Civil Procedure – Sanctions

Listen to this article

U.S. Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Civil

Civil Procedure – Sanctions

Negligence on the part of an attorney admitted pro hac vice is insufficient to warrant sanctions for contempt.

“Both the judge and the Bank realized that Salem’s Notice was most likely a poorly drafted or hasty lis pendens. That is why the judge asserted that Salem had ‘abused … his pro hac vice privileges’ by filing the Notice as a non-member of the Wisconsin Bar and without proper authentication. Once again, however, this record does not support a finding of the necessary bad faith to support sanctions. It is not even clear to us that the court’s understanding of Wisconsin law was correct. Salem was candid with the Register of Deeds of Sauk County, and the Register was the elected official responsible for these filings. Neither the court nor the Bank has cited any authority, nor can we find any, supporting the proposition that the Register lacked the discretion to accept Salem’s Notice, along with the identifying information Salem furnished. (Salem represents that he also volunteered to find a local lawyer, if that was necessary, but he was told that he did not need to do so.) In addressing Salem’s motion for reconsideration, the court stated that Salem had ‘disingenuously’ attempted to blame his problems on the Sauk County Register, but it did not explain why Salem’s account was disingenuous. No one has ever accused Salem of lying about what took place. It is possible that the Register did not understand his own authority, but it is hard to see how that translates into misconduct by Salem. Nothing indicates that Salem’s reliance on the Register’s advice was in bad faith.”

Vacated.

14-1907 Trade Well Int’l. v. United Central Bank

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, Conley, J., Wood, J.

Full Text