6th Circuit: Federal judge abused discretion by refusing to let law firm withdraw in civil case
A federal district court abused its discretion by refusing to allow a Michigan law firm to withdraw from representing the defendant in a civil battery case, a federal appeals court has ruled.
At issue was a lawsuit filed by former Lakewood High School students seeking damages for alleged sexual assaults by former professional baseball player Chad Curtis, while he was working as a substitute teacher in the high school’s weight room. He was convicted of criminal sexual conduct in a related case, and is currently serving a 7- to 15-year prison sentence, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals explains in its Thursday opinion (PDF).
A federal magistrate and the trial judge had decided that Warner Norcross & Judd should continue to represent Curtis, even though he had stopped paying the law firm, because he plans to proceed pro se in the case. That means Curtis will be taking depositions of the plaintiffs, which will be traumatic for them given the nature of the case, and additionally the law firm’s absence would create some scheduling issues. Hence, the motion to withdraw was denied and an interlocutory appeal followed in the Western District of Michigan case.
The appeals court found the scheduling argument unpersuasive: “If a routine deadline two months away were sufficient to warrant denial of a firm’s motion to withdraw from a case still in the discovery phase, it would be difficult to find an opportune time to withdraw absent an indefinite halt to the litigation,” it wrote.
And, while having depositions conducted directly by Curtis will be stressful for the plaintiffs, the law firm’s withdrawal will cause no “severe prejudice” to them, the 6th Circuit said. “The district court … has already mitigated that by allowing Curtis to be present at the depositions by video but not in person. Allowing Curtis’s counsel to withdraw, moreover, would leave plaintiffs in the position they would have found themselves had Curtis chosen at the outset to represent himself, as he had the right to do.”
Hat tip: WOOD.
