Koch v. Koch Industries, Inc.

• Citation: 6 F.Supp.2d 1207
• Decision Date: 03 April 1998
• Docket Number: No. 85-1636-SAC.,85-1636-SAC.
• Parties: William I. KOCH, et al., Plaintiffs, v. KOCH INDUSTRIES, INC., et al., Defendants.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Kansas

6 F.Supp.2d 1207

William I. KOCH, et al., Plaintiffs, v. KOCH INDUSTRIES, INC., et al., Defendants.

No. 85-1636-SAC.

United States District Court, D. Kansas.

April 3, 1998.

Clifford L. Malone, Adams, Jones, Robinson & Malone, Wichita, KS, Thomas E. Wright, Wright, Henson, Somers, Sebelius, Clark & Baker, L.L.P., Topeka, KS, Harry L. Najim, Najim Law Offices, Wichita, KS, John T Hickey, Jr., Alex Dimitrief, Kirkland & Ellis, Chicago, IL, Joseph F. Ryan, Lyne, Woodworth & Evarts, Boston, MA, Abraham D. Sofaer, John M. Townsend, Norman C. Kleinberg, Michael E. Salzman, Hughes, Hubbard & Reed, Washington, DC, Jerome G. Shapiro, Robert J. Sisk, Steven A. Hammond, Nicolas Swerdloff, Hughes, Hubbard & Reed, New York City, Fred H. Bartlit, Jr., Bartlit, Beck, Herman, Palenchar & Scott, Chicago, IL, Donald E. Scott, Ellen A. Cirangle, Bartlit, Beck, Herman, Palenchar & Scott, Denver, CO, for William I. Koch, Oxbow Energy, Inc., Springfield Creek Art Foundation, Inc., Northern Trust Co.

Clifford L. Malone, Adams, Jones, Robinson & Malone, Wichita, KS, Harry L. Najim, Najim Law Offices, Wichita, KS, Gregory S.C. Huffman, Frank L. Hill, L. James Berglund, II, Thompson & Knoght, Dallas, TX, for L.B. Simmons Energy Inc., Gay A. Roane, Ann Alspaugh, Marjorie Simmons Gray, Marjorie L. Simmons, Paul Anthony Andres Cox, Holly A. Andres Cox Farabee.

Clifford L. Malone, Adams, Jones, Robinson & Malone, Wichita, KS, Harry L. Najim, Najim Law Offices, Wichita, KS, Russell E. Brooks, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, New York City, for United States Trust Co. of New York, Frederick R. Koch.

Stephen M. Joseph, Redmond & Nazar, L.L.P., Wichita, KS, Michael Paul Kirschner, Lee & Kirschner, P.L.L.C., Oklahoma, City, OK, for Louis Howard Andres Cox, Nationsbank N.A.

James M. Armstrong, Robert L. Howard, Timothy B. Mustaine, Foulston & Siefkin L.L.P., Wichita, KS, Donald L. Cordes, Wichita, KS, for Koch Industries, Inc., Charles G. Koch.

James M. Armstrong, Robert L. Howard, Timothy B. Mustaine, Foulston & Siefkin L.L.P., Wichita, KS, for Sterling V. Varner, David H. Koch, Donald L. Cordes, Thomas M. Carey.

Michael W. Merriam, Gehrt & Roberts, Chartered, for Kansas Press Association, Kansas Association of Broadcasters, Wichita Eagle-Beacon, Topeka Capital-Journal, WIBW-TV, Kansas City Star Company, Wichita Business Journal, Harris Enterprises, Inc., Koch Crime Comm.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

CROW, Senior District Judge.

The case comes before the court on the plaintiffs' motion for reconsideration and modification of the court's rulings in limine on (1) post-1985 lawsuits and (2) consultations with health professionals and for clarification of certain aspects of those rulings. (Dk.743). The defendants have filed their response opposing the motion to reconsider. (Dk.753). The court conducted a hearing on April 2, 1998, at 3:00 p.m. at which counsel for the plaintiff William Koch, William Koch, and counsel for the defendants attended in person and argued their positions. Counsel for the other plaintiffs appeared by telephone.

STANDARDS GOVERNING MOTION TO RECONSIDER

As the rules of this court provide, "[a] motion to reconsider shall be based on (1) an intervening changed in controlling law, (2) availability of new evidence, or (3) the need to correct clear error or prevent manifest injustice." D.Kan. Rule 7.3. The application of this rule obviously is subject to other orders of the court and to other standards that govern such rulings.

In its order deciding the in limine motions (Dk.719, pp. 3-4), the court indicated that its denial of a motion was subject to reconsideration at trial. This use of the contemporaneous objection rule gives the trial judge the "opportunity to `reconsider his in limine ruling with the benefit of having been witness to the unfolding events at trial.'" Marceaux v. Conoco, Inc., 124 F.3d 730, 734 (5th Cir.1997) (quoting United States v. Graves, 5 F.3d 1546, 1552 (5th Cir.1993)). In fact, the court may even have "a duty to reconsider" when evidence at trial amounts to "positive proof that its prior ruling was erroneous." Guillory v. Domtar Industries Inc., 95 F.3d 1320, 1332 (5th Cir.1996).

Because the plaintiffs have filed their motion before trial, the court believes the general standards governing motions to reconsider apply now. See, e.g., Burger v. Mays, 176 F.R.D. 153, 155 (E.D.Pa.1997). A court's rulings "are not intended as first drafts, subject to revision and reconsideration at a litigant's pleasure." Quaker Alloy Casting v. Gulfco Industries, Inc., 123 F.R.D. 282, 288 (N.D.Ill.1988). A motion to reconsider is appropriate if the court has obviously misapprehended a party's position, the facts, or applicable law, or if the party produces new evidence that could not have been obtained through the exercise of due diligence. Comeau v.. Rupp, 810 F.Supp. 1172, 1175 (D.Kan.1992); see Refrigeration Sales Co. Inc. v. Mitchell-Jackson, Inc., 605 F.Supp. 6, 7 (N.D.Ill.1983), aff'd, 770 F.2d 98 (7th Cir.1985). A motion to reconsider is not appropriate if the movant only wants the court to revisit issues already addressed or to hear new arguments or supporting facts that could have been presented originally. Comeau v. Rupp, 810 F.Supp. at 1175.

PRIOR IN LIMINE ORDER

The court on March 20, 1998, filed its rulings on the in limine motions that were pending. On the plaintiffs' motion to "prohibit any references at trial and exclude any evidence offered by defendants concerning other lawsuits involving the plaintiffs that were initiated after June 7, 1985," (Dk.663, p. 1), the court denied the motion as to seven of the fifteen named lawsuits and denied the plaintiffs' request to exclude evidence suggesting that William Koch is engaged in an "ongoing vendetta" against his brothers, Charles and David Koch. (Dk.719, pp. 56-57). Based on what the defendants had filed and on its own experience from handling this case for over a decade, the court observed that "William Koch's animosity for Charles and David, the intensity of those feelings, and the actions that reveal those feelings are central to the defendants' case in several regards." (Dk.719, p. 13) (italics added).

On the plaintiffs' motion to exclude evidence of medical consultations for psychological or psychiatric purposes, (Dk.664, p. 2), the court ruled that the evidence has probative value, that the balancing of Rule 403 concerns could not be completed without hearing the specific evidence, that the evidence would not be excluded at this time because of its assumed sensitive nature, and that the plaintiffs had not carried their burden in proving this motion. (Dk.719, p. 17).

POST-1985 LAWSUITS

Argument

The plaintiffs contend that the court in its ruling gave the issue of family relationships more significance than ever before argued by the parties and apparently elevated its status beyond the need to balance competing Rule 403 concerns. The plaintiffs deny the importance of this issue asserting its absence from the pleadings and the pretrial order. The plaintiffs describe the defendants' prior use of this issue as a "peripheral matter" argued in passing in the preface and conclusion of their briefs. The plaintiffs argue unfairness in that this issue was not the subject of discovery, was never disclosed to be a matter of central importance, and was outside the 1981-1985 discovery time period imposed against the plaintiffs. In their brief, the plaintiffs maintain the emotionally-charged evidence connected with this issue is inflammatory, prejudicial, and cumulative of other admissible evidence on bias. The plaintiffs repeatedly mention the perceived unfair prejudice from the evidence that William and Frederick Koch named their mother as a defendant in a lawsuit against their brothers.

Ruling

As with almost every evidentiary dispute involving Rules 401 through 403, one side promotes the evidence as particularly relevant and critical to its case, while the other side disparages the evidence as peripherally relevant and prejudicial. This is why most courts, facing this situation, will wait to see how the evidence and events unfold at trial before ruling on admissibility. This is what the court has done here, and the points reiterated by the plaintiffs do not persuade the court to do otherwise.

The court will address briefly those arguments that the plaintiffs have said are the "heart of their position." The court has neither the time nor the inclination to pore over the prior pleadings¹ and extract all references to family relations. Nor should there be a need for the court to quote from its prior discovery orders any observations about the parties' apparent motives. A plain reading of those matters along with a detailed review of this case's procedural history would leave most with the impression that the litigation is occurring in the shadows of issues that are much larger and more personal for the parties. The plaintiffs have no real basis for alleging surprise over the defendants' desire to present relevant evidence on this issue and to argue its importance to the claims and defenses in this case.

The plaintiffs' arguments for a level playing field are misdirected. The court's prior rulings on the scope of the pretrial order focused not on whether the plaintiffs mentioned certain evidence there but on whether the plaintiffs had actually alleged certain claims of fraud and elements of damages. Other than a listing of the witness and exhibit, the pretrial order does not require the parties to give detailed accounts of all evidence to be used in proving or refuting the claims, damages and defenses in the case. For that matter, the issue of witness credibility exists in every trial, and the admissibility of evidence on that issue does not depend on the parties having mentioned it in the pretrial order. As for the time parameters set in the magistrate judge's discovery orders,² the plaintiffs have not demonstrated any prejudice or unfairness on this...