Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP v. Kensington International Ltd.
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP v. Kensington International Ltd.
Opinion of the Court
SUMMARY ORDER
Appellant Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP (“Cleary”), appeals from an August 24, 2007, Opinion and Order of the District Court formally reprimanding Cleary and ordering Cleary to reimburse plaintiff-appellee Kensington International Limited (“Kensington”) for the costs of $ 165,000.00 that Kensington incurred in bringing its motion to sanction Cleary.
We review “all aspects of a District Court’s decision to impose sanctions for
The District Court, based on evidence presented at two hearings, found that attorneys from Cleary had sought “to delay or obstruct the post-judgment discovery process” in the captioned matter, id. at *6, by “attempt[ing] to dissuade a non-party witness from attending a post-judgment deposition,” id. at *1. The District Court also found that the attorneys in question failed to establish, through credible testimony or otherwise, a good-faith-motive for their actions. Concluding that Cleary had “crossed the line” between “zealous advocacy and improper conduct,” the District Court determined that a grant of sanctions was “necessary to remind Cleary that it has obligations beyond representing its client.” Id. at *10. On appeal, Cleary contends that the District Court improperly credited the testimony of the non-party witness over the testimony of the attorneys in question.
The District Court based its finding that the attorneys in question had acted in bad faith and without legal justification on both the content of their statements and the demeanor they exhibited when making these statements.
. In New Pacific Overseas Group (U.S.A.) Inc. v. Excal Int’l Development Corp., 252 F.3d 667 (2d Cir. 2001), we held that, following the Supreme Court's holding in Cunningham v. Hamilton County, Ohio, 527 U.S. 198, 119 S.Ct. 1915, 144 L.Ed.2d 184 (1999), "an order imposing sanctions on an attorney” is appropriately reviewed "on appeal from a final judgment." Id. at 669-70 (internal quotation marks omitted). The events at issue here occurred during post-judgment discovery, leaving no question as to our jurisdiction to hear this matter.
. For example, the District Court noted that, on three separate occasions in his testimony, one of the attorneys answered questions in a manner that "served to raise the Court's suspicion that he was not being forthright in his answers.” Kensington Int’l Ltd., 2007 WL 2456993, at *9. Specifically, he (1) offered testimony that contradicted statements he had made in his affidavit to the court and (2) answered questions relating to two separate matters in an "evasive” manner. Id. at *10. As the District Court observed: “While he denies much of what transpired, his admissions ... in all but the most technical sense[ ] seem to contradict his denials.” Id. at *5.
The non-party witness, on the other hand, offered testimony that struck the District Court as "more consistent and more believable.” Id. at *5. Accordingly, the District Court elected to credit the non-party witness’s deposition testimony about the events in question "as verified by portions of his oral testimony in court and the record.” Id. at *8.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.