## Facts

- A legal-malpractice suit was filed in federal court in the Southern District of Georgia based on diversity jurisdiction.
- Defendants were insured under a professional-liability policy issued by Continental Casualty Company (CNA).
- CNA retained local defense counsel who could negotiate but could not finalize settlement without CNA approval.
- Roger Novak, a CNA senior claim analyst located in Illinois, had final settlement authority for the claim.
- At a pretrial settlement conference held under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16, the judge asked who had full settlement authority; counsel identified Novak as the person with final authority.
- The district court ordered Novak, a nonparty, to appear personally in Savannah, Georgia, for a settlement conference on the trial date; Novak received actual notice of the order.
- Novak deliberately failed to appear and did not seek relief from the order before the conference.
- The district court found Novak guilty of criminal contempt for willful disobedience of the order.

## Issues

1. Whether a federal district court may compel, under Rule 16 or inherent powers, the personal attendance of a nonparty, out-of-state insurer employee with no relevant forum contacts at a settlement conference.
2. Whether willful noncompliance with such an order can support criminal contempt when the order is later held unauthorized.

## Decision

- The Eleventh Circuit held the district court lacked authority under Rule 16 and inherent powers to compel Novak’s personal appearance as a nonparty out-of-state insurer employee.
- The court nonetheless affirmed Novak’s criminal contempt conviction.
- The court reasoned that Novak had notice, chose not to comply, and failed to pursue available channels to challenge the order before disobeying it.

## Legal Principles

- Rule 16 permits active judicial management of pretrial proceedings and settlement efforts, but it does not authorize compelling personal attendance of nonparties in a manner that circumvents jurisdictional limits and subpoena procedures.
- A court’s inherent powers to manage litigation and encourage settlement cannot extend the court’s jurisdiction or override due process limits.
- The general rule is that court orders must be obeyed unless and until modified or set aside through orderly judicial process, even if the order is later determined to be erroneous or unauthorized.
- Criminal contempt may be sustained for willful disobedience of an order that is not treated as a transparent jurisdictional nullity, where the contemnor had notice and adequate opportunity to seek review rather than engage in self-help.

## Conclusion

The Eleventh Circuit restricted trial courts’ ability to force nonparty insurer decisionmakers to attend settlement conferences under Rule 16, but it affirmed that deliberate disobedience of a court order can be punished as criminal contempt when the order was not first challenged through proper legal procedures.


In re Novak, 932 F.2d 1397 (11th Cir. 1991)