Offor v. Mercy Medical Center, 698 F. App'x 11

Dr. Chinwe Offor sued Mercy Medical Center and individual doctors; later moved for sanctions against defendants and their counsel under the court’s inherent power and 28 U.S.C. § 1927.
Offor alleged defense counsel conspired with the EEOC to prevent her from obtaining her EEOC charge file and failed to redact HIPAA-protected information in EEOC submissions.
The district court denied Offor’s sanctions motion as speculative and without legal basis, and separately granted defendants’ sanctions against Offor (the grant as to Offor was later appealed but that portion was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction).
The denial of Offor’s motion was appealed to the Second Circuit; the court treated the denial as appealable because it merged with the final judgment.
The only evidence supporting Offor’s claim was a conversation where defense counsel confirmed the EEOC would not share the charge file with anyone other than Offor and her lawyer.
The district court and the Second Circuit found no evidence of bad faith by defense counsel sufficient to support sanctions under § 1927 or the court’s inherent powers.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the denial of Offor’s motion for sanctions is appealable	Denial is appealable because it preceded final judgment and relates to counsel conduct	Denial is appealable only as it merged with the final judgment	Court: Denial was appealable because it merged with judgment (Shannon precedent)
Whether defense counsel’s conduct warranted sanctions under inherent power or § 1927	Counsel conspired with EEOC to block Offor from obtaining her EEOC charge file and failed to redact HIPAA information	Counsel merely confirmed EEOC’s confidentiality practice; no bad faith or obstruction of Offor’s access	Court: No abuse of discretion in denying sanctions; plaintiff failed to show counsel acted in bad faith

Shannon v. Gen. Elec. Co., 186 F.3d 186 (2d Cir. 1999) (final-judgment merger doctrine for appealability)
Perry v. Ethan Allen, Inc., 115 F.3d 143 (2d Cir. 1997) (standard of review for sanctions motions: abuse of discretion)
Oliveri v. Thompson, 803 F.2d 1265 (2d Cir. 1986) (bad-faith requirement for sanctions under § 1927 and inherent power)
Pridgen v. Andresen, 113 F.3d 391 (2d Cir. 1997) (orders awarding attorney’s fees as sanctions not appealable until amount determined)
Singleton v. Wulff, 428 U.S. 106 (1976) (appellate courts generally do not consider issues not passed upon below)
Vintero Corp. v. Corporacion Venezolana de Fomento, 675 F.2d 513 (2d Cir. 1982) (party precluded from raising issues on appeal that were not raised below)