Port Drum Company v. Walter Umphrey and Kurt B. Chacon

JERRY E. SMITH, Circuit Judge:

Port Drum Co. (“Port Drum”) filed this suit seeking damages and declaratory relief against Walter Umphrey and Kurt Cha-con, two attorneys who had maintained a wrongful death suit in federal court. Although Port Drum was never a party to that action, it asserts that federal law grants it a private cause of action to enforce Fed.R.Civ.P. 11. 1 Under Port Drum’s unique and imaginative theory, injured third parties derive from Rule 11 a private cause of action to enforce an attorney’s professional duties. For reasons stated for the most part in the district court’s…