Lawyer's defamation claim against attorneys who obtained sanctions is revived by 5th Circuit
A lawyer’s claim for defamation against two attorneys who obtained more than $330,000 in sanctions against him in a state-court racketeering suit isn’t barred by the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, a federal appeals court has ruled.
The Oct. 8 decision by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revives the lawsuit filed by Larry English in federal court over comments made by the two lawyers when they pursued the sanctions.
The sanctions stemmed from English’s lawsuit filed on behalf of a Louisiana State University employee against several defendants, including the two lawyers, Vicki Crochet and Robert Barton. In their role as outside counsel for the LSU Board of Supervisors, they investigated the employee’s complaint about students being sexually assaulted and harassed by a football coach. English alleged misconduct during the investigation.
Crochet and Barton obtained sanctions against English and his client on several grounds, including unmerited litigation, abusive litigation tactics, “sensational and unsupported public statements to the media” and “speculative interpretation” of invoices by Crochet and Barton’s law firm.
The two lawyers worked for Taylor Porter Brooks & Phillips.
English characterized one revenue entry by Taylor Porter in the racketeering lawsuit as “email on the status of scheme to hide” the investigation of the coach, the 5th Circuit said. The actual entry referred to correspondence with a lawyer and with an LSU employee.
Following the sanctions order, English sued Crochet, Barton and their law firm for defamation, negligent infliction of emotional distress, intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy. A federal judge in the Middle District of Louisiana tossed all the claims with prejudice. English did not appeal dismissal of the claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress but asked the federal appeals court to revive the others.
The appeals court revived the defamation and conspiracy claims but left intact the dismissal of the claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, lower federal courts do not have the power to modify or reverse state court judgments unless authorized by Congress. The key issue, the federal appeals court said, is whether the source of the injury alleged in English’s federal lawsuit stems from the state court decision itself or the defendants’ actions.
Because English’s suit is based on the lawyers’ alleged conduct during sanctions proceedings, the Rooker-Feldman doctrine does not prevent his lawsuit, the appeals court said. The conspiracy claim, which was based on alleged underlying torts, must also be revived along with the defamation claim, according to the opinion.
Turning to the claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress, the 5th Circuit said the alleged statements by Crochet and Barton were not extreme and outrageous, the standard required under Louisiana law.
The alleged statements were that English fabricated evidence and that he was “sophomoric” and “ignorant.”
The appeals court also said English could not claim emotional distress over the lawyers’ request that he undergo a judgment debtor examination because there is no liability for insisting on legal rights in a permissible way.
Crochet and Barton did not immediately respond to the ABA Journal’s requests for comment.
English told the ABA Journal in an email that he is grateful to the 5th Circuit “for its work in reviewing my appeal based on the facts and the law.”
“A lawyer fabricating evidence violates the prime directive of our profession,” he said, citing a U.S. Supreme Court case that called trials a search for truth. “I hold the courtroom to be a sacred place and would never defile it by fabricating evidence. I look forward to my day in court.”
The Louisiana State Bar Association directory lists English as a Louisiana-licensed lawyer with a New York mailing address.
Hat tip to Bloomberg Law, which covered the panel opinion, written by Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod.
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