U.S. District Judge John McBryde of Fort Worth, Texas has issued a massive opinion holding attorneys S. Tracy Long, Melvin K. Silverman, Joseph F. Cleveland, Jr., and John P. Gillig liable for ethical breaches and recommending criminal prosecution after they challenged his impartiality and temperament in a case. The lengthy opinion below details the case against the lawyers in litigation over golf club patents. What is most striking about the case is the decision of the judge to conduct the inquiry himself — rejecting obvious concerns over his own conflict of interest in eliciting testimony on his own conduct. [See the update below]
The case involves a golf patent case referred to as Triple Tee and two documents:
The two sets of documents that led to these disciplinary and sanction proceedings were filed in Triple Tee II. The first set was filed in February 2009 by Gillig and Triple Tee, acting through Cleveland and Silverman, and the second in June 2010 by Gillig and Triple Tee, acting through Silverman. Gillig provided his declaration, which bears a signature date of January 22, 2009, as a part of the first set. Long provided his declaration, which bears a signature date of June 14, 2010, as a part of the second set. Each set contained recitations by the declarant concerning events occurring during the court’s handling of Triple Tee I. They were filed for the purpose of preventing the undersigned from presiding over Triple Tee II–the first set in an attempt to persuade Judge Means not to reassign Triple Tee II to the undersigned’s docket and the second set to create a record to support a contention by Gillig and Triple Tee that the undersigned was disqualified from presiding over Triple Tee II.
McBryde insists that the declaration contains false statements about his conduct in the case, including the statement that “[p]laintiff Gillig believes that Judge McBryde has exhibited personal and extra- judicial bias and prejudice against him.” The attorneys filed a declaration from Gillig that included the following allegations:
Among the statements Gillig declared under penalty of perjury to be true and correct were the
following:
3. In my opinion, Judge McBryde has exhibited personal and extra-judicial bias and prejudice against me, as is evidenced by the foregoing.
4. At a status conference which I believed occurred July 15, 2004, during the predecessor proceeding, I was present at a conference in offices of Judge McBryde’s and, in particular, at the Federal Courthouse at Fort Worth. The room appeared substantially as I have sketched in Exh. A herewith. As may be noted therefrom, I was seated toward the rear of the room in the guest or “non-attorney” area while my attorneys Tracy Long, Jon Suder another lawyer from the Suder firm were seated at the right of the conference table, while the lead attorney for Nike, Chris Renk, sat substantially opposite to Tracy Long at the left side of the table. The other Nike lawyers also sat at the left of the table.
5. Before the start of the status conference, Judge McBryde walked from a hallway into the room through the indicated doorway at the back of the room and, while standing at Location 1, turned to me and said “You cannot afford to be in this court” and then, as he walked around the conference room along the path showed by the dotted lines in my sketch of Exh. A, stopped at Location 2 and asked my attorneys if they had taken the case on a contingency basis and that, if so, they “should not expect to get a house out of this case.” After I heard him say this, Judge McBryde continued this line of comment as he walked from Location 2 to Location 3 in the conference room and, as he was starting to take his seat at Location 3, I heard him remark that the case would “never make it to his courtroom.”
6. At that time in 2004 I did not understand what Judge McBryde meant, given that I had never met him before and had no knowledge of his record on the bench.
7. At a hearing that I believed occurred on July 6, 2005, Judge McBryde threatened to hold my lawyers and myself in contempt if we did not submit a revised document, in language meeting with his approval, by the afternoon of the following day.
8. On a later occasion, also during the predecessor proceeding, which I believe was at a pretrial conference held July 5,2007, Judge McBryde remarked upon the opinion of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals [DE 199/200] and said, in so many words, that he was less than happy with the opinion of the Circuit and was still looking for a way to dispose of this case, apart from trying it, but that he had not yet found one.
9. Shortly thereafter, on July 18, 2007, I testified as corporate representative for TTG relative to the issue of standing. At said hearing, and after Judge McBryde had asked me several questions relative to the formation of TTG and the manner of my asserted assignment of trade secrets to TTG, Judge McBryde briefly left the courtroom and then, upon returning, but before reaching the bench, told me that he did not believe anything that I had said.
After the court itself held an evidentiary hearing, it found “that virtually everything said in paragraphs 3-5 and 7-9 of Gillig’s declaration is false.”
That hearing, however, created the uncomfortable scene of a judge questioning lawyers about their allegations about himself. Under 28 U.S.C. § 455,
“Any justice, judge, or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.
(b) He shall also disqualify himself in the following circumstances:
(1) Where he has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party, or personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts concerning the proceeding
In this case, the judge actively questions the lawyers about his own and their recollection of events. They in turn recount facts to the judge of his own conduct. Here is one such exchange:
Gillig testified:
THE WITNESS:
Another time you left the courtroom and you came barging back into the courtroom yelling I don’t believe anything you say. That was another reason I decided that we should recuse you because you said that you don’t believe anything I say.
Well, that means you don’t believe anything I say right now because anything is anything.
THE COURT: Are you saying that happened during the first Triple Tee case?
THE WITNESS: It was one of the times — the only time we actually got physically into your courtroom, and you walked out the door over there, and then after you came right back in afterwards and you said, I don’t believe anything you say, and then you went right back out the door and that was that.
The attorneys divided with some attorneys accusing the others of failing to reveal information to them. The result was a record that the court submitted to the bar for action.
The kicker comes at the end:
The court directs the clerk to send a copy of this memorandum opinion and order to the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas with an appropriate explanatory letter of transmittal, and the court hereby requests that he initiate, and prosecute, Gillig, Long, and Silverman for any criminal action that might be appropriate under the circumstances.
Here is the full opinion: McBrydeOrder
McBryde has insisted that some of the statements that he made to Gillig were jokes. Yet, he decided not to let another judge decide such questions.
As noted by the ABA Journal, McBryde has previously been cited for intemperate remarks. As discussed in a 1996, a New York Times article , the Judge was accused of fighting to keep two cases from being removed from this docket. Moreover, in 1997, the Fifth Circuit cited him for “intemperate, abusive and intimidating” conduct.
The testimony of the lawyers does show cause for concern over the filing of the documents. Indeed, they appear to turn on each other as in this testimony from Long:
THE COURT: Mr. Long, what did you do when you discovered that you had been tricked into signing that declaration by them not telling you about the declarations the Nike lawyers had filed?
THE WITNESS: Well, I found out about that today as I’m sitting in this courtroom. Last night, I was reading Mr. Cleveland’s declaration, which I had been provided. And I don’t know if Your Honor could tell, I sat back there having heart palpitations because I was so angry.
I mean, I would formally like to withdraw that declaration in total today, if I can.THE COURT: Who do you think tricked you into signing your declaration?
THE WITNESS: Mr. Silverman and Mr. Gillig, by not giving me the entire history and the entire, you know, declarations that were done by Nike. I think that was a key bit, piece of evidence.
However, McBryde’s own participation on the eliciting of the testimony undermines its use. It would have been far more advisable to have another judge conduct the hearing.
UPDATE:
It appears the Fifth Circuit agreed with our take on this case. On April 4, 2011, the Fifth Circuit entered an order vacating and remanding Judge McBryde’s January 5, 2011 order, finding that “[u]nder the particular and peculiar facts of this case, . . . the district judge was disqualified from presiding over the sanctions hearing and entering the January Order.” In re Cleveland, 420 Fed. Appx. 435 (5th Cir. 2011) (per curiam). The Fifth Circuit further instructed that the case be assigned to “a different judge to consider the question of sanctions . . . .” Id. On remand, the case was assigned out of the district and Judge David Hittner, Senior United States District Judge for the Southern District of Texas ruled for the lawyers. Notably, Judge Hittner observed that “[a]lmost all of the factors relevant in determining the reasonableness of the lawyer’s factual inquiry weigh in favor of Cleveland.”
Source: ABA
Jonathan Turley
McBryde’s district has other problems. Here are some court transcript excerpts from lawinjustice.com regarding a civil lawsuit in McBryde’s Texas district:
THE COURT: failure to comply with that order is contempt, punishable by lots of dollars, punishable by possible jail, death .
MR BELL: And death
THE COURT: I’m telling you don’t screw with me. You are a fool, a fool, a fool, a fool to screw with a federal judge, and if you don’t understand that, I can make you understand it. I have the force of the Navy, Army, Marines and Navy behind me.
THE COURT: They do and I have jurisdiction, too. So I’ll tell you what…. You want to challenge the court order, I have the marshals behind me. I can come to your house, pick you up, put you in jail. I can seize your property, do anything I need to do to enforce my orders.
THANKS FOR THE HEADS UP ABOUT LONG. I AM HAVING TROUBLE WITH FINDING A JUDGE TO HELP ME GET MY HOME BACK THAT WAS PAID OFF IN 2007 AND THE JUDGE OREDERED A POLICE REPORT AND THE WATSON LAW FIRM TO PUT MY WATER BACK IN MY NAME BUT IN STEAD THEY MINDI LOCKHART AND BART ARNOLD TOOK THE WATER METER SAYING THE BANK ASKED FOR IT. HOW? THE STATE ATTORNEY AGREED WITH WATSON DECIPATIVE TRADE AND AMONGST OTHER LAWS HE BROKE. THE SHERIFF DEPUTY CALLED US A N IN FRONT OF THE ATT REPAIR GUY! AND INTERNAL AFFAIRS ASID HE DID NOTHING WRONG! SLURS ARE ETHIC ISSUES! I WISH I COULD GET YOU IN OBC COUNTY BECAUSE WATSON HAS EVERYONE IN HIS POCKET.
I also think the judge thinks he is superior .To us frivolus excessive force tasered citizens– we are just sh t outta luck !!!! We can”t even get our day in court ! This judge has so much intimidating power that he scares lawyers off in turn citizens don’t get fair honest representation!!! Dear God what will it take to get honest, fair, legitamate cases heard–if Mcbryde thinks they are frivolus!!! tax paying citizen– thanks Mr. John Mcbryde for nothing WE DERSERVED A FAIR DAY IN COURT __YOU DID US WRONG!! AS DID OUR ATTORNEYS FOR BACKING OUT ON A LAW SUIT THAT WAS SO BLACK & WHITE EXCESSIVE FORCE TASERED ALMOST TO DEATH to all those prayer warriors out there take a knee maybe we can pray this monster to retire!! he isn’t fair –& it isn”t right!!! disappointed in justice Deborah Steen
I am uterly beside myself when it comes to this tyrant judge and I’m not even an attorney.
Could or would someone with the knowledge please expalain why the FBI hasn’t already investigated this monster for a past laundry list of abuses and bring federal charges against him?
What on earth needs to happen to begin impeachment proceedings against this loon portraying a federal judge.
I personally have experienced his medalling with the facts of my case (Carey Cass Hudson vs. The City of Fort Worth et al.), unless of course my attorney is simply lying to me about what the judge said in chambers at the pre-trial hearing to which I was barred from attending!
I have tried countless times to get a copy of the transscript, but get no where.
Please, for the love of God, tell me how to legitmately end this disturbed individual’s career & I’ll make it my sole priority for the rest of my life!
With TBI, what else do I have left to do?
Carlye: It’s even worse than you realize. This isn’t about a neutral judge crediting a fellow judge’s version of the facts over that offerred by four other persons.
Here, the same judge who is involved in the dispute over the facts issued a ruling that vindicates his version of the facts, discredits the other side’s version of the facts, and asks that the prosecurtor investigate the persons who disagreed with him.
If this report is accurate, the judge breached several rules of judicial conduct regardless of whose version of the facts is correct. The judge should be disciplined for those breaches regardless of the underlying factual dispute.
Next, a neutral investigation (conducted by individuals who do not rely on being in the good graces of local judges or the attorneys or party involved) should seek to ascertain the truth.
If the investigation supports the judge’s version of what happened, the lawyers should face bar discipline. If the investigation supports the opposing verion of what happened, the judge should be removed from the bench (and, if possible, permanently disqualified from serving as a judge or government attorney) and face discipline by the bar.
This is an excellent example of why all such proceedings should be recorded by video. The court found that the allegations against Judge McBride were false, it just means that it chose to believe Judge McBride in preference to believing 4 other people.
Without a recording it is a he said x and the other side said y situation and by choosing to believe one side rather than the other it is possible to do an injustice to the other side which is in fact telling the truth. Just because Judge McBride is a judge is no reason for assuming that he will not or can not lie and just because the other side consists of 4 people saying the same thing does not mean that these four are not conspiring in perjury. With information on an individual case one cannot make a choice, one really needs evidence about other cases overseen by this judge and other cases litigated by these lawyers.
Mespo,
You hit the nail on the head. This judge is a disgrace and needs to go. He has had 2 or 3 strikes against him already. Time to look for a new job or to retire to the country club.
I believe that the judge will eventually be disqualified, but only after many more months of pointless proceedings and tens of thousands of dollars in unproductive attorney’s fees.
As Buddha says, it’s an incendiary situation and a bad day for the profession. The judge needs to go; the lawyers need to go; and a new round of litigation needs to be had to give the litigants a fair day in court. I welcome Isabel’s comments, too. We know there are lots of good, responsible folks in Texas despite our jokes to the contrary. Like so many situations, the fools get to be the icons. That’s wrong as well.
The Texas State Bar has in process a series of amendments to its disciplinary rules which address the type of lawyer conduct evidenced in this case. Just yesterday I got a whining email from the trial lawyers subcommittee of the TX State Bar recommending that I wote against the new rules and citing all the awful things that will happen to the practice of law if they are implemented. This to me was an endorsement of the new rules. I will vote for them. Everyone likes to gang up on Texas (I haven’t practiced there since 1992), but even they know they have a problem.
This judge needs to be severely reprimanded. He wasn’t around when I was practicing law in the area. There was a bankruptcy judge or two in the NDist TX who were total idiots. The dist. ct. judges were mostly okay and some (Barefoot Sanders of civil right fame) were superb.
Where is Porteous when you need him? Maybe he could be assigned to hear this case….lol…
The whole business is quite the advertising campaign for the profession, isn’t it? And the perfect case – its about profits to accrue at country clubs. Hard to improve on that unless the case involved polo ponies or Bugatti dealerships. All it needs now is a conflict over a physician called as an expert witness.
🙂
I love the smell of backfiring tactics in the morning . . . The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole courtroom. Smelled like
[sniffing, pondering]
karma.