Affeldt v. Carr

111 F.R.D. 337, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26349
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedApril 24, 1986
DocketNo. C85-1319
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 111 F.R.D. 337 (Affeldt v. Carr) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Affeldt v. Carr, 111 F.R.D. 337, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26349 (N.D. Ohio 1986).

Opinion

ORDER

BATTISTI, Chief Judge.

In its barest essentials, this lawsuit concerns a dispute arising from an attorney’s dissatisfaction with a federal judge’s ruling, which disqualified plaintiff from representing a putative class in legal proceedings based on alleged employment discrimination. Plaintiff expressed his dissatisfaction with the judge and magistrate handling his cases in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Western Division in a wide variety of ways. First came attempts to remove the judicial officers presiding over plaintiff’s cases in the form of motions for recusal. When these were denied, plaintiff resorted to harsher methods, such as the filing of lawsuits, mandamus actions, and even formal complaints under 28 U.S.C. § 372. The filing of this lawsuit permitted plaintiff to achieve his primary goal in these matters: recusal of Magistrate James G. Carr from hearing cases in which plaintiff is acting either as counsel of record or of counsel for particular parties.

In considering defendant’s Motion Requesting Imposition of Sanctions, the Court finds appropriate the Magistrate’s own language when he recommended to Judge Nicholas Walinski that plaintiff be disqualified from representing certain class members: “Upon consideration, I am persuaded that a direct, albeit drastic stroke is the most feasible solution to these problems.” See Sharp v. Owens Coming Fiberglas Corp., C80-450 (Magistrate’s Report and Recommendation, Oct. 20, 1983, reprinted in Documentary Appendix Submitted in Support of Defendant’s Motion for Imposition of Sanctions (“Deft’s Doc.App.”) 166-167). The imposition of sanctions in this case against plaintiff indeed constitutes a direct, drastic stroke to curb serious abuses of the judicial process by plaintiff. For the reasons stated below, defendant’s Motion Requesting Imposition of Sanctions against plaintiff is hereby granted pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 11 and the Court’s inherent power to prevent bad-faith abuse of the judicial process. See, e.g., Roadway Express, Inc. v. Piper, 447 U.S. 752, 100 S.Ct. 2455, 65 L.Ed.2d 488 (1980).

* * * * * *

[339]*339Rule 11 reads in pertinent part as follows:

The signature of an attorney or party constitutes a certificate by him that he has read the pleading, motion, or other paper; that to the best of his knowledge, information, and belief formed after reasonable inquiry it is well grounded in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law, and that it is not interposed for any improper purpose, such as to harass or to cause unnecessary delay or needless increase in the cost of litigation____ If a pleading, motion, or other paper is signed in violation of this rule, the court, upon motion or upon its own initiative, shall impose upon the person who signed it, a represented party, or both, an appropriate sanction, which may include an order to pay to the other party or parties the amount of the reasonable expenses incurred because of the filing of the pleading, motion, or other paper, including a reasonable attorney’s fee.

The text of Rule 11 was amended in 1983, and some of those amendments are important in this present matter. As the Advisory Committee Note explains,

The amended rule attempts to deal with the problem by building upon and expanding the equitable doctrine permitting the court to award expenses, including attorney’s fees, to a litigant whose opponent acts in bad faith in instituting or conducting litigation____ Greater attention by the district courts to pleading and motion abuses and the imposition of sanctions when appropriate, should discourage dilatory or abusive tactics and help to streamline the litigation process by lessening frivolous claims or defenses.

Advisory Comm. Note, 97 F.R.D. 165, 198.

One example of the rule’s change is the requisite standard of good faith. The former text made reference to willfulness as a prerequisite to disciplinary action. An inquiry into the reasonableness of the actions under the circumstances replaced this requirement. Advisory Comm. Note, 97 F.R.D. at 198 (citing Kinee v. Abraham Lincoln Federal Savings & Loan Ass’n, 365 F.Supp. 975 (E.D.Pa.1973)). “This standard is more stringent than the original good-faith formula and thus it is expected that a greater range of circumstances will trigger its violation.” 97 F.R.D. at 199 (citing Nemeroff v. Abelson, 620 F.2d 339 (2d Cir.1980)). Although this requisite level of inquiry apparently is the same for pro se litigants, as Mr. Affeldt, the Advisory Committee notes that “the court has sufficient discretion to take account of the special circumstances that often arise in pro se situations.” 97 F.R.D. at 199 (citing Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 92 S.Ct. 594, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972)). The Court takes notice of the fact that plaintiff is an attorney.1

Upon consideration of the record before it, the Court hereby concludes that plaintiff did not make a reasonable inquiry into the factual and legal basis of his claims before initiating this lawsuit against the Magistrate, as required by Fed.R.Civ.P. 11.

A brief summary of the allegations made by plaintiff against the Magistrate sufficiently supports this holding.2 Count I of the Complaint describes plaintiff’s dissatis[340]*340faction with the Magistrate’s recommendation that plaintiff be removed as class counsel and that independent counsel be sought. Such recommendations by the Magistrate, and such action ultimately adopted by the district judge, are clearly judicial acts. Moreover, Fed.R.Civ.P. 23 gives a district court ample authority to take such action to ensure that the interests of a particular class are adequately and fairly represented. Certainly a Magistrate can make a recommendation to a district judge pursuant to the Court’s general authority under Rule 23. Admittedly, the action taken by Judge Walinski was unfavorable to plaintiff. Nevertheless, one versed in the simplest outline of our judiciary would surmise that a party cannot sue a judicial officer outright merely because an unfavorable decision is handed down. Any court can reasonably expect an attorney to be at least somewhat familiar with the appellate process, and to know that appeals to unfavorable decisions are not made through independent lawsuits against the judicial officer rendering such decisions.

Count II alleges a conspiracy between the Magistrate and certain law firms in the City of Toledo. As the Court noted in its November 5, 1985 opinion in this case, a judge is entitled to immunity even if he or she acts with partiality, maliciously, or corruptly. Bradley v. Fisher, 80 U.S. [13 Wall] 335, 348, 20 L.Ed. 646 (1871).

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Related

Sassower v. Field
138 F.R.D. 369 (S.D. New York, 1991)
Robert J. Affeldt v. Magistrate James G. Carr
827 F.2d 769 (Sixth Circuit, 1987)
Alcan Aluminum Corp. v. Lyntel Products, Inc.
656 F. Supp. 1138 (N.D. Illinois, 1987)

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Bluebook (online)
111 F.R.D. 337, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26349, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/affeldt-v-carr-ohnd-1986.