1997. This court’s denial of the defendant’s motion for stay under Rule 62(b) may have been superfluous since the request for a new trial and the motion for a remittitur were denied at the same time. 5 This court’s Orders, however, did not address, nor was the court asked to address, the provisions of Rule 62(f) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure which provides in pertinent part that “[i]n any state in which a judgment is a hen upon the property of the judgment debtor and in which the judgment debtor is entitled to a stay of execution, a judgment debtor is entitled, in the district court therein, to such stay as would be accorded the judgment debtor had the action been maintained in the courts of that state.”

Three days after this court’s Orders denying new trial, remittitur and stay, the plaintiffs obtained a writ of execution on this court’s judgment from the Clerk of the Court. Plaintiffs’ attorney then went to a K-Mart Corporation facility in Jackson, Mississippi, and attempted to execute this court’s judgment by seizing the proceeds of that store’s cash registers and safe. According to the defendant, plaintiffs’ attorney engaged in press manipulation, accusing K-Mart of irresponsibility and failure to pay its just debts while charging that the judgment amount obtained in this court was past due because of K-Mart’s refusal to pay. Because of the actions of the plaintiffs’ attorney, the story the plaintiffs’ attorney sought to communicate to the media, that of K-Mart failing to pay a just and past-due judgment obtained in federal court, was widely circulated. Furthermore, says defendant, the plaintiffs’ attorney claimed to be acting with the authority of this court when he attempted to execute the judgment.

Upon being made aware of the course of action taken by the plaintiffs’ attorney in his attempt to execute this court’s judgment, this court directed the plaintiffs’ attorney through the United States Marshal’s office to cease and desist pending a telephone conference with the court. At this conference, the defendant was directed to submit to the court and to the plaintiffs’ attorney a proper supersedeas bond so that all matters in this case might be stayed pending appeal. Defendant’s counsel reserved the right to submit a motion for sanctions. The bond for the amount of 125% of the judgment was submitted to and approved by the court and by the plaintiffs’ attorney. Then, on August 26, 1997, after having reserved the right to do so, the defendant filed this motion for sanctions.

*528 Defendant’s Argument for Sanctions

Defendant argues that, in view of Rule 62(f) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Rule 62(a) of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure; plaintiffs’ execution of judgment was premature since it was unsupported by the applicable law; wholly unauthorized; 'and pursued vexatiously to unnecessarily multiply litigation, as well as to embarrass and humiliate the defendant. Defendant claims that its good will and business reputation were maligned by the, misrepresentations of plaintiffs’ attorney concerning the judgment in this case. In pursuing his ostentatious play to the news media, says defendant, the plaintiffs’ attorney ignored the rules applicable in the State of Mississippi pertaining to stays of execution of judgments obtained in the United States District Courts of Mississippi when he conducted a premature execution of the judgment only three days after this court’s orders denying new trial on August 18, 1997.

Had this case been brought in the appropriate Mississippi court, says defendant, the defendant, as a judgment debtor against whose property the judgment operated as a lien, 6 would have been entitled to an automatic stay of ten days after this court’s disposition of the motion for new trial pursuant to Rule 62(a) of the Mississippi Rules' of Civil Procedure. Rule 62(a) of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure provides in pertinent part that “no execution shall be issued upon a judgment ... until the expiration of ten days after its entry or the disposition of a motion for a new trial, whichever last occurs.” (emphasis added). In the instant case, judgment was entered on May 27, 1997. However, the defendant timely moved on June 9, 1997, for a new trial, for remittitur, and for stay. The defendant’s motions were denied on August 18, 1997. According to Rule 62(f) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, argues defendant, the defendant was entitled to whatever stay would have been accorded under state law. Mississippi’s Rule 62(a) provides that no execution could be issued on the plaintiffs’ judgment until ten (10) days after this court had ruled on the defendant’s motion for new trial. Thus, says defendant, it was entitled to rely on the provisions of the Mississippi rule.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
202 F. Supp. 2d 525, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23093, 1999 WL 33504635, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/whitehead-v-k-mart-corp-mssd-1999.