Contempt Charge Vacated Based On Valid Assertion Of Attorney Client Privilege

Waste Management of Washington, Inc. v. Kattler et al.

Finding that a district court had not provided procedural due process to an attorney for a sanctioned party, and that the district court abused its discretion in imposing sanctions for civil contempt against the attorney, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated sanctions imposed against an attorney that had properly asserted a privilege defense and affirmatively had taken steps to remedy unknowingly false prior misstatements of fact to the district court. Waste Management of Washington, Inc. v. Kattler et al., Case No. 13-20356 (5th Cir., Jan. 14, 2015) (Owen, J.).

At the district court, an employer, Waste Management of Washington (WM), sued a former employee, Dean Kattler, for alleged violation of an employment agreement by accepting a job with a competing company.  Shortly after the suit was filed, the district court issued a temporary restraining order instructing Kattler to produce two