Wolk v. Teledyne Industries, Inc.

475 F.Supp.2d 491

Arthur Alan WOLK v. TELEDYNE INDUSTRIES, INC., a.k.a., TDY Industries, Teledyne Technologies, Inc., Teledyne Continental Motors, Inc., Lord Bissell & Brook, Thomas J. Strueber and David G. Greene.

Civil Action No. 03-5693.

United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania.

March 30, 2007.

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Alan Mattioni, The Wolk Law Firm, Matthew Kristopher Clarke, Wolk & Genter, Paul R. Rosen, Spector Gadon & Rosen, P.C., Peter Von Mehren, Philadelphia, PA, Geoffrey Hazard, Swarthmore, PA, for Arthur Alan Wolk.

Paul J. Greco, Conrad O'Brien Gellman & Rohn, P.C., Philadelphia, PA, Stephen R. Ginger, Teledyne Continental Motors, Inc., Mobile, AL, for Teledyne Industries, Inc., a.k.a., TDY Industries, Teledyne Technologies, Inc., Teledyne Continental Motors, Inc., Lord Bissell & Brook, Thomas J. Strueber and David G. Greene.

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

SHAPIRO, Senior District Judge.

Plaintiff, Arthur Wolk, Esq. ("Wolk"), filed an action alleging defamation and various other intentional torts against numerous defendants including the law firm Lord Bissel & Brook ("LB & B") and two of its attorneys, Thomas Strueber, Esq. ("Strueber") and David Greene, Esq. ("Greene"). After defendants filed motions to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, Wolk filed his "Notice of Voluntary Dismissal of All Claims Against All Defendants Who Have Not Served Plaintiff with an Answer or Motion for Summary Judgment Pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 41(a)(1)" (paper # 150). Two sets of defendants now remain: the Teledyne entities and LB & B, Strueber and Greene. Before the court is a joint Motion to Dismiss and in the Alternative for Summary Judgment filed by LL & B, Strueber, and Greene.

I. Background

A. The Taylor Action

This action arises in part from a prior wrongful death action before the Honorable Julie E. Carnes, United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division. Taylor v. Teledyne, 338 F.Supp.2d 1323 (N.D.Ga.2004). Wolk was lead counsel for the plaintiffs' estates¹; Teledyne was the defendant. The plaintiffs alleged an engine malfunction caused the airplane accident that killed their decedents. Taylor v. Teledyne Technologies, Inc., 338 F.Supp.2d 1323, 1325 (N.D.Ga.2004). Discovery in Taylor was "extremely contentious;" Judge Carnes issued a seventy-one page Omnibus Discovery Order on September 30, 2002. Id. at 1325-26. The Omnibus Discovery Order sanctioned Wolk because he "had intentionally disobeyed the orders and directives of the Court and the federal rules governing discovery." Id. at 1326.

Wolk then filed a motion for reconsideration "as to the critical comments directed at him"; he claimed he had been unfairly singled him out by name and denied his personal involvement in any discovery violations that had occurred. Id. Judge Carnes "had reasonably understood Wolk to be the attorney responsible for any discovery violations .... [but] given the intensity and seeming earnestness of Wolk's assertions that he was not responsible for or aware of any discovery violations," Judge Carnes, sua sponte, on October 20, 2002, ordered that the Omnibus Discovery Order be placed under seal until such time as the court deemed it appropriate to revisit the matter. Id. at 1326.

When the parties later represented to Judge Carnes that the case could be settled, the judge granted Wolk's request to revoke and vacate the Omnibus Discovery Order; the defendants agreed with her decision. Id. On May 20, 2003, Judge Carnes issued a "Protective Order" revoking and vacating the Omnibus Discovery Order and directing that no one should publicize or disclose it:

The Order of September 30, 2002, shall be marked not for publication nunc pro tune, sealed, and shall not be disclosed without further order of this Court.

All proceedings, including transcripts of telephone conversations, court orders, and correspondence in connection with the Order of September 30, 2002, or relating thereto, are sealed, at the request of counsel, and shall not be disclosed without further order of this Court.

The parties, their representatives, successors, insurers, and all others are directed not to publicize the Order of September 30, 2002, to destroy all copies, and to obtain the return or destruction of all copies of the said Order.

Should the Order of September 30, 2002, in violation of this Order, be provided to any other court, a copy of this Order shall be sufficient to indicate to that court that it be disregarded in its entirety.

Id. at 1331. The next day, May 21, 2003, Wolk informed Judge Carnes that Taylor had settled.

B. This Action

Less than four months after Judge Carnes issued the Protective Order revoking and vacating the sealed Omnibus Discovery Order, Wolk filed a defamation action in Pennsylvania state court against defendants for publishing the Omnibus Discovery Order. After Wolk named the Israeli Aircraft entities a defendant in his fourth amended complaint, the defamation action was removed by the defendants to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on October 14, 2003.

Wolk's Amended Complaint ("complaint"), the operative complaint in this action, named over two dozen defendants and alleged conspiratorial conduct aimed at Wolk that predated Judge Carnes' Omnibus Discovery Order. Wolk asserted that because he had been a successful advocate, the "highest circles of the aviation defense bar .... along with the major aviation insurers and reinsurers .... [and] the aviation industry .... [decided] that the way to beat [him] was not in the courtroom, but rather to attack him in the media and in pretrial motions." Compl. ¶ 38. The defendants allegedly intended, "to make it impossible for him to represent his clients, to poison courts against him, to ruin his well earned reputation for honesty and integrity, and to destroy his practice by publicizing false personal attacks." Id.

The complaint quoted statements Strueber and Greene allegedly made in Taylor court filings accusing Wolk of discovery violations. Id. ¶¶ 74. According to Wolk, Judge Carnes's Omnibus Discovery Order, "completely adopted Strueber's and Greene's accusations and .... numerous scathing statements regarding the plaintiff personally, as the lawyer handling the case." Id. ¶ 79.

Wolk also asserts Strueber and Greene transmitted the Omnibus Discovery Order "all over the world" to destroy plaintiff's reputation even though they knew it contained false and defamatory statements. Id. ¶¶ 93, 94. The complaint does not allege these defendants disseminated the Omnibus Discovery Order after it was sealed, three weeks after it was issued, nor does the complaint allege these defendants violated Judge Carnes' Protective Order.

Wolk's complaint contained nine counts: (I) Defamation — Libel; (II) Injurious Falsehood (Trade Libel, Disparagement of Quality); (III) False Light Invasion of Privacy; (IV) Abuse of Process; (V) Intentional Interference with Contractual Relations; (VI) Intentional Interference with Prospective Contractual Relations; (VII) Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress; (VIII) Civil Conspiracy; (IX) Injunction — Equity.

Wolk confronted a major hurdle in crafting his complaint in this action. In an action for defamation, a plaintiff must specify the allegedly defamatory statements that were made. See Quinones v. United States., 492 F.2d 1269, 1274 (3d Cir.1974). In his complaint, Wolk accused multiple defendants of disseminating defamatory statements by transmitting the Omnibus Discovery Order. However, Wolk could not specify what those statements were; if he had, he would have been in violation of the Protective Order prohibiting publication of the revoked and vacated Omnibus Discovery Order. Wolk explained his dilemma to the court: "because the now-withdrawn Atlanta order is under seal, the false statements it contained concerning the plaintiff will not be set out in this complaint, but will remain available pursuant to this Court's order." Compl. ¶ 83. No party in the action could repeat the allegedly defamatory statements without violating Judge Carnes' Protective Order. Plaintiff's proposed remedy to this unusual situation was that this court issue an order directing another District Court Judge to produce a document she had ordered not to be disclosed.

Before this court is a defamation action in which it is alleged certain defendants defamed plaintiff by transmitting a United Stated District Court order that was valid, binding, and publicly available at the time it was transmitted.

C. Teledyne's Contempt Application

Shortly after Wolk's action was removed to this court, Teledyne filed an Application for Order to Show Cause Why Arthur Alan Wolk Should Not be Held in Contempt in the Northern District of Georgia. Teledyne argued Wolk violated Judge Carnes' Protective Order when he described the contents of the Omnibus Discovery Order in his complaint in this action. Teledyne requested Judge Carnes to either hold Wolk in contempt and enjoin the action before this court, or issue an order vacating and unsealing the prior orders and allowing Teledyne to use the Omnibus Discovery Order in its defense in this action.

Wolk filed a motion to dismiss Teledyne's motion and he filed a second motion to transfer and in the alternative for recusal. On March 22, 2004, Judge Carnes denied Wolk's motions and set a discovery deadline and hearing on the Contempt Application. This court then placed Wolk's defamation action in suspense pending decision of the Contempt Application because judicial comity required allowing Judge Carnes to rule on whether Wolk had violated her Protective Order. Order of 4/22/04.

On September 8, 2004, Judge Carnes held Wolk violated the Protective Order by summarizing and paraphrasing the Omnibus Discovery Order in his complaint in this action. Taylor, 338 F.Supp.2d at 1345. Judge Carnes...