Summary
The Louisiana Court of Appeal, First Circuit, granted Kimberly Hopkins’s supervisory writ and reversed the district court’s judgment recusing DeDe Ferrara and Frank Ferrara from representing her. The court concluded that the approximately one-year delay before seeking disqualification supported waiver of the objection to counsel’s representation.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether Riley waived the right to seek disqualification of Hopkins's counsel by failing to raise the issue early in the proceedings.
- Whether the district court's judgment recusing DeDe Ferrara and Frank Ferrara should be reversed.
Holdings
- The right to urge disqualification of opposing counsel may be waived by failing to raise the issue early in the proceedings; under the circumstances, the delayed request for disqualification supported reversal of the recusal judgment.
Key quotations
“Courts have found that the right to urge disqualification of an opposing counsel may be waived by failure to raise the issue early in the proceedings.”
“Although the district-court record in this matter was in limbo for six months before being transferred to Jefferson Parish, Ms. De Luca's firm filed motions on Mr. Marks’ behalf in August 2020, soon after the case lodged in the 24th JDc. Yet the motion to disqualify Ms. Thomas and her firm was not filed until November 11, 2020, on the eve of a substantive hearing. The failure to timely object to Ms. Thomas's representation of Ms. Lazarone constitutes a tacit waiver of his objection to that representation.”
Factual background
DeDe Ferrara represented Kimberly Hopkins in the matter and engaged in discovery and court conferences for approximately one year. Chase Riley then requested disqualification of counsel, and the district court granted the request by recusing DeDe Ferrara and Frank Ferrara from representing Hopkins.
Procedural history
The matter arose in the 21st Judicial District Court for Livingston Parish, case number 162508. The district court recused DeDe Ferrara and Frank Ferrara from representing Hopkins; the Louisiana Court of Appeal, First Circuit, granted supervisory writs and reversed that judgment.