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December 8, 2009

U.S. Supreme Court rules against Mohawk in attorney-client privilege case

From staff and wire reports

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday that a federal judge’s decision releasing documents created by Mohawk Industries’ lawyer could not be immediately appealed. It was Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s first opinion as a Supreme Court justice.

The case, Mohawk Industries vs. Carpenter (08-678), concerned a question of whether a lower court’s decision on attorney-client privilege can be immediately appealed to a higher court.

Norman Carpenter, a former shift supervisor at the Union Grove Road plant in Calhoun, sued Mohawk for wrongful termination after meeting with the company’s lawyer, who was also involved in litigation on an undocumented workers lawsuit against Mohawk. Carpenter, in his suit, wanted the documentation from his meeting with Mohawk’s lawyer.

While the federal judge agreed that the documents were protected by attorney-client privilege, the judge said Mohawk had waived its privilege through its disclosures in the undocumented workers litigation.

The Supreme Court agreed that the federal judge’s decision releasing documents created by Mohawk Industries’ lawyer could not be immediately appealed. “Postjudgment appeals, together with other review mechanisms, suffice to protect the rights of litigants and preserve the vitality of the attorney-client privilege,” Sotomayor said.

The judgment of the court was unanimous. Justice Clarence Thomas concurred with the judgment but disagreed with part of Sotomayor’s analysis.

Dalton attorney Matthew Thames is representing the former and current Mohawk employees who sued the company in the undocumented workers lawsuit, claiming Mohawk suppressed their wages by hiring illegal workers. Thames said he spent Tuesday in court in Lafayette and had not seen a copy of the opinion.

“I don’t know what effect it will have (on our suit), if any, without looking at the body of the case,” Thames said. He added that the undocumented workers lawsuit is currently back in U.S. District Court.

“We’re getting ready to go through the issue of the certification of class again,” he said, referring to the goal of getting a class action suit against Mohawk. “Part of that process is certifying the class, to see if it meets the prerequisite of a class action suit.”

The publisher of a magazine that covers the flooring industry said the decision didn’t throw much light on the subject.

“It sounds like the ruling is about a technicality,” said Kemp Harr of Floor Focus magazine (www.floordaily.net).

“You’re asking a businessman, not an attorney,” he said. “I just spent four days with Mohawk last week — meeting with them, helping to grow their business. They’re a great company, and it sounds like the only people getting rich off this are the lawyers. I looked at (the decision), and it’s not telling me anything and doesn’t look like it’s solving any problems.”

Brian Anderson, president and CEO of the Dalton-Whitfield Chamber of Commerce, also said it appeared the ruling was “a technical issue.”

“It may have an effect long term, but I’m not an attorney,” he said. “I don’t know if this one case speaks to the future of our employee base, and I don’t know enough about the positions of both sides to comment on the case itself.”

A phone message left with Mohawk’s legal office was not immediately returned.





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