COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA et al., Petitioners, v. THE SUPERIOR COURT OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY, Respondent; ATLANTIC RICHFIELD COMPANY et al., Real Parties in Interest.
No. S163681
Supreme Court of California
July 26, 2010
35
Ann Miller Ravel and Miguel Marquez, County Counsel (Santa Clara), Cheryl A. Stevens, Aryn P. Harris, Winifred Botha, Orry Korb, Tamara Lange and Anne O. Decker, Deputy County Counsel; Dennis J. Herrera, City Attorney (San Francisco), Owen J. Clements, Chief of Special Litigation, Danny Chou and Erin Bernstein, Deputy City Attorneys; Michael J. Aguirre and Jan Goldsmith, City Attorneys (San Diego), Sim von Kalinowski, Chief Deputy City Attorney, Daniel F. Bamberg, Deputy City Attorney; Richard E. Winnie, County Counsel (Alameda), Raymond L. MacKay and Andrea L. Weddle, Deputy County Counsel; Dennis Bunting, County Counsel (Solano); Thomas F. Casey III and Michael P. Murphy, County Counsel (San Mateo), Brenda Carlson, Chief Deputy County Counsel, Rebecca M. Archer, Deputy County Counsel; Raymond G. Fortner, Jr., and Andrea Sheridan Ordin, County Counsel (Los Angeles), Donovan M. Main, Richard K. Mason and Robert E. Ragland, Deputy County Counsel; Rockard J. Delgadillo, City Attorney (Los Angeles), Jeffrey B. Isaacs, Chief of Criminal and Special Litigation, Patricia Bilgin and Elise Ruden, Deputy City Attorneys; John A. Russo, City Attorney (Oakland), Christopher Kee, Deputy City Attorney; Charles J. McKee, County Counsel (Monterey), William M. Litt, Deputy County Counsel; Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, Frank M. Pitre, Nancy L. Fineman, Ara Jabagchourian, Douglas Y. Park; Thornton & Naumes, Michael P. Thornton, Neil T. Leifer; Motley Rice, Fidelma Fitzpatrick, Aileen Sprague; Mary Alexander & Associates, Mary Alexander and Jennifer L. Fiore for Petitioners.
Arthur H. Bryant and Victoria W. Ni for Public Justice, P.C., as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Petitioners.
Genevieve M. Allaire Johnson, Special Assistant Attorney General; Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro and Jeff D. Friedman for State of Rhode Island as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Petitioners.
Jennifer B. Henning for California State Association of Counties and League of California Cities as Amici Curiae on behalf of Petitioners.
Waters Kraus & Paul, Ingrid M. Evans, David L. Cheng; Waters Kraus, Charles S. Siegel and Loren Jacobson for Healthy Children Organizing Project, Western Center on Law and Poverty, Inner City Law Center, Public Advocates, Inc., Public Health Institute, Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, California Conference of Local Health Officers, Prevention Institute, Alliance for Healthy Homes, American Academy of Pediatrics, California Center for Public Health Advocacy, Equal Justice Society and Worksafe Law Center as Amici Curiae on behalf of Petitioners.
Gardere Wynne Sewell, Richard O. Faulk, John S. Gray; Steptoe & Johnson and Jay E. Smith for Public Nuisance Fairness Coalition, American Chemistry Council, Property Casualty Insurers Association of America and National Association of Manufacturers as Amici Curiae on behalf of Petitioners.
Sher Leff and Victor M. Sher for Association of California Water Agencies as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Petitioners.
No appearance for Respondent.
Arnold & Porter, Ronald C. Redcay, Sean Morris, Eric May, Shane W. Tseng, John R. Lawless, Kristen L. Roberts, Philip H. Curtis and William H. Voth for Real Party in Interest Atlantic Richfield Company.
Horvitz & Levy, David M. Axelrad and Lisa Perrochet for Real Party in Interest Millennium Inorganic Chemicals, Inc.
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, Richard W. Mark, Elyse D. Echtman; Filice Brown Eassa & McLeod, Peter A. Strotz, William E. Steimle and Daniel J. Nichols for Real Party in Interest American Cyanamid Company.
Greve, Clifford, Wengel & Paras, Lawrence A. Wengel, Bradley W. Kragel; Ruby & Schofield, Law Office of Allen Ruby, Allen J. Ruby, Glen W. Schofield; McGrath, North, Mullin & Kratz, James P. Fitzgerald and James J. Frost for Real Party in Interest ConAgra Grocery Products Company.
McGuire Woods, Steven R. Williams, Collin J. Hite; Glynn & Finley, Clement L. Glynn and Patricia L. Bonheyo for Real Party in Interest E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company.
Halleland, Lewis, Nilan & Johnson, Michael T. Nilan; Ropers, Majeski, Kohn & Bentley and James C. Hyde for Real Party in Interest Millennium Holdings LLP.
Crowley, Barrett & Karaba, Paul F. Markoff; Robinson & Wood and Archie S. Robinson for Real Party in Interest the O‘Brien Corporation.
Jones Day, John W. Edwards II, Elwood Lui, Brian J. O‘Neill, Frederick D. Friedman, Paul M. Pohl, Charles H. Moellenberg, Jr., and Leon F. DeJulius, Jr., for Real Party in Interest the Sherwin-Williams Company.
Elizabeth Milito; Carlton DiSante & Freudenberger and Nancy G. Berner for National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Legal Center as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Real Party in Interest Atlantic Richfield Company.
Shook, Hardy & Bacon, Kevin Underhill, Victor E. Schwartz, Cary Silverman; National Chamber Litigation Center, Inc., Robin S. Conrad, Amar Sarwal; and Sherman Joyce for Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America and the American Tort Reform Association as Amici Curiae on behalf of Real Party in Interest Atlantic Richfield Company.
Latham & Watkins and Paul N. Singarella for Orange County Business Council as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Real Party in Interest Atlantic Richfield Company.
Thomas J. Graves; Spriggs & Hollingsworth, Eric G. Lasker and Marc S. Mayerson for National Paint & Coatings Association, Inc., as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Real Parties in Interest.
Fred J. Hiestand for the Civil Justice Association of California as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Real Parties in Interest.
Ronald D. Rotunda; Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Rex S. Heinke and Jessica M. Weisel for National Organization of African Americans in Housing as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Real Parties in Interest.
Maureen Martin for The Heartland Institute as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Real Parties in Interest.
Hugh F. Young, Jr.; Dechert, James M. Beck; Drinker Biddle & Reath and Alan J. Lazarus for the Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc., as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Real Parties in Interest.
W. Scott Thorpe for California District Attorneys Association as Amicus Curiae.
OPINION
GEORGE, C. J. — A group of public entities composed of various California counties and cities (collectively referred to as the public entities) are prosecuting a public-nuisance action against numerous businesses that manufactured lead paint (collectively referred to as defendants). The public entities are represented both by their own government attorneys and by several private law firms. The private law firms are retained by the public entities on a contingent-fee basis. After summary judgment was granted in favor of defendants on various tort causes of action initially advanced by the public entities, the complaint eventually was amended to leave the public-nuisance action as the sole claim, and abatement as the sole remedy.
Defendants moved to bar the public entities from compensating their privately retained counsel by means of contingent fees. The superior court, relying upon this court‘s decision in People ex rel. Clancy v. Superior Court (1985) 39 Cal.3d 740 [218 Cal.Rptr. 24, 705 P.2d 347] (Clancy), ordered the public entities barred from compensating their private counsel by means of any contingent-fee agreement, reasoning that under Clancy, all attorneys prosecuting public-nuisance actions must be “absolutely neutral.” The superior court concluded that Clancy therefore precluded any arrangement in which private counsel has a financial stake in the outcome of a case brought on behalf of the public. On petition of the public entities seeking a writ of mandate, the Court of Appeal held that Clancy does not bar all contingent-fee agreements with private counsel in public-nuisance-abatement actions, but only those in which private attorneys appear in place of, rather than with and under the supervision of, government attorneys.
We must decide whether the Court of Appeal correctly construed our opinion in Clancy, or if that case instead broadly prohibits all contingent-fee agreements between public entities and private counsel in any public-nuisance action prosecuted on behalf of the public. Clancy arguably supports defendants’ position favoring a bright-line rule barring any attorney with a financial interest in the outcome of a case from representing the interests of the public in a public-nuisance-abatement action. As set forth below, however, a reexamination of our opinion in Clancy suggests that our decision in
I
The procedural history of this case is not in dispute. The public entities’ claims against defendants originally included causes of action for fraud, strict liability, negligence, unfair business practices, and public nuisance.1 (County of Santa Clara v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (2006) 137 Cal.App.4th 292, 300 [40 Cal.Rptr.3d 313] (Santa Clara).) The superior court granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment on all causes of action. The Court of Appeal reversed the superior court‘s judgment of dismissal and ordered the lower court to reinstate the public-nuisance, negligence, strict liability, and fraud causes of action. (Id. at p. 333.) Thereafter, the public entities filed a fourth amended complaint that alleged a single cause of action, for public nuisance, and sought only abatement. Throughout this litigation, the public entities have been represented both by their government counsel and by private counsel.
Upon remand following Santa Clara, supra, 137 Cal.App.4th 292, defendants filed a “motion to bar payment of contingent fees to private attorneys,” asserting that “the government cannot retain a private attorney on a contingent fee basis to litigate a public nuisance claim.” Defendants sought “an order that precludes plaintiffs from retaining outside counsel under any agreement in which payment of fees and costs is contingent on the outcome of the litigation.”
Defendants attached to their motion a number of fee agreements between the public entities and their private counsel, and the public entities filed opposition to which they attached their fee agreements and declarations of their government attorneys and private counsel. The fee agreements and declarations disclose that the public entities and private counsel agreed that,
Some of the contingent-fee agreements in the present case specify the respective authority of both private counsel and public counsel to control the conduct of the pending litigation. The fee agreements between private counsel and San Francisco, Santa Clara, Alameda, Monterey, and San Diego explicitly provide that the public entities’ government counsel “retain final authority over all aspects of the Litigation.”2 Private counsel for those five public entities submitted declarations confirming that their clients’ government counsel retain “complete control” over the litigation.3 The two remaining fee agreements contained in the record — those involving Solano and Oakland — purport to grant private counsel “absolute discretion in the decision of who to sue and who not to sue, if anyone, and what theories to plead and what evidence to present.” During proceedings in the trial court, Oakland disclaimed this fee agreement and asserted that its government counsel had retained “complete control” of the litigation and intended to revise the agreement to reflect this circumstance.4 Solano‘s private counsel asserts that its public counsel have “maintained and continue to maintain complete control over all aspects of the litigation” and “all decision making authority
The various fee agreements provide different definitions of “recovery.” Some of the agreements define the term “recovery” as “moneys other than civil penalties,” whereas others define this term as the “amount recovered, by way of judgment, settlement, or other resolution.” Some of the agreements include the phrase “both monetary and non-monetary” in their definitions of “recovery.” The San Diego agreement defines “net recovery” as “the payment of money, stock, and/or... the value of the abatement remedy after the deduction of the costs paid or to be paid.” The Santa Clara fee agreement provides that, “[i]n the event that the Litigation is resolved by settlement under terms involving the provision of goods, services or any other ‘in-kind’ payment, the Santa Clara County Counsel agrees to seek, as part of any such settlement, a mutually agreeable monetary settlement of attorneys’ fees and expenses.”
In April 2007, the superior court heard defendants’ motion “to bar payment” as well as the public entities’ motion for leave to file a fourth amended complaint. The court granted the public entities’ motion and ordered that the pleading be filed within 30 days.
Although some preliminary issues were raised concerning the ripeness of defendants’ motion, the superior court resolved the motion on its merits. The court rejected the public entities’ claim that Clancy, supra, 39 Cal.3d 740, was distinguishable, concluding instead that under Clancy, “outside counsel must be precluded from operating under a contingent fee agreement, regardless of the government attorneys’ and outside attorneys’ well-meaning intentions to have all decisions in this litigation made by the government attorneys.” The court granted defendants’ motion and entered an order “preclud[ing] Plaintiffs from retaining outside counsel under any agreement in which the payment of fees and costs is contingent on the outcome of the litigation....” But the court allowed the public entities “30 days to file with the court new fee agreements” or “declarations detailing the fee arrangements with outside counsel.”
II
A
We begin our inquiry with this court‘s decision in Clancy. In that case, the City of Corona (Corona) hired James Clancy, a private attorney, to bring nuisance abatement actions against a business (the Book Store), which sold adult materials. (Clancy, supra, 39 Cal.3d at p. 743.) The hiring of Clancy followed several attempts by Corona to terminate the operations of this establishment. Specifically, several months after the Book Store opened, Corona adopted two ordinances that purported to regulate adult bookstores, one defining “sex oriented material” and the other restricting the sale of such material to certain zones in Corona. (Ibid.) After the owner of the Book Store, Helen Ebel, filed an action in federal court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ultimately held both ordinances to be unconstitutional. (Ebel v. City of Corona (9th Cir. 1985) 767 F.2d 635.)
Corona subsequently retained the services of Clancy to abate nuisances under the authority of a new ordinance, proposed on the same day Clancy was hired and seemingly targeted specifically at the Book Store. (Clancy, supra, 39 Cal.3d at p. 743.) The ordinance defined a public nuisance as “‘[a]ny and every place of business in the City... in which obscene publications constitute all of the stock in trade, or a principal part thereof....‘” (Ibid.) The employment contract between Corona and Clancy, who was an independent contractor rather than an employee (id. at p. 747), provided that he was to be paid $60 per hour for his work in bringing public-nuisance actions, except that he would be paid only $30 per hour for his work in any
Two weeks after the public-nuisance ordinance was enacted, Corona passed a resolution declaring the Book Store to be a public nuisance and revoking its business license. Thereafter, Corona and Clancy (as the city‘s “‘special attorney‘“) filed a complaint against Ebel, her son Thomas Ebel, another individual, and the Book Store, seeking abatement of a public nuisance, declaratory judgment, and an injunction. (Clancy, supra, 39 Cal.3d at p. 744.)6 The Ebels unsuccessfully attempted to disqualify Clancy as the attorney for Corona. (Clancy, at p. 744.) The Ebels then sought writ relief, contending it was “improper for an attorney representing the government to have a financial stake in the outcome of an action to abate a public nuisance,” and asserting that “a government attorney prosecuting such actions must be neutral, as must an attorney prosecuting a criminal case.” (Id. at p. 745.) This court generally agreed, finding the arrangement between Corona and Clancy “inappropriate under the circumstances.” (Id. at p. 743.)
We observe as a threshold matter that our decision to disqualify Clancy from representing Corona in the public-nuisance action was founded not upon any specific statutory provision or rule governing the conduct of attorneys, but rather upon the courts’ general authority “to disqualify counsel when necessary in the furtherance of justice.” (Clancy, supra, 39 Cal.3d at p. 745.) Invoking that authority, this court stated that it “may order that Clancy be dismissed from the case if we find the contingent fee arrangement prejudices the Ebels.” (Ibid.)
We concluded that for purposes of evaluating the propriety of a contingent-fee agreement between a public entity and a private attorney, the neutrality rules applicable to criminal prosecutors were equally applicable to government attorneys prosecuting certain civil cases. (Clancy, supra, 39 Cal.3d at pp. 746-747.) Accordingly, our decision set forth the responsibilities associated with the prosecution of a criminal case, noting that a prosecutor does not represent merely an ordinary party to a controversy, but instead is the representative of a “‘sovereignty whose obligation to govern impartially is as compelling as its obligation to govern at all; and whose interest, therefore, in a criminal prosecution is not that it shall win a case, but that justice shall be done.‘” (Clancy, supra, 39 Cal.3d at p. 746; see People v. Superior Court (Greer) (1977) 19 Cal.3d 255, 266 [137 Cal.Rptr. 476, 561 P.2d 1164] (Greer).) We noted that a prosecutor‘s duty of neutrality stems from two
Recognizing that a city attorney is a public official, we noted that “the rigorous ethical duties imposed on a criminal prosecutor also apply to government lawyers generally.” (Clancy, supra, 39 Cal.3d at p. 748Clancy, supra, 39 Cal.3d at p. 747, quoting former ABA Model Code Prof. Responsibility, EC 8-8.) “‘[An] attorney holding public office should avoid all conduct which might lead the layman to conclude that the attorney is utilizing his public position to further his professional success or personal interests.‘” (Clancy, supra, 30 Cal.3d at p. 747, quoting ABA Com. on Prof. Ethics, opn. No. 192 (1939).) Notably, we held that because public lawyers handling noncriminal matters are subject to the same ethical conflict-of-interest rules applicable to public prosecutors, “there is a class of civil actions that demands the representative of the government to be absolutely neutral. This requirement precludes the use in such cases of a contingent fee arrangement.” (Clancy, supra, 39 Cal.3d at p. 748.)
We further held that public-nuisance-abatement actions belong to the class of civil cases in which counsel representing the government must be absolutely neutral. (Clancy, supra, 39 Cal.3d at p. 749.) We came to this conclusion by analogizing a public-nuisance-abatement action to an eminent domain action — a type of proceeding in which we already had concluded that government attorneys must be unaffected by personal interest. (Id. at p. 748, citing City of Los Angeles v. Decker (1977) 18 Cal.3d 860, 871 [135 Cal.Rptr. 647, 558 P.2d 545].)
We explained: “[T]he abatement of a public nuisance involves a balancing of interests. On the one hand is the interest of the people in ridding their city of an obnoxious or dangerous condition; on the other hand is the interest of the landowner in using his property as he wishes. And when an establishment such as an adult bookstore is the subject of the abatement action, something more is added to the balance: not only does the landowner have a First
We concluded that James Clancy — although he was an independent contractor and not an employee of the City of Corona — nonetheless was subject to the same neutrality guidelines applicable to Corona‘s public lawyers, because “a lawyer cannot escape the heightened ethical requirements of one who performs governmental functions merely by declaring he is not a public official. The responsibility follows the job: if Clancy is performing tasks on behalf of and in the name of the government to which greater standards of neutrality apply, he must adhere to those standards.” (Clancy, supra, 39 Cal.3d at p. 747.)
Finally, we held that because Clancy‘s hourly rate would double in the event Corona were successful in the litigation against the Ebels and the Book Store, it was evident that Clancy had an interest extraneous to his official function in the actions he was prosecuting on behalf of Corona. Accordingly, “the contingent fee arrangement between the City and Clancy is antithetical to the standard of neutrality that an attorney representing the government must meet when prosecuting a public nuisance abatement action. In the interests of justice, therefore, we must order Clancy disqualified from representing the City in the pending abatement action.” (Clancy, supra, 39 Cal.3d at p. 750.) We expressly noted that Corona was not precluded from rehiring Clancy to represent it on other terms. (Id. at p. 750, fn. 5.)
Importantly, we also noted that “[n]othing we say herein should be construed as preventing the government, under appropriate circumstances, from engaging private counsel. Certainly there are cases in which a government may hire an attorney on a contingent fee to try a civil case.” (Clancy, supra, 39 Cal.3d at p. 748.) As an example of such a permissible instance of representation, we cited Denio v. City of Huntington Beach (1943) 22 Cal.2d 580 [140 P.2d 392], a case in which we had approved a contingent-fee arrangement between the City of Huntington Beach and a law firm hired to represent it in all matters relating to protection of the city‘s oil rights. Thus, we recognized that contingent-fee arrangements in ordinary civil cases generally are permitted. (Clancy, supra, 39 Cal.3d at p. 748.)
As is evident from the preceding discussion, our decision in Clancy, supra, 39 Cal.3d 740, was guided, in large part, by the circumstance that the public-nuisance action pursued by Corona implicated interests akin to those inherent in a criminal prosecution. In light of this similarity, we found it appropriate to invoke directly the disqualification rules applicable to criminal prosecutors — rules that categorically bar contingent-fee agreements in all instances. As we observed in Clancy, contingent-fee “contracts for criminal prosecutors have been recognized to be unethical and potentially unconstitutional, but there is virtually no law on the subject.” (Clancy, supra, 39 Cal.3d at p. 748.) Nonetheless, we noted it is generally accepted that any type of arrangement conditioning a public prosecutor‘s remuneration upon the outcome of a case is widely condemned. (Ibid., citing ABA Stds. for Crim. Justice, Prosecution Function, com. to former Std. 2.3(e) [“‘[i]t is clear that [case-by-case] fee systems of remuneration for prosecuting attorneys raise serious ethical and perhaps constitutional problems, are totally unacceptable under modern conditions, and should be abolished promptly‘“].)
Accordingly, although there are virtually no cases considering the propriety of compensation of public prosecutors pursuant to a contingent-fee arrangement, it would appear that under most, if not all, circumstances, such a method of compensation would be categorically barred. This is so because giving a public prosecutor a direct pecuniary interest in the outcome of a case that he or she is prosecuting “would render it unlikely that the defendant would receive a fair trial.” (
Our opinion in Clancy recognized that the interests invoked in that case were akin to the vital interests implicated in a criminal prosecution, and thus
As explained below, however, to the extent our decision in Clancy suggested that public-nuisance prosecutions always invoke the same constitutional and institutional interests present in a criminal case, our analysis was unnecessarily broad and failed to take into account the wide spectrum of cases that fall within the public-nuisance rubric. In the present case, both the types of remedies sought and the types of interests implicated differ significantly from those involved in Clancy and, accordingly, invocation of the strict rules requiring the automatic disqualification of criminal prosecutors is unwarranted.
The broad spectrum of public-nuisance law may implicate both civil and criminal liability.8 Indeed, public-nuisance actions vary widely, as evidenced by
Although in Clancy we spoke generally of a “balancing of interests” and a “delicate weighing of values” (Clancy, supra, 39 Cal.3d at p. 749), our concerns regarding neutrality, fairness, and a possible abuse of the judicial process by an interested party appear to have been highly influenced by the circumstances of the case then before us — a long-running attempt by the City
The history of Corona‘s efforts to shut down the bookstore revealed a profound imbalance between the institutional power and resources of the government and the limited means and influence of the defendants — whose vital property rights were threatened. Under California law, the continued operation of an established, lawful business is subject to heightened protections. (See Goat Hill Tavern v. City of Costa Mesa (1992) 6 Cal.App.4th 1519, 1529 [8 Cal.Rptr.2d 385] [continued operation of 35-year business that was making recent substantial improvements was recognized as a vested right]; Livingston Rock etc. Co. v. County of L. A. (1954) 43 Cal.2d 121, 127 [272 P.2d 4] [noting that businesses generally cannot be immediately terminated due to nonconformance with rezoning ordinances, because of the “hardship and doubtful constitutionality” of such discontinuance].) It was in this factual setting that we noted that the abatement of a public nuisance involves a “balancing of interests. On the one hand is the interest of the people in ridding their city of an obnoxious or dangerous condition; on the other hand is the interest of the landowner in using his property as he wishes.” (Clancy, supra, 39 Cal.3d at p. 749.)
The case also implicated both the defendants’ and the public‘s constitutional free-speech rights. As we recognized in Clancy, the operation of the adult bookstore involved speech that arguably was protected in part, and thus curtailment of the right to disseminate the books in question could significantly infringe upon the Ebels’ liberty interest in free speech. Again, our focus upon the critical “balancing of interests” was guided by the circumstance that Corona was attempting to abate a public nuisance created by an adult bookstore — thus adding something more “to the balance: not only does the landowner have a First Amendment interest in selling protected material, but the public has a First Amendment interest in having such material available for purchase.” (Clancy, supra, 39 Cal.3d at p. 749.)10
The public-nuisance action in the present case, by contrast, involves a qualitatively different set of interests — interests that are not substantially similar to the fundamental rights at stake in a criminal prosecution. We find this distinguishing circumstance to be dispositive. As set forth above, neutrality is a critical concern in criminal prosecutions because of the important constitutional liberty interests at stake. On the other hand, in ordinary civil cases, we do not require neutrality when the government acts as an ordinary party to a controversy, simply enforcing its own contract and property rights against individuals and entities that allegedly have infringed upon those interests. Indeed, as discussed above, we specifically observed in Clancy that the government was not precluded from engaging private counsel on a contingent-fee basis in an ordinary civil case. Thus, for example, public entities may employ private counsel on such a basis to litigate a tort action involving damage to government property, or to prosecute other actions in
the hands of the state.‘” (Clancy, supra, 39 Cal.3d at p. 749, fn. omitted, quoting Prosser & Keeton, The Law of Torts (5th ed. 1984) p. 618.)
The present case falls between these two extremes on the spectrum of neutrality required of a government attorney. The present matter is not an “ordinary” civil case in that the public entities’ attorneys are appearing as representatives of the public and not as counsel for the government acting as an ordinary party in a civil controversy. A public-nuisance-abatement action must be prosecuted by a governmental entity and may not be initiated by a private party unless the nuisance is personally injurious to that private party. (
Yet, neither are the interests affected in this case similar in character to those invoked by a criminal prosecution or the nuisance action in Clancy. Although the remedy for the successful prosecution of the present case is unclear, we can confidently deduce what the remedy will not be. This case will not result in an injunction that prevents defendants from continuing their current business operations. The challenged conduct (the production and distribution of lead paint) has been illegal since 1978. Accordingly, whatever the outcome of the litigation, no ongoing business activity will be enjoined. Nor will the case prevent defendants from exercising any First Amendment right or any other liberty interest. Although liability may be based in part on prior commercial speech, the remedy will not involve enjoining current or future speech. Finally, because the challenged conduct has long since ceased, the statute of limitations on any criminal prosecution has run and there is neither a threat nor a possibility of criminal liability being imposed upon defendants.
The adjudication of this action will involve at least some balancing of interests, such as the social utility of defendants’ product against the harm it has caused, and may implicate the free-speech rights exercised by defendants when they marketed their products and petitioned the government to oppose regulations. Nevertheless, that balancing process and those constitutional rights involve only past acts—not ongoing marketing, petitioning, or property/business interests. Instead, the trial court will be asked to determine whether defendants should be held liable for creating a nuisance and, if so, how the nuisance should be abated. This case will result, at most, in
Of course, because this is a public-nuisance action, and the public entities are not merely pursuing abatement on government property but on private property located within their jurisdictions, defendants’ potential exposure may be very substantial. The possibility of such a substantial judgment, however, does not affect the type of fundamental rights implicated in criminal prosecutions or in Clancy, supra, 39 Cal.3d 740. There is no indication that the contingent-fee arrangements in the present case have created a danger of governmental overreaching or economic coercion. Defendants are large corporations with access to abundant monetary and legal resources. Accordingly, the concern we expressed in Clancy about the misuse of governmental resources against an outmatched individual defendant is not implicated in the present case.
Thus, because—in contrast to the situation in Clancy—neither a liberty interest nor the right of an existing business to continued operation is threatened by the present prosecution, this case is closer on the spectrum to an ordinary civil case than it is to a criminal prosecution. The role played in the current setting both by the government attorneys and by the private attorneys differs significantly from that played by the private attorney in Clancy. Accordingly, the absolute prohibition on contingent-fee arrangements imported in Clancy from the context of criminal proceedings is unwarranted in the circumstances of the present civil public-nuisance action.12
Nevertheless, as set forth above, because the public-nuisance-abatement action is being prosecuted on behalf of the public, the attorneys prosecuting this action, although not subject to the same stringent conflict-of-interest rules governing the conduct of criminal prosecutors or adjudicators, are subject to a heightened standard of ethical conduct applicable to public officials acting in the name of the public—standards that would not be invoked in an ordinary civil case.
The underlying principle that guided our decision in Clancy was that a civil attorney acting on behalf of a public entity, in prosecuting a civil case such as a public-nuisance-abatement action, is entrusted with the unique power of the government and therefore must refrain from abusing that power by failing to act in an evenhanded manner. (Clancy, supra, 39 Cal.3d at p. 749; see also Greer, supra, 19 Cal.3d at p. 267 [a prosecuting attorney “‘is the representative of the public in whom is lodged a discretion which is not to be controlled by the courts, or by an interested individual‘” (italics omitted)]; City of Los Angeles v. Decker, supra, 18 Cal.3d at p. 871 [a “‘government lawyer in a civil action . . . should not use his position or the economic power of the government to harass parties or to bring about unjust settlements or results‘“].) Indeed, it is a bedrock principle that a government attorney prosecuting a public action on behalf of the government must not be motivated solely by a desire to win a case, but instead owes a duty to the public to ensure that justice will be done. (Greer, supra, 19 Cal.3d at p. 267.)
These principles of heightened neutrality remain valid and necessary in the context of the situation presented by the case before us. A fair prosecution and outcome in a proceeding brought in the name of the public is a matter of vital concern both for defendants and for the public, whose interests are represented by the government and to whom a duty is owed to ensure that the judicial process remains fair and untainted by an improper motivation on the part of attorneys representing the government. Accordingly, to ensure that an attorney representing the government acts evenhandedly and does not abuse the unique power entrusted in him or her in that capacity—and that public confidence in the integrity of the judicial system is not thereby undermined—a heightened standard of neutrality is required for attorneys prosecuting public-nuisance cases on behalf of the government.
We must determine whether this heightened standard of neutrality is compromised by the hiring of contingent-fee counsel to assist government attorneys in the prosecution of a public-nuisance-abatement action of the type involved in the present proceedings. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that this standard is not compromised. Because private counsel who are
This reasoning recently was embraced by the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, which approved the state attorney general‘s employment of private counsel on a contingent-fee basis to prosecute public-nuisance-abatement actions against lead paint manufacturers—a case identical in all material respects to the underlying action here. (State of Rhode Island, supra, 951 A.2d 428.) That court considered the propriety of the contingent-fee agreements in light of the state attorney general‘s status as a public servant, and his attendant responsibility to seek justice rather than prevail at all costs. (Id. at p. 472.) The state high court noted that the attorney general was bound by the ethical standards governing the conduct of public prosecutors. (Ibid.) Ultimately, citing the underlying decision of the Court of Appeal in the present case, the court in State of Rhode Island concluded that “there is nothing unconstitutional or illegal or inappropriate in a contractual relationship whereby the Attorney General hires outside attorneys on a contingent fee basis to assist in the litigation of certain non-criminal matters. Indeed, it is our view that the ability of the Attorney General to enter into such contractual relationships may well, in some circumstances, lead to results that will be beneficial to society—results which otherwise might not have been attainable. However, due to the special duty of attorneys general to ‘seek justice’ and their wide discretion with respect to same, such contractual relationships must be accompanied by exacting limitations. . . . [I]t is our view that the Attorney General is not precluded from engaging private counsel pursuant to a contingent fee agreement in order to assist in certain civil litigation, so long
We generally agree with the Supreme Court of Rhode Island and the Court of Appeal in the present case that there is a critical distinction between an employment arrangement that fully delegates governmental authority to a private party possessing a personal interest in the case, and an arrangement specifying that private counsel remain subject to the supervision and control of government attorneys. Private counsel serving in a subordinate role do not supplant a public entity‘s government attorneys, who have no personal or pecuniary interest in a case and therefore remain free of a conflict of interest that might require disqualification. Accordingly, in a case in which private counsel are subject to the supervision and control of government attorneys, the discretionary decisions vital to an impartial prosecution are made by neutral attorneys and the prosecution may proceed with the assistance of private counsel, even though the latter have a pecuniary interest in the case.
It is true that the public attorneys’ decisionmaking conceivably could be influenced by their professional reliance upon the private attorneys’ expertise and a concomitant sense of obligation to those attorneys to ensure that they receive payment for their many hours of work on the case. This circumstance may fairly be viewed as being somewhat akin to having a personal interest in the case. Nevertheless, this is not the type of personal conflict of interest that requires disqualification of the public attorneys. As this court has stated: “‘[A]lmost any fee arrangement between attorney and client may give rise to a ‘conflict.’ . . . The contingent fee contract so common in civil litigation creates a ‘conflict’ when either the attorney or the client needs a quick settlement while the other‘s interest would be better served by pressing on in the hope of a greater recovery. The variants of this kind of ‘conflict’ are infinite. Fortunately most attorneys serve their clients honorably despite the opportunity to profit by neglecting or betraying the client‘s interest.‘” (People v. Doolin (2009) 45 Cal.4th 390, 416 [87 Cal.Rptr.3d 209, 198 P.3d 11].)13
As recognized by the American Bar Association, attorneys are expected to resolve conflicts between their personal interests and their ethical and professional responsibilities “through the exercise of sensitive professional and moral judgment.” (ABA Model Rules Prof. Conduct, preamble, par. 9.) In other words, attorneys are presumed to comport themselves with ethical integrity and to abide by all rules of professional conduct. In light of the supervisory role played by government counsel in the litigation—and
As we have explained above, in the type of public-nuisance-abatement action being prosecuted in the present case, disqualification of counsel need not be governed by the stringent disqualification rules applicable to criminal prosecutors. Nevertheless, the role of the prosecutor provides useful guidance concerning the type of discretionary decisions that must remain with neutral government attorneys to ensure that the litigation is conducted in a conflict-free manner. A public prosecutor “has broad discretion over the entire course of the criminal proceedings, from the investigation and gathering of evidence, through the decisions of whom to charge and what charges to bring, to the numerous choices at trial to accept, oppose, or challenge judicial rulings.” (Hambarian, supra, 27 Cal.4th at p. 840.) In Greer, we emphasized that it is “because the prosecutor enjoys such broad discretion that the public he serves and those he accuses may justifiably demand that he perform his functions with the highest degree of integrity and impartiality, and with the appearance thereof.” (Greer, supra, 19 Cal.3d at pp. 266-267.) Accordingly, the “advantage of public prosecution is lost if those exercising the discretionary duties of the district attorney are subject to conflicting personal interests which might tend to compromise their impartiality.” (Id. at p. 267; see also Hambarian, supra, 27 Cal.4th at p. 841 [holding that proper test for a disqualifying conflict of interest under
A prosecutor‘s authority to make critical discretionary decisions in criminal cases is vital to ensuring the neutrality we require of attorneys entrusted with that position. This is so because such discretionary decisions provide the greatest opportunity to abuse the judicial process by placing personal gain above the interests of the public in a fair and just prosecution and outcome. For the same reason, in the context of public-nuisance-abatement proceedings, critical discretionary decisions similarly may not be delegated to private counsel possessing an interest in the case, but instead must be made by neutral government attorneys.
Accordingly, although the principles of heightened neutrality do not categorically bar the retention of contingent-fee counsel to assist public entities in the prosecution of public-nuisance-abatement actions, those principles do mandate that all critical discretionary decisions ultimately must be made by the public entities’ government attorneys rather than by private counsel—in other words, neutral government attorneys must retain and exercise the
Defendants assert that even if the control of private counsel by government attorneys is viable in theory, it fails in application because private counsel in such cases are hired based upon their expertise and experience, and therefore always will assume a primary and controlling role in guiding the course of the litigation, rendering illusory the notion of government “control.” To the extent defendants assert that no contractual provision delegating the division of responsibility will or can be adhered to, we decline to assume that private counsel intentionally or negligently will violate the terms of their retention agreements by acting independently and without consultation with the public-entity attorneys or that public attorneys will delegate their fundamental obligations.14
Defendants also contend that the concept of “control” is unworkable as a standard to govern future cases, because it will be difficult (if not impossible) for a trial court to monitor whether government counsel for a public entity is adequately fulfilling his or her supervisory role and controlling all important aspects of the litigation, including procedural tactics, the gathering and presentation of evidence, the consideration and resolution of settlement negotiations, and other discretionary matters. Defendants assert that short of egregious actions on the part of private counsel or the supervising government attorney, violations of the “control” exception would be difficult to detect.15
In a case such as the present one, in which any remedy will be primarily monetary in nature, the authority to settle the case involves a paramount discretionary decision and is an important factor in ensuring that defendants’ constitutional right to a fair trial is not compromised by overzealous actions of an attorney with a pecuniary stake in the outcome. Accordingly, retention agreements between public entities and private counsel must specifically provide that decisions regarding settlement of the case are reserved exclusively to the discretion of the public entity‘s own attorneys. Similarly, such agreements must specify that any defendant that is the subject of such litigation may contact the lead government attorneys directly, without having to confer with contingent-fee counsel. (Cf. ABA Recent Formal Ethics Opns., formal opn. No. 06-443 (Aug. 5, 2006) p. 179 [“Model Rule of Professional Conduct 4.2 generally does not prohibit a lawyer who represents a client in a matter involving an organization from communicating with the organization‘s inside counsel about the subject of the representation without obtaining the prior consent of the entity‘s outside counsel.” (italics omitted)].)16
Additionally, we adopt, in slightly modified form, the specific guidelines set forth by the Supreme Court of Rhode Island in State of Rhode Island, supra, 951 A.2d at page 477, footnote 52. Specifically, contingent-fee agreements between public entities and private counsel must provide: (1) that the public-entity attorneys will retain complete control over the course and conduct of the case; (2) that government attorneys retain a veto power over any decisions made by outside counsel; and (3) that a government attorney with supervisory authority must be personally involved in overseeing the litigation.
These specific provisions are not exhaustive. The unique circumstances of each prosecution may require a different set of guidelines for effective supervision and control of the case, and public entities may find it useful to specify other discretionary decisions that will remain vested in government attorneys. Nevertheless, the aforementioned provisions comprise the minimum requirements for a retention agreement between a public entity and private counsel adequate to ensure that critical governmental authority is not improperly delegated to an attorney possessing a personal pecuniary interest in the case.
III
In the present case, five of the seven contingent-fee agreements between the public entities and private counsel contained in the record provide that the public entities’ government counsel “retain final authority over all aspects of the Litigation.”17 Declarations of public counsel for these five public entities confirm that these individuals “retained and continue to retain complete control of the litigation,” have been “actively involved in and direct all decisions related to the litigation,” and have “direct oversight over the work of outside counsel.” Private counsel submitted declarations confirming that the government counsel for the five public entities retain “complete control” over the litigation.18 The references in these agreements to “final authority
Nevertheless, although five of the 10 fee agreements between the respective public entities and private counsel contain language specifying that control and supervision will be retained by the government attorneys, none of the 10 fee agreements in the present case contain the other specific provisions regarding retention of control and division of responsibility that we conclude are required to safeguard against abuse of the judicial process. Accordingly, because the seven agreements that are in the record are deficient under the standard we set forth above, and because we cannot assess the sufficiency of the three remaining agreements that are not contained in the record, we reverse the judgment rendered by the Court of Appeal and remand the matter for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. Assuming the public entities contemplate pursuing this litigation assisted by private counsel on a contingent-fee basis, we conclude they may do so after revising the respective retention agreements to conform with the requirements set forth in this opinion.
Kennard, J., Chin, J., Moreno, J., and Richman., J.,* concurred.
WERDEGAR, J., Concurring.—I concur in the judgment insofar as it vacates the superior court‘s order barring the plaintiff public entities from paying their private counsel under contingent fee agreements.
Although I do not agree with every aspect of the majority‘s reasoning, I do agree this court spoke too broadly in 1985 when it prohibited contingent fee agreements in all public nuisance cases. (See People ex rel. Clancy v. Superior Court (1985) 39 Cal.3d 740, 748-750 [218 Cal.Rptr. 24, 705 P.2d 347] (Clancy).) As the majority explains, public nuisance cases comprise a wide range of factual situations, some of which do not necessarily entail a conflict of interest between public-entity plaintiffs and private attorneys retained under contingent fee agreements. To limit Clancy is thus appropriate, as the majority concludes.
In this case, however, at least a possible conflict of interest arises from the combination of two circumstances: The public entities assert they cannot afford to pay private counsel other than a contingent fee, and some of the fee
In concurring in the judgment, I am also influenced by the concern that to grant defendants’ motion might encourage parties in future cases to bring belated motions seeking to interfere with their opposing parties’ attorney-client relationships for tactical reasons. Although plaintiffs commenced this action in 2000, and although defendants do not assert they learned of the contingent fee agreements only recently,2 defendants did not challenge those agreements until 2007, after losing pretrial dispositive motions on appeal.3 (See County of Santa Clara v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (2006) 137 Cal.App.4th 292 [40 Cal.Rptr.3d 313].) In ruling on a motion to disqualify counsel, the court may properly consider the possibility that the motion is a tactical device (People ex rel. Dept. of Corporations v. SpeeDee Oil Change Systems (1999) 20 Cal.4th 1135, 1145 [86 Cal.Rptr.2d 816, 980 P.2d 371]; Comden v. Superior Court (1978) 20 Cal.3d 906, 915 [145 Cal.Rptr. 9, 576 P.2d 971]) and deny the motion when unreasonable delay has caused great prejudice (In re Complex Asbestos Litigation (1991) 232 Cal.App.3d 572, 599–600 [283 Cal.Rptr. 732]; River West, Inc. v. Nickel (1987) 188 Cal.App.3d 1297, 1313 [234 Cal.Rptr. 33]). To grant defendants’ motion in this case could as a practical matter force plaintiffs to abandon their lawsuit after nearly a decade of pretrial litigation and discovery. While defendants have asked the court not to disqualify plaintiffs’ counsel but instead simply to bar plaintiffs from compensating counsel on a contingent basis, the only authority for defendants’ motion is
Rivera, J.,* concurred.
Notes
As a threshold matter, as we explained above, public-nuisance-abatement actions that do not implicate fundamental constitutional rights or threaten the operation of an existing business do
Nor are the financial contributions of private counsel of a nature or magnitude likely to put the public attorneys’ discretionary decisionmaking within the influence or control of an interested party. Unlike the financial assistance provided by the victim in Eubanks—a party with a strong personal interest in the outcome of the case and an expectation that the provision of financial assistance would incentivize the public attorneys to pursue the victim‘s desired outcome even if justice demanded a contrary course of action—the financial assistance in a public-nuisance case pursued with the assistance of contingent-fee counsel is provided by a group of sophisticated legal experts who have calculated the financial risk against the possible reward, and who are charged with the knowledge that public counsel‘s obligation to place justice above their desire to win a case may result in governmental decisions that do not maximize monetary recovery for the private attorneys.
This factual distinction is especially important in light of the specific contractual provisions we discuss, post. As we explain below, to ensure that the heightened standard of neutrality is maintained in the prosecution of a public-nuisance-abatement action, contingent-fee agreements between public entities and private counsel must contain specific provisions delineating the proper division of responsibility between the public and private attorneys. Specifically, those contractual provisions must provide explicitly that all critical discretionary decisions will be made by public attorneys—most notably, any decision regarding the ultimate disposition of the case. These contractual provisions reinforce the principle that the financial assistance provided by contingent-fee counsel is conditioned on the understanding that public counsel will retain full control over the litigation and, in exercising that control, must and will place their duty to serve the public interest in ensuring a fair and just proceeding above their sense of any obligation to maximize a monetary recovery for the private attorneys.