In Re Anthony R. Martin-Trigona. Appeal of Anthony R. Martin-Trigona. Anthony R. Martin-Trigona v. Harold Lavien, Anthony R. Martin-Trigona v. William F. Smith

737 F.2d 1254, 1984 U.S. App. LEXIS 21359
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit·Decided June 18, 1984·No. 577·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinion

737 F.2d 1254

In re Anthony R. MARTIN-TRIGONA.
Appeal of Anthony R. Martin-Trigona.
Anthony R. MARTIN-TRIGONA, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
Harold LAVIEN, et al., Defendants-Appellees.
Anthony R. MARTIN-TRIGONA, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
William F. SMITH, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 577, Docket 83-7534.

United States Court of Appeals,
Second Circuit.

Argued Jan. 23, 1984.
Decided June 18, 1984.

John R. Williams, New Haven, Conn., for plaintiff-appellant.

W. Philip Jones, Washington, D.C. (J. Paul McGrath, Barbara L. Herwig, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., on the brief), for federal defendants-appellees.

Robert E. Mershel, D'Amato & Lynch, New York City, for defendants-appellees Daniel Meister, Richard Belford and Richard Coan.

Before MANSFIELD, PIERCE and WINTER, Circuit Judges.

WINTER, Circuit Judge:

This appeal is taken from an order, 573 F.Supp. 1245(D. Comm. 1983), entered in three civil actions pending before the district court: In Re Anthony R. Martin-Trigona, Misc.Civ. No. H83-62 (consolidated bankruptcy cases and related matters); Martin-Trigona v. Lavien, Misc.Civ. No. H83-305 (alleging conspiracy and violation of civil rights); and Martin-Trigona v. Smith, Civ. No. H83-322 (alleging violation of civil and constitutional rights). The order broadly enjoins appellant, inter alia, from instituting litigation in any state or federal court without fulfilling certain conditions. We affirm in part, vacate in part and remand for further proceedings.

BACKGROUND

To those who follow the business of the courts, the appellant needs no introduction. He is the source of literally hundreds of lawsuits, motions and miscellaneous pleadings, all but a small fraction of which lack any merit whatsoever. Viewing Martin-Trigona's litigious conduct in its entirety yields the inescapable conclusion that he persistently resorts to legal processes without regard to the merits of the claims asserted and that he invokes those processes largely to harass persons who have unluckily crossed his path. His abuse of legal processes is exemplified not only by the number and variety of meritless actions but also by his recent use of pleadings and other legal papers, the contents of which are set out in their appalling detail in the district court's opinion, as a vehicle to launch vicious attacks upon persons of Jewish heritage.

The district court is not the first judicial tribunal to take public notice of Martin-Trigona's determined and persistent misuse of legal processes. A law school graduate, Martin-Trigona was denied admission to the Illinois bar because "he lacks the qualities of responsibility, candor, fairness, self-restraint, objectivity and respect for the judicial system which are necessary adjuncts to the orderly administration of justice," In re Martin-Trigona, 55 Ill.2d 301, 312, 302 N.E.2d 68, 74 (1973), cert. denied, 417 U.S. 909, 94 S.Ct. 2605, 41 L.Ed.2d 212 (1974). Judge Weinfeld has had occasion to observe

that Martin-Trigona has over the years filed a substantial number of lawsuits of a vexatious, frivolous and scandalous nature. He has been a persistent and calculating litigator. There is a long trail of such actions commenced by him against federal and state judges, bar examiners, public officials, public agencies, lawyers and individuals who in one way or another had any relationship, directly or indirectly, to any matter concerning him.

Martin-Trigona v. Brooks & Holtzman, 551 F.Supp. 1378, 1384 (S.D.N.Y.1982). Another circuit has commented that Martin-Trigona's "tendency ... to exaggerate, to believe himself the victim of conspiracies where none exist, and to suspect without any reasonable basis that others are persecuting him is evident from many of his filings in this record," Martin-Trigona v. Gouletas, 634 F.2d 354, 362 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1025, 101 S.Ct. 593, 66 L.Ed.2d 486 (1980). And this court has noted in a prior proceeding,

[h]is tour through the court system is marked by a persistent refusal to cooperate with court orders and purposeful efforts to delay and jaundice court proceedings. His distinctive brand of pro se advocacy has reached [us] after a barrage of procedural and jurisdictional challenges which have frustrated the courts below and have caused these bankruptcy proceedings to advance at a snail's pace, with little progress made toward settling creditors' claims during the past two and one-half years.

Martin-Trigona v. Shiff, 702 F.2d 380, 382 (2d Cir.1983).

THE PROCEEDINGS IN THE DISTRICT COURT

Appellant's activities in the district court for the District of Connecticut began in 1981 when two bankruptcy cases in which he was involved were transferred from the Southern District of New York. The bankruptcy court consolidated the cases and appointed trustees for Martin-Trigona's personal estate and for New Haven Radio, Inc., a bankrupt corporation in which Martin-Trigona is sole shareholder. Appellant thereafter refused to be examined and was found in contempt by Bankruptcy Judge Shiff.1

In the course of the bankruptcy case, Martin-Trigona authored an array of plenary actions, motions, applications, appeals and other proceedings, including an action naming all the judges in the District of Connecticut as defendants. Martin-Trigona's actions were, following the general practice of the district, randomly assigned among district judges in Connecticut. As his filings multiplied, efficient administration of the inter-related litigation became increasingly difficult. Therefore, at the request of Martin-Trigona, Chief Judge Daly transferred all such pending actions in the district to Judge Cabranes on January 11, 1983.

By order filed May 6, 1983, Judge Cabranes stayed the bankruptcy proceedings in all respects and scheduled a hearing on all pending motions for June 6. He also required the parties to the bankruptcy proceedings and the United States as a representative of several federal defendants, including judges and the United States Attorney, sued by Martin-Trigona in related actions, to state their views on the course of further proceedings. The United States advised issuance of a broad injunction to prohibit relitigation of decided issues and to establish conditions for the filing of additional court papers. The various named defendants filed motions to dismiss and sought to enjoin Martin-Trigona from suing the trustees in bankruptcy, their attorneys, their families, and persons in privity with them without prior leave of the district court.

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In Re Anthony R. Martin-Trigona. Appeal of Anthony R. Martin-Trigona. Anthony R. Martin-Trigona v. Harold Lavien, Anthony R. Martin-Trigona v. William F. Smith, 737 F.2d 1254, 1984 U.S. App. LEXIS 21359 (2d Cir. 1984).

737 F.2d 1254 (In Re Anthony R. Martin-Trigona. Appeal of Anthony R. Martin-Trigona. Anthony R. Martin-Trigona v. Harold Lavien, Anthony R. Martin-Trigona v. William F. Smith) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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