Arizona Elec. Power Co-op., Inc. v. Berkeley

• Decision Date: 12 July 1995
• Docket Number: Nos. 93-16682,93-16759,s. 93-16682
• Citation: 59 F.3d 988
• Parties: 95 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 5371, 95 Daily Journal D.A.R. 9198 ARIZONA ELECTRIC POWER COOPERATIVE, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant-Cross-Appellee, v. Arnold D. BERKELEY, Defendant-Appellee-Cross-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 988

59 F.3d 988

95 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 5371, 95 Daily Journal

D.A.R. 9198

ARIZONA ELECTRIC POWER COOPERATIVE, INC. Plaintiff-Appellant-Cross-Appellee, v. Arnold D. BERKELEY, Defendant-Appellee-Cross-Appellant.

Nos. 93-16682, 93-16759.

United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted Feb. 14, 1995.

Decided July 12, 1995.

William L. Slover, Slover & Loftus, Washington, DC, for plaintiff-appellant-cross-appellee.

Samuel M. Sipe, Jr., Steptoe & Johnson, Washington, DC, for defendant-appellee-cross-appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.

Before: FARRIS and O'SCANNLAIN, Circuit Judges; MERHIGE, Jr., ^* District Judge.

O'SCANNLAIN, Circuit Judge:

We must decide whether to enforce an arbitration award which grants over $7 million in attorneys' fees to an attorney notwithstanding his ethical improprieties.

I

Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. ("AEPCO") is a rural electric cooperative, headquartered in Benson, Arizona. Berkeley is a lawyer licensed in Washington, DC, who specializes in regulatory matters pertaining to the production, sale, and transportation of natural gas in interstate commerce.

During the 1970s, AEPCO produced electric power with natural gas-fired equipment. AEPCO purchased its natural gas through the City of Willcox, Arizona ("Willcox"), which acquired it from the region's sole supplier, El Paso Natural Gas Company ("El Paso"). The energy crisis of the 1970s prevented El Paso from providing adequate supplies of natural gas to its customers, including AEPCO and Willcox. Consequently, AEPCO hired Berkeley to represent it in proceedings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC"). Because Willcox was a necessary party to these proceedings, AEPCO retained Berkeley to represent Willcox as well. Prior to 1979, AEPCO paid Berkeley on an hourly basis.

In May 1978, while AEPCO's administrative proceedings before FERC were still in progress, Berkeley filed an action against El Paso in federal court alleging that El Paso had damaged AEPCO and Willcox in the amount of $200 million (the "damages case"). In January 1979, AEPCO and Berkeley entered into a contingency fee agreement ("CFA") which provided that Berkeley would continue to represent AEPCO in the ongoing administrative proceeding for an annual fee of $400,000. The CFA also provided that Berkeley's fees for the recently-filed damages case would consist of specified percentages of any actual recovery that AEPCO received from El Paso. Actual recovery was defined to include money or other benefits of value received by AEPCO. The CFA provided that any differences as to the construction of that document were to be settled by arbitration pursuant to the Arizona Arbitration Statute, Arizona Revised Statutes Annotated Secs. 12-1501 et seq.

On December 15, 1980, Berkeley settled both the administrative proceeding before FERC and the damages case. In settlement, AEPCO received a package of new gas rights from El Paso, but no money changed hands.

In August 1982, Berkeley and AEPCO amended the CFA to provide that certain benefits that were received by AEPCO from El Paso were obtained in settlement of the damages case. Pursuant to the amended CFA, AEPCO then made payments to Berkeley totaling $2.7 million.

At some point Berkeley apparently decided that AEPCO was not paying him what he was due under the CFA. Accordingly, in August 1987, while he still represented AEPCO in other matters, Berkeley hired AEPCO's former general manager, Jerome Flanders, whom AEPCO had fired for cause. For approximately three and one-half years, Flanders assisted Berkeley in preparing a claim against AEPCO for additional legal fees. Berkeley remained AEPCO's attorney throughout this period and apparently never informed AEPCO that he believed that AEPCO had failed to comply with the CFA. ¹ As AEPCO's counsel, Berkeley was asked annually by AEPCO's auditors if he was aware of any significant claims against AEPCO. Berkeley never mentioned that he believed that AEPCO owed him substantial legal fees or that he and Flanders were preparing a demand for arbitration regarding those fees.

In May 1991, Berkeley filed a demand for arbitration, seeking more than $67 million in additional legal fees. AEPCO denied that it owed Berkeley any additional fees and promptly fired Berkeley. However, Berkeley continued to represent Willcox in the same natural gas matter in which he previously represented AEPCO. This matter included a dispute about whether AEPCO rather than Willcox could be a direct customer of El Paso. Berkeley had previously advised AEPCO that a settlement agreement permitted AEPCO to become a direct customer of El Paso at will; after he was discharged, Berkeley took the diametrically opposite position on behalf of Willcox. AEPCO filed an action against Willcox in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to prevent it from interfering with AEPCO's attempt to establish a direct relationship with El Paso. Although the district court concluded that a temporary restraining order was not warranted because money damages would be an adequate remedy, the district court noted that AEPCO had made a strong showing that Berkeley's actions constituted a breach of the fiduciary duties that he owed to AEPCO. The parties subsequently settled that suit.

Based on information it learned through discovery, AEPCO filed a counter-claim in the arbitration. AEPCO accused Berkeley of committing fraud in securing the 1982 amendment to the CFA, alleging that he "wrongfully transposed benefits received from El Paso in the Administrative Proceedings to the Damage Case." AEPCO also alleged that Berkeley had breached numerous fiduciary and ethical duties that he owed to AEPCO.

In accordance with the arbitration clause in the CFA, AEPCO and Berkeley each selected an arbitrator. They repeatedly attempted to agree on a neutral, third arbitrator from the American Arbitration Association ("AAA") lists, but could not. AEPCO insisted that the neutral arbitrator have judicial experience. Finally, each party agreed to list six candidates from the AAA lists. If the parties listed a common candidate, then that person would be selected. If not, each side would choose a candidate from the other's list, and the AAA would randomly choose the third arbitrator from the two candidates selected.

The parties did not select a common candidate. Berkeley had nominated only one candidate with judicial experience--Paul Pfeiffer, a retired administrative law judge--so AEPCO selected Pfeiffer from Berkeley's list. The AAA randomly chose Pfeiffer to be the third arbitrator.

After he was notified of his appointment, Pfeiffer disclosed to the AAA that Berkeley had been on the staff of the Civil Aeronautics Board during the time that Pfeiffer served as a hearing Examiner for that agency between 1947 and 1961. Pfeiffer stated that he thought that he and his wife had visited with Berkeley and his wife on possibly two occasions during that period. Pfeiffer also thought that he had had lunch with Berkeley one or two times after he left the agency. However, Pfeiffer stated (and it is not disputed) that he had not had any contact with Berkeley for at least twenty-seven years.

Upon learning this information, AEPCO immediately objected to Pfeiffer's appointment and moved to disqualify him. Pfeiffer would not voluntarily resign, however, and the AAA denied AEPCO's request for disqualification.

A majority of the arbitration panel found that Berkeley was entitled to $9,221,000.00 in contingent legal fees pursuant to the CFA. With respect to AEPCO's counterclaim, a different majority found that Berkeley had breached his fiduciary duties to AEPCO in three ways:

The conduct of [Berkeley], a senior member of the Bar, first in employing [AEPCO's] former general manager, while continuing to represent [AEPCO], to assist in preparation of the instant claim without notifying [AEPCO]; second, in filing an arbitration demand with the AAA for fees in excess of $67,000,000 without first consulting [AEPCO]; and finally, by continuing to represent his client, the City of Willcox, Arizona in opposition to [AEPCO] in litigation in which the City was attempting to hold [AEPCO's] gas supply hostage, when considered together constitute conduct below the level of propriety expected of a member of the Bar.

As a result, the panel directed Berkeley to remit 15% of the contingency fee award to AEPCO in satisfaction of AEPCO's counterclaim.

AEPCO brought suit in the federal district court, seeking to vacate the award pursuant to section 12-1512 of the Arizona Revised Statutes Annotated. AEPCO claimed that the award could not be confirmed first, because the award violated public policy, and second, because Arbitrator Pfeiffer was biased in favor of Berkeley. Both parties moved for summary judgment, and the district court granted Berkeley's motion. The district court held that Arizona does not recognize public policy as a ground for vacating an arbitral award. Alternatively, the district court held that even if Arizona did permit its courts to vacate arbitral awards on public policy grounds, AEPCO's award would not qualify for the exception. Finally, the district court held that Arbitrator Pfeiffer was not biased. AEPCO appeals.

II

We review a district court's interpretation of state law de novo. Ravell v. United States, 22 F.3d 960, 961 n. 1 (9th Cir.1994). When interpreting state law, federal courts are bound by decisions of the state's highest court. In re Kirkland, 915 F.2d 1236, 1238 (9th Cir.1990). "In the absence of such a decision, a federal court must predict how the highest state court would decide the issue using intermediate appellate court decisions, decisions from other jurisdictions, statutes, treatises, and restatements as guidance." Id. at 1239. ²

AEPCO first argues that the arbitral award should not be enforced because it is violative...