Reporting Opposing Party's Citizenship Status to ICE
Adopted: January 22, 2009
Opinion rules that a lawyer may serve the opposing party with discovery requests that require the party to reveal her citizenship status, but the lawyer may not report the status to ICE unless required to do so by federal or state law.
Inquiry #1:
Lawyer is defending a medical malpractice lawsuit in which a mother and her child are plaintiffs. The child is a natural born US citizen. Lawyer believes the mother is a Mexican citizen and suspects she is an undocumented alien.
The basis of the suit is injury to the child during birth. Plaintiff's counsel has forecast damages of over $30,000,000. The amount of damages is based in part on the cost of medical care in the United States. The cost of the same medical care in Mexico would be substantially less.
May Lawyer serve plaintiffs with discovery requests that require Mother to reveal her manner of entry into the United States and the status of her citizenship or legal residence?
Opinion #1:
Yes. If the discovery requests are intended to uncover information that is relevant to the defense of the case and which is admissible evidence (or may lead to admissible evidence) and is not for the improper purpose of creating a file to use to threaten the plaintiff with deportation, to harass the plaintiff, or for some other improper purpose, lawyer is not prohibited from engaging in such discovery. See Rule 3.1, Rule 4.4, 2005 FEO 3.
Inquiry #2:
If Lawyer engages in the discovery and determines that Mother is in the country illegally, may Lawyer call the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and report the mother's status?
Opinion #2:
No, unless federal or state law requires Lawyer to report Mother's illegal status to ICE.
Rule 4.4(a) provides that, in representing a client, "a lawyer shall not use means that have no substantial purpose other than to embarrass, delay, or burden a third person." Rule 8.4(d) provides that it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice. Comment [4] to Rule 8.4 provides that "paragraph (d) should be read broadly to proscribe a wide variety of conduct, including conduct that occurs outside the scope of judicial proceedings."
It is unlikely that Lawyer's impetus to report Mother to ICE is motivated by any purpose other than those prohibited under these principles. The Ethics Committee has already determined that a lawyer may not threaten to report an opposing party or a witness to immigration officials to gain an advantage in civil settlement negotiations. 2005 FEO 3. Similarly, Lawyer may not report Mother's illegal status to ICE in order to gain an advantage in the underlying medical malpractice action.
Inquiry #3:
Would the answer to either Inquiry #1 or Inquiry #2 change if Mother was not a party to the litigation?
Opinion #3:
No. See Rule 4.4(a).