Court Rules Mohawk Must Turn Over Information

Atlanta, GA, Sept. 3, 2008--Lawyers for Mohawk Industries Inc. must give a former employee information they had argued was protected by attorney-client privilege, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled, according to Law.com.

A three-judge panel upheld a ruling by U.S. District Judge Harold L. Murphy ordering the carpet maker to turn over information related to conversations between former Mohawk shift supervisor Norman Carpenter and Mohawk counsel Juan P. Morillo.

Carpenter is suing Mohawk, claiming that he was fired from his post shortly after he complained to the company's human resources department that several temporary workers were living in the U.S. illegally.

Carpenter's case is an offshoot of a 2004 class action racketeering suit against Mohawk brought by current and former employees who claimed that the company's hiring of illegal aliens depressed the wages of Mohawk's legal employees.

In the racketeering case, Murphy denied class certification in a 136-page order last March. The plaintiffs have appealed that ruling to the 11th Circuit.

An attorney for the plaintiffs in the racketeering case said Wednesday that he was extremely interested in the information that could be disclosed by the appellate ruling.

John E. Floyd, a partner at Atlanta's Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore and co-counsel with Summerville attorney Bobby Lee Cook for the plaintiffs, said the conversations between Morillo and Carpenter "are of great interest and concern to us."

"The reason he [Carpenter] was terminated, we believe, relates to our case because ultimately it had to do with whether Mohawk was employing people who could not lawfully work there," Floyd said. "We, of course, are eager to learn what really happened. ... What's important to us is the reason why he was terminated, what he complained about and what the company's response to his complaint was."

In Carpenter's case, the shift supervisor's complaint about illegal workers led him to speak with Morillo, then a Sidley Austin partner defending Mohawk in the racketeering suit.

According to Carpenter, during that conversation, Morillo attempted to coerce him into recanting his statements because they would have damaged Mohawk's defense in the RICO case.

But Carpenter refused to recant and was fired the following day, according to a summary of the case contained in Tuesday's appellate opinion. Carpenter then sued, claiming he was fired because he had discovered that Mohawk "was committing immigration crimes by harboring illegal aliens," the opinion stated.

Randall L. Allen, a partner with Alston & Bird who is defending Mohawk in the Carpenter case, said, "While we're disappointed in the decision reached by the 11th Circuit, it obviously has nothing to do with the merits of the case. We are confident that Mohawk will ultimately prevail in this litigation, and this discovery battle will not impact that result."