A federal judge who was annoyed with a lawyer who repeatedly raised objections during a court proceeding ordered an usual punishment. in Iowa meted out an unusual punishment to a lawyer for repeatedly raising objections and interrupting depositions: She must
U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett issued an "outside-the-box sanction" last week to Chicago-based attorney June Ghezzi, a partner at the international law firm Jones Day, reported The Associated Press. Judge Bennett was reportedly annoyed by Ghezzi's constant interruptions during depositions and repeated objections, so Bennett ordered the attorney to produce a training video showing why courtroom tactics like that are inappropriate. Bennett wrote that during pretrial depositions in a lawsuit in which Ghezzi was the defense's council, she "proliferated hundreds of unnecessary objections and interruptions" that delayed the proceedings. So Bennett ordered Ghezzi to write and produce a training video that "provides specific steps lawyers must take to comply" with the rationale of his opinion. He said the video must address the impropriety of lawyers vaguely objecting to the form of questions, coaching witnesses and excessively interrupting. Jones Day attorney Dan Reidy said in a statement Tuesday that the firm plans to appeal and he noted that the plaintiffs' lawyer didn't complain at the time.