Support Systems Intern., Inc. v. Mack

• Decision Date: 11 January 1995
• Docket Number: 94-3435,Nos. 94-3287,s. 94-3287
• Citation: 45 F.3d 185
• Parties: SUPPORT SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, INC., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Richard MACK, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 185

45 F.3d 185

SUPPORT SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, INC., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Richard MACK, Defendant-Appellant.

Nos. 94-3287, 94-3435.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Submitted Oct. 28, 1994.

Decided Jan. 11, 1995.

Richard Mack, pro se.

Kirk D. Strang, Peter L. Albrecht, Godfrey & Kahn, Madison, WI, for Support Systems Intern., Inc.

Before POSNER, Chief Judge, and EASTERBROOK and RIPPLE, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM.

Many pleadings and other papers filed in this court as in other courts have no legal merit whatsoever; they are frivolous, sometimes vicious, not infrequently demented. Most of these frivolous filings are by people who are not assisted by counsel or knowledgeable in the law. Some of these people find it very difficult to understand or, if they understand, accept the orders that this court issues terminating their frivolous litigation. They keep on filing. When monetary sanctions are levied on them for their obduracy, they refuse to pay. Their repetitive filings have no greater merit than their original filings, but the cumulative effect in clogging the processes of the court and in burdening judges and staff to the detriment of litigants having meritorious cases is significant.

This case illustrates the problem and challenges us to be imaginative in its solution. Richard Mack was sued in a Wisconsin state court by SSI, Inc. over a piece of machinery. He sought to remove the suit to federal district court. There was no legal basis for such removal, and the district court imposed a $100 sanction on Mack which he was to pay to his adversary, SSI, for filing a frivolous petition to remove. Mack did not pay but instead created a Wisconsin corporation having the same name as his adversary and advised the district court that he had paid the sanction, as ordered, to SSI--but he meant his own corporation, though he did not tell the court this. When the district court learned of his fraud, it increased the sanction to $500, and Mack, again without complying appealed to this court--appealed and asked us to strike the appearance of the law firm that represents his adversary, on the ground that SSI had fired the firm. But Mack was referring to his SSI, whereas the law firm represents the SSI that had sued him in state court. The motion was denied, but Mack renewed it, and this time in denying his motion we directed him to show cause why we should not summarily affirm the district court's sanctions order and impose additional sanctions under Rule 38 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure. Mack did not respond and on July 21, 1994, we summarily affirmed the district court's order and imposed an additional sanction on Mack (again payable to his adversary) of $5,000. The district court meanwhile enjoined Mack from filing any additional motions without leave of court, and he has appealed from the injunction as well as from the district court's order imposing the $500 sanction. He has also taken to sending abusive letters to judges of this court. And he has yet to pay a cent of the sanctions imposed on him.

Behavior of this character cannot be tolerated. The judicial authority to curb it is ample. See, e.g., In re Anderson, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 1606, 128 L.Ed.2d 332 (1994) (per curiam); Sassower v. Mead Data Central, Inc., --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 2, 126 L.Ed.2d 6 (1993) (per curiam); Sassower v. American Bar Association, 33 F.3d 733 (7th Cir.1994) (per curiam); Perry v. Pogemiller, 16 F.3d 138, 140 (7th Cir.1993); Martin-Trigona v. Sassower, 9 F.3d 226, 228 (2d Cir.1993); Gelabert v. Lynaugh, 894 F.2d 746, 748 (5th Cir.1990) (per curiam). The only question is the most effective form in which to exercise that authority in this case, consistent with the Supreme Court's admonition that any sanction imposed by a federal court for the abuse of its processes be tailored to the abuse. In re Anderson, supra, --- U.S. at ----, 114 S.Ct. at 1608; Sassower v. Mead Data Central, Inc., supra, --- U.S. at ----, 114 S.Ct. at 3. We should therefore consider a range of possible alternatives. The imposition of monetary sanctions has had no effect on Mr. Mack, and the costs and delay in the enforcement of such sanctions counsel against our simply ratcheting up the bill, which has grown from $100 to $5,500 with no effect on Mack's proclivity for frivolous filings. Nor has the repeated rejection of his groundless, fraudulent filings had any effect on him other than to incite him to redouble his filings and to escalate from filing papers with the clerk of court to attempting to correspond with the judges directly. This must stop.

Often in such situations--and they are distressingly common--courts enjoin the frivolous litigant from filing any paper with the court or its personnel without express prior authorization by a judge of the court. E.g., Vinson v. Heckmann, 940 F.2d 114 (5th Cir.1991) (per curiam). The problem with that response is that it...