Pfeifer v. Valukas

117 F.R.D. 420, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10169
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedNovember 2, 1987
DocketNo. 87 C 5679
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 117 F.R.D. 420 (Pfeifer v. Valukas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pfeifer v. Valukas, 117 F.R.D. 420, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10169 (N.D. Ill. 1987).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

ALESIA, District Judge.

Defendants Sears, Roebuck and Co., H & R Block, Inc., West Publishing Company, Little Brown & Co., and MacMillan Publishing Company (“the corporate defendants”) have filed a motion for sanctions and injunctive relief.1 For the reasons set forth below, their motion for sanctions is granted and their motion for injunctive relief is denied.

I. FACTS

On June 1, 1987, plaintiff, Ben Pfeifer, a pro se litigant, filed a document which purported to be a complaint in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois. This complaint consisted of approximately 300 rambling and unintelligible pages.

On June 25, 1987, defendant Valukas filed a petition for removal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1442(a)(1) and 1446.

On June 29, 1987, the corporate defendants and defendants Valukas, Norfleet and Georgieff (“the federal defendants”) filed separate motions to dismiss pursuant to Rules 8(a), 8(e), 10(b), and 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

On August 6, 1987, this Court dismissed this “cause of action” with prejudice as a result of plaintiffs failure to comply with these various federal pleading rules. The complaint was neither “short” nor a “plain statement” of any claim within the meaning of Rule 8(a). Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a). Nor were the averments of the “complaint” [422]*422“simple, concise or direct,” as required by Rule 8(e). Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(e). Needless to say, plaintiff did not set forth each averment in separate numbered paragraphs, as required by Rule 10(b). Fed.R.Civ.P. 10(b). Instead, the “complaint” consisted of photocopied excerpts from the Constitution, statutes, treaties, treatises, case law and law review articles, which failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6).

On September 10, 1987, the corporate defendants filed a joint motion pursuant to Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and 28 U.S.C. § 1651 seeking an order imposing sanctions against plaintiff and enjoining plaintiff from filing any further suits without leave of court. During this court appearance, plaintiff appeared pro se and the Court admonished plaintiff to retain counsel to prepare a response to the motion for sanctions.

On September 17, 1987, plaintiff, still pro se, filed a response to the corporate defendants’ motion for sanctions. In his response, plaintiff has given new meaning to the legal phrase “weight of authority.” The response, unintelligible as always, consisted of three documents. The largest document measured 17 inches by 11 inches and was 2 inches thick. The second and third parts of the response were another 2 inches and % of an inch thick, respectively, but were no less unintelligible. This three-volume response contained references to the Constitution, the Bible (King James Version), Ballentine’s Law Dictionary, the Congressional Record, the United States Code, case reports, Iowa Law Review, Stanford Law Review, Columbia Law Review, Harvard Law Review, excerpts of various pleadings, and a rather unflattering photograph of Leon Jaworski, Esquire. In addition, each page of the largest volume (for reasons known only to the plaintiff) bore a fascimile of John Hancock’s signature.

Based on the record before the Court, this is not the first frivolous case filed by plaintiff.2 He apparently has never experienced the joy of victory in pro se litigation, but is familiar with the agony of defeat on a repeated basis in both federal and state forums.

II. DISCUSSION

Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that where an attorney or a party files pleadings that are not reasonably based on the law or in fact, or are meant to harass, sanctions are appropriate for expenses incurred, including attorney’s fees.3 The Seventh Circuit has recently [423]*423adopted a two-step analysis to be used in evaluating the propriety of imposing sanctions under Rule 11. See Brown v. Federation of State Medical Bds. of the United States, 830 F.2d 1429, 1438 (7th Cir.1987). In Brown, the court recommended that the district courts (1) specify their reasons for finding that a party’s conduct is sanctionable and (2) fashion a sanction which appropriately serves the purposes underlying Rule 11, including details as to how monetary sanctions are computed.

A. Plaintiffs Sanctionable Conduct

Rule 11 provides two grounds for sanctions. The first ground concerns frivolous litigation. Brown, at 1435. For purposes of Rule 11, litigation is deemed “frivolous” where a party or his attorney fails to make a reasonable inquiry into the facts or the law. Id. Failure to make either inquiry gives rise to a violation of Rule 11 under the “frivolousness” clause. Id. The second ground, generally coined the “improper purpose clause,” encompasses litigation brought for purposes of harassment or delay. See Zaldivar v. City of Los Angeles, 780 F.2d 823, 831-32 (9th Cir.1986). One of the hallmarks of litigation instituted for an “improper purpose” is the repeated pursuit of implausible claims. Id. at 832. Imposing sanctions on either of these grounds requires an objective determination of whether a party’s conduct was reasonable under the circumstances. See Dreis & Krump Mfg. v. International Ass’n. of Machinists, 802 F.2d 247, 255 (7th Cir.1986).

In this case, we specifically find that when evaluated by objective standards, plaintiff violated both clauses of Rule 11 in filing his complaint. First, plaintiff’s complaint can easily be characterized as “frivolous.” It is obvious on its face that the complaint is unintelligible and one can readily infer that plaintiff failed to conduct a reasonable inquiry into the facts or the law. Indeed, the complaint is barren of any factual foundation whatsoever.

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Related

In re Meltzer
534 B.R. 757 (N.D. Illinois, 2015)
Goldberg v. Weil
707 F. Supp. 357 (N.D. Illinois, 1989)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
117 F.R.D. 420, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10169, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pfeifer-v-valukas-ilnd-1987.