In re Aguinda v. Texaco, Inc., Docket No. 00-3066
| Decision Date | 01 August 2000 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 00-3066 |
| Citation | 241 F.3d 194,2000 WL 33182244 |
| Parties | (2nd Cir. 2000) In Re: MARIA AGUINDA and GABRIEL ASHANGA JOTA, Petitioners, MARIA AGUINDA, GABRIEL ASHANGA JOTA, PAULA NERIDA ASHANGA CASTENO, CHIRSTIAN ASHANGA CASENO, JUDITH REUTEGUI CASTENO, MANUEL ANTONIO CANELOS, individually and as guardian for his children, ALIMPIO COQUINCHE NOTENO, ARSENIO CONDO, JUAN MARCOS COQINCHE MERCIER, RONALD CONQINCHE NOTENO, individually and as guardian for Tarcila Coquiniche and Saul Coquinche, TARCILA CONQUINCHE, SAUL CONQUINCHE, SANTIAGO CONQUINCHE, individually and as guardian for Julian Conquinche and Santiago Conquinche, JULIAN COQUINCHE, SANTIAGO COQUINCHE, FLORENTINO NOTENO, Florentino Noteno, individually and as guardian for Mery Noteno, Greine Noteno, Armilda Noteno and Noris Noteno, MERY NOTENO, GRIENE NOTENO, ARMILDA NOTENO, NORIS NOTENO, REMEDIA PAZ DUENDE, individually and as a guardian for Lizzie Pena Paz, Jackie Pena Paz individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, LIZZIE PENA PAZ, JACKIE PENA PAZ, ASSOCIACION INTERNICA DE DESARROLLO DE LA SELVA PERUANA AIDESEP,(MULTI ETHNIC ASSOCIATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PERUVIAN RAINFOREST), in representation of its members and of its member organizations, ORGANIZACION KICHUARUNA WANGURINA - ORKIWAN, (ORGANIZATION QUICHUA WANGURINA), FEDERACION DE COMUNIDADES NATIVAS DEL MEDIO NAPO - FECONAMN, (FEDERATION OF NATIVE COMMUNITIES OF THE MIDDLE NAPO) and FEDERACION DEL PUEBLO YAGUA DEL BAJO AMAZONA Y BAJO NAPO - FEPYBABAN (FEDERATION OF THE YAGUA PEOPLE OF THE LOWER AMAZON AND LOWER NAPO), MARK AGUINDA, Individually, and as guardian for Gesica Grefa, CARLOS GREFA, Individually and as guardian for Gesica Grefa, GESICA GREFA, CATARINA AGUINDA, MERCEDES GREFA, LIDIA AGUINDA, PATRICIO CHIMBO, individually and as guardian for his minor children, ELIAS PIYAGUAJE, Individually and as guardian for Lola Piyaguaje, Edison Piyaguaje, Paulina Piyaguaje, Jimena Piyaguaje and Elias Piyaguaje, LOLA PIYAGUAJE, EDISON PIYAGUAJE, PAULINA PIYAGUAJE, JIMENA PIYAGUAJE, ELIAS PIYAGUAJ |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Petition for a writ of mandamus directing Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to recuse himself in the underlying action. Petitioners argue that the judge's attendance at an expense-paid seminar funded by nonprofit foundations but sponsored by an organization that received some general funding from defendant-respondent Texaco and at which a former chief executive officer of Texaco spoke created an appearance of partiality towards Texaco that requires disqualification. Given the fact that the topics discussed at the seminar had no bearing on any issue material to the disposition of a claim or defense in this case and the remote involvement of Texaco in the seminar, we deny the petition. [Copyrighted Material Omitted] CRISTOBAL BONIFAZ (John C. Bonifaz and Steven Donziger, of counsel), Amherst, MA (Joseph Kohn and Martin D'Urso, Kohn, Swift & Graf, Philadelphia, PA, and Amy Damen, Sullivan & Damen, White Plains, N.Y., of counsel), for Petitioners.
RICHARD L. HERZ, EarthRights International, Washington, DC (J. Martin Wagner, Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, San Francisco, CA, of counsel), for Amici Curiae EarthRights International and the Sierra Club in support of Petitioners.
Before: CARDAMONE, WINTER, and POOLER, Circuit Judges.
Petitioners seek a writ of mandamus directing Judge Rakoff to recuse himself in the underlying action. See Aguinda v. Texaco, Inc., Nos. 93 Civ. 7527, 94 Civ. 9266 (S.D.N.Y.). That action involves claims by plaintiffs, who are citizens of Ecuador and Peru, that the defendant -- here respondent -- Texaco, Inc., polluted rain forests and rivers in those two countries, causing environmental damage and personal injuries.
This is the second time a proceeding in this matter has been before us. In 1996, Judge Rakoff dismissed the complaint on the grounds of international comity, forum non conveniens, and the failure to join indispensable parties. See Jota v. Texaco, Inc., 157 F.3d 153, 157 (2d Cir. 1998); Aguinda v. Texaco, Inc., 175 F.R.D. 50, 50 (S.D.N.Y. 1997) (). On appeal, we vacated the judgment and remanded for further proceedings. See Jota, 157 F.3d at 158-63.
The issue now before us arises from Judge Rakoff's attendance at an expense-paid seminar on environmental issues during the period between his dismissal of the case and our remand. Petitioners argue that because Texaco contributed general funding to the organization that sponsored the seminar and a former Texaco chief executive officer was a speaker at the seminar, an appearance of partiality warranting disqualification was created. Judge Rakoff denied petitioners' motion essentially on the grounds that Texaco provided only minor general funding to the seminar's sponsor, nonprofit foundations funded the seminar itself, and neither the former Texaco CEO nor any other presenter at the seminar discussed any issues material to the merits of the underlying case. See Aguinda v. Texaco, Inc., No. 93 Civ. 7527 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 5, 2000) (unpublished order); Jota v. Texaco, Inc., No. 94 Civ. 9266 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 5, 2000) (unpublished order) [].
We hold that Judge Rakoff did not abuse his discretion in denying petitioners' motion. Given Texaco's indirect and minor funding role and the lack of a showing that any aspect of the seminar touched upon an issue material to the disposition of a claim or defense in the present litigation, we deny the petition.
The present petition is based almost entirely on a July 2000 publication, offered as part of petitioners' recusal motion in the district court, by an organization named the Community Rights Counsel ("CRC"). The publication was entitled Nothing for Free: How Private Judicial Seminars Are Undermining Environmental Protections and Breaking the Public's Trust [hereinafter CRC Report]. Its highly critical focus was on three organizations that offer "privately funded" seminars for judges: the Law and Economics Center ("LEC"), which is affiliated with George Mason University; the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment ("FREE"); and the Liberty Fund, which is affiliated with the Manhattan Institute's Center for Legal Policy.1 FREE is the particular target of the CRC Report.
The CRC Report claims that "the marketplace of privately funded judicial education is overwhelmingly dominated by pro-market, anti-regulatory seminars offering a single and unchallenged line of reasoning" and that the "'Big Three' [LEC, FREE, and Liberty Fund]... share a remarkably similar, and in some respects extreme, conservative/libertarian ideology." CRC Report, at 2. It further alleges that these seminars are offered in luxurious settings and funded by corporate donors who hope to obtain favorable judicial decisions as a result of judges attending these seminars. Id. at 1, 7. The CRC Report has attracted much attention from the media. See, e.g., A Blot on Judicial Ethics, Wash. Post, July 28, 2000, at A24; Jim Drinkard, Advocacy Groups Pay for Judges' Seminars, USA Today, July 25, 2000, at 6A; Abner Mikva, Editorial, The Wooing of Our Judges, N.Y. Times, Aug. 28, 2000, at A17; A Threat to Judicial Ethics, N.Y. Times, Sept. 15, 2000, at A34.2
Turning specifically to the present matter, petitioners assert that Judge Rakoff must recuse himself because he attended an expense-paid seminar sponsored by FREE from September 15 through September 20, 1998, at a ranch in Montana. They note that Texaco provides funding to FREE and that a former chief executive officer of Texaco was a speaker at the seminar. The seminar was entitled, "Real and Alleged Environmental Crises -- A Seminar for Federal Judges." Petitioners state that the topics of the seminar were "directly related to the issues bound to arise in the course of [their] litigation." Brief for Petitioners at 13. To support this claim, petitioners point to the titles of six of the eleven sessions. These titles were: "Session II: Scientific Arguments and Their Context: An Introduction to Proof, Cause and Their Use (and Misuse) in Public Policy"; "Session IV: Applying More Good than Harm: Principles in Environmental Decision Making"; "Session VI: It Ain't Necessarily So: Two Case Studies of (Alleged) Health Risks and the Power of the Press"; "Session VII: The Environment: Some Thoughts from the Corner Office"; "Session IX: The Coming Battleground: Estrogenic Chemicals, Campaigns of Alarm, and Precautionary Pitfalls"; and "Session X: Risk Ledger -- A Balancing Act." It was the seventh session, entitled "The Environment: Some Thoughts from the Corner Office," at which Alfred C. DeCrane, Jr., the retired chairman and chief executive officer of Texaco, spoke. Petitioners argue that Judge Rakoff's attendance at the seminar (after he had dismissed the case but before the remand) created an appearance of partiality and that, therefore, he is disqualified from presiding on the remand proceedings.
In denying the motion for disqualification, Judge Rakoff noted that Texaco did contribute to FREE but that the contributions comprised a "minor" portion of FREE's general funding.3 He also noted that the seminar itself was funded by two nonprofit organizations that are strangers to...
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