IN RE JOINT EASTERN & SOUTHERN DIST. ASBESTOS LIT.

• Citation: 830 F. Supp. 1153
• Decision Date: 16 September 1993
• Docket Number: No. S-91-66.,S-91-66.
• Parties: In re JOINT EASTERN AND SOUTHERN DISTRICTS ASBESTOS LITIGATION.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Central District of Illinois

830 F. Supp. 1153

In re JOINT EASTERN AND SOUTHERN DISTRICTS ASBESTOS LITIGATION.

No. S-91-66.

United States District Court, C.D. Illinois, Springfield Division.

September 16, 1993.

Steven H. Frankel, Christopher Q. King, Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal, Chicago, IL, Elena Z. Kezelis, Springfield, IL, for Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust.

James Walker, James Wylder, James Walker, Ltd., Bloomington, IL, David Walker, William J. Harte, Ltd., Chicago, IL, for respondent James Walker.

OPINION

RICHARD MILLS, District Judge:

A matter of contempt by an attorney.

This long and protracted process began in this Court two years ago to collect sanctions that were imposed by the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. Attorney James Walker had been held in contempt in those courts relative to his participation in an asbestos trial. (That case is reported in a 270 page opinion as In re Joint Eastern and Southern District Asbestos Litigation, 129 B.R. 710 (E. & S.D.N.Y.1991)).

Apparently, Mr. Walker, who represented certain Illinois claimants in the asbestos litigation, attempted to interfere with the management of the trust fund which had been set up to pay the claimants, and a civil contempt sanction against him in the amount of $81,655 was awarded in favor of the Manville Trust. Shortly after the conclusion of the asbestos case in the fall of 1991, the trustee of the Johns-Manville Trust registered the sanction judgment of $81,655 in this Court, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1963.

The Manville Trust immediately applied for and received a citation to discover the assets of Mr. Walker in order to collect the $81,655 sanction which had been imposed in its favor. Mr. Walker attempted to stall the collection of the sanctions by filing a motion to quash all proceedings in this Court on the basis that the judgment rendered against him in New York was void. On August 26, 1992, this Court issued an opinion denying Mr. Walker's motion to dismiss the sanction proceedings and ordered that the sanction judgment be enforced together with interest thereon as expeditiously as possible. In re Joint Eastern & Southern Districts Asbestos Litigation, 800 F.Supp. 643, 647 (C.D.Ill. 1992).

Unfortunately, Mr. Walker again attempted to stall the proceedings by filing a motion for reconsideration and an interlocutory appeal. Mr. Walker also filed a motion for setoff, to have the sanctions paid out of client funds in another case which had allegedly been assigned to him. The motion for reconsideration and the motion for setoff were denied by this Court, and the interlocutory appeal, although unripe, is still pending before the Court of Appeals. It appears that Mr. Walker is attempting to perfect that appeal by procuring a contempt decree in this Court.

Nonetheless, having exhausted all means of delay, Mr. Walker subsequently filed an appeal of the setoff order and petitioned this Court for a stay of all proceedings pending outcome of the appeal. This Court denied the motion to stay, and Mr. Walker moved for a dismissal of his appeal of the setoff order. This Court then ordered Mr. Walker to appear at a citation to discover assets hearing and to answer garnishment interrogatories which had been served upon him by the Manville Trust.

Mr. Walker answered the garnishment interrogatories, and he appeared with counsel at the citation to discover assets hearing held before U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles H. Evans on August 3, 1993. However, at the hearing Mr. Walker refused to answer under oath the questions propounded to him by the attorney for the Manville Trust regarding his assets and income. He stated that he would prefer to be held in contempt and that he intended to appeal any contempt order issued by this Court. As a result of Mr. Walker's conduct at the hearing, the Manville Trust applied for an order requiring Mr. Walker to show cause why he should not be held in contempt for his failure to answer the questions asked at the hearing. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(e), Magistrate Judge Evans issued an order directing Mr. Walker to appear before District Judge Richard Mills to show cause why he should not be held in contempt for his failure to cooperate at the citation to discover assets hearing.

Mr. Walker has already been the subject of numerous contempt proceedings. This Court in an en banc order issued in November of 1992 suspended Mr. Walker from practice in federal court in the Central District of Illinois for one year for his conduct in the case of Castillo v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Co., 1992 WL 319419 (C.D.Ill. 1992). Mr. Walker had already been sanctioned in the same case in 1991 by District Judge Harold A. Baker for "deliberate frustration of the defendants' attempt to secure discovery," and that sanction was affirmed by the Court of Appeals. See Castillo, 938 F.2d 776 (7th Cir.1991). Additionally, Mr. Walker has been brought before the Fourth District Appellate Court on at...