Waste Mgmt. of WA v. Kattler

The underlying litigation in this appeal stemmed from WM's suit against a former employee for misappropriating confidential business information and violating the terms of his employment agreement. This appeal arose from a contempt proceeding ancillary to the merits of the underlying case where Michael A. Moore, the attorney for the employee, appealed the imposition of sanctions following a finding that Moore was in civil contempt. The court concluded that the district court's finding that Moore participated in an attempt to mislead the court as to the existence of a thumb disk drive is clearly erroneous; Moore's failure to comply with the terms of a preliminary injunction by not producing an iPad image was excusable because the order required Moore to violate the attorney-client privilege; and requiring Moore to produce the iPad itself also violated the attorney-client privilege. Accordingly, the court vacated the judgment of the district court. The court denied Moore's motion to remove WM as appellee. View "Waste Mgmt. of WA v. Kattler" on Justia Law