(Download) "Thornton v. General Motors Corp." by Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free

January 01, 2021

eBook details

Title: Thornton v. General Motors Corp.
Author : Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
Release Date : January 02, 1998
Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
Pages : * pages
Size : 59 KB

Description

Appellant attorney, Berney L. Strauss, was sanctioned under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 by the district court on its own initiative for filing a lawsuit on behalf of Donna Thornton against General Motors, Inc. for punitive damages without first having made a reasonable inquiry into the facts underlying Thornton's claim. In imposing the sanctions, the district court suspended Strauss from the practice of law before the Western District of Louisiana for two years and ordered him to reimburse General Motors, Inc. its reasonable attorney's fees incurred in defending the suit. This appeal concerns only the propriety of the imposition of sanctions upon Strauss, Thornton having failed to file a timely appeal from the district court's summary judgment dismissing her complaint. We reverse and vacate the district court's sanctions order. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(c)(1)(B) requires that, when the district court itself initiates sanctions proceedings, it shall enter an order describing the specific conduct that appears to violate Rule 11(b) and directing the attorney to show cause why he has not committed a violation with respect to that specific conduct. In the present case, the district court entered a show cause order that did not describe the specific conduct for which it subsequently sanctioned Strauss. Accordingly, the district court did not, prior to imposing sanctions, afford Strauss adequate notice to afford him an opportunity to respond to charges of specifically described conduct as prescribed by Rule 11(c)(1)(B).