Andersen v. Roszkowski
| Decision Date | 22 February 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 87 C 20451.,87 C 20451. |
| Citation | 681 F. Supp. 1284 |
| Parties | Dennis H. ANDERSEN and Benita I. Andersen, Plaintiffs, v. Judge Stanley J. ROSZKOWSKI, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
Dennis and Benita Andersen, pro se.
William A. Hellyer, Crystal Lake, Ill., James C. Spelman, Rockford, Ill., Curtis R. Tobin, Johnson, Tobin & Ramon, Belvidere, Ill., Charles J. Prorok, State's Attorney's Office, Civ. Div., Rockford, Ill., Roger T. Russell, Boone County State's Atty., Belvidere, Ill., James O. Nolan, David A. Belofsky, Clausen, Miller, Gorman, Caffrey & Witous, P.C., Chicago, Ill., Dennis P. O'Sullivan, O'Sullivan, Freek & O'Sullivan, Belvidere, Ill., Michael J. Duggan, James P. Bartley, Klein, Thorpe & Jenkins, Ltd., Chicago, Ill., Thomas W. Conklin, Howard L. Lieber, Elizabeth L. Wiley, Conklin & Adler, Chicago, Ill., David H. Towns, Belvidere, Ill., John L. Olson, Gregory E. Barrett, Schlueter, Ecklund, Olson, Barrett & Moore, Rockford, Ill., Michael F. O'Brien, Clark, McGreevy & Johnson, Rockford, Ill., David P. Faulkner, Jeffry S. Spears, Lord, Bissell & Brook, Rockford, Ill., Peter V. Bustamante, Ill. Atty. General's Office, Chicago, Ill., George W. Spellmire, Thomas P. McGarry, Susan A. Tweet, Hinshaw, Culbertson, Moelmann, Hoban & Fuller, Chicago, Ill., Peter S. Switzer, Richard K. Van Evera, Barrick, Switzer, Long, Balsley & Vanevera, Rockford, Ill., for defendants.
Gail C. Ginsberg, U.S. Attorney's Office, Chicago, Ill., for U.S.
Teresa Ralston McLaren, pro se.
Charles J. Prorok, Asst. State's Atty., Rockford, Ill., for Evelyn Zawlocki and Frank Calacurcio.
Now before the Court are plaintiffs' motion for leave to file their Amended Complaint and their motion to disqualify all of the federal judges in the Seventh Circuit and transfer this case to an "out-of-the-Seventh-Circuit-judge." After reviewing these motions and the Amended Complaint, the Court rules as follows: plaintiffs' Amended Complaint sufficiently complies with Fed.R. Civ.P. 8 and 9(b); the Court is not required to disqualify itself and transfer this case to a federal judge outside the Seventh Circuit; and the Amended Complaint fails to state a claim. For the reasons set forth, the Court dismisses plaintiffs' Amended Complaint with prejudice.
This is a case about farmers who have lost their farm and their farm equipment. The plaintiffs, Dennis and Benita Andersen, owned and operated a farm in Boone County, Illinois. In 1985, in a series of four state court foreclosure and replevin actions instituted by various lending institutions, Dennis and Benita Andersen lost their farm and their farm equipment for failing to meet their debt obligations. Amended Complaint ¶¶ 111(a)(b)(c)(d). The Illinois circuit court judges entered final orders in these cases, and the Andersens did not appeal.
Instead of taking an appeal, the Andersens turned to the federal courts. They filed a "Civil Rights" lawsuit and a "RICO" lawsuit in the Western Division of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Dennis and Benita Andersen v. R. Robert Funderburg, et al., 86 C 20263 ("RICO case"); Dennis and Benita Andersen v. Judge Robert French, et al., 86 C 20329 ("Civil Rights case"). The federal district court judge assigned to these cases dismissed them both on the merits, and the Andersens appealed the dismissal of their RICO case. The Seventh Circuit affirmed the district judge's dismissal. Dennis H. Andersen and Benita I. Andersen v. R. Robert Funderburg, et al., 818 F.2d 32 (7th Cir.1987) (unpublished opinion); Amended Complaint ¶¶ 104, 125.
The Andersens then filed another lawsuit in the Western Division of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and the case was assigned to the same federal district court judge who dismissed their RICO and Civil Rights cases. In their new lawsuit, the Andersens sued that federal district court judge and the Seventh Circuit judges who ruled on their RICO and Civil Rights cases, all of the state court judges who ruled on their state court foreclosure and replevin cases, and a host of public officials, attorneys, and other individuals, all involved, one way or another, in one or more of the four state court and two federal court lawsuits. In all, the Andersens sued eighty-two individually-named defendants and "50 John Does and 50 Jane Roes." The Andersens alleged that all of the named judges acted under some kind of a "malign influence" and that all of the defendants, including the judges, engaged in a "fraud on the court" against the Andersens. Because the federal district court judge was one of the individually-named defendants, the judge disqualified himself from ruling on the case on October 8, 1987. The case was then transferred to this Court.
Soon after the Andersens' case was transferred to this Court, individual defendants began filing Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1) and (b)(6) motions to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim, and also moved for Fed.R.Civ.P. 11 sanctions. At about the same time, the Andersens filed a "Motion for Sanctions," a "Motion for a Certificate of Necessity," and a "Notice of Disqualifying Circumstances" that requested the Court to disqualify all of the federal judges in the Seventh Circuit and to transfer the case to an "out-of-the-Seventh-Circuit-judge." The Andersens argued inter alia that they would not "receive a fair hearing ... from any judge in the Seventh Circuit due to the involvement of their fellow judge ... as a named Defendant and major figure in the instant case." Motion for a Certificate of Necessity ¶ 7.
On November 20, 1987, after reviewing plaintiffs' complaint and all of the motions, this Court dismissed the complaint for failure to comply with Fed.R.Civ.P. 8 and 9(b). The Court ruled that Rules 8 and 9(b) require plaintiffs to particularize their allegations of "fraud on the court" in as short, plain, and direct a way as is reasonable. To comply with these rules, the Court instructed plaintiffs to set out each judicial proceeding complained of, allege specific facts that make those proceedings "fraudulent" or otherwise improper, and name the particular judges and other individuals involved and the extent of their involvement in each claim of "fraudulent" or otherwise improper conduct. The Court, therefore, dismissed plaintiffs' Complaint and gave them thirty days to move for leave to file an Amended Complaint that complied with the Court's instructions. The Court did not rule on plaintiffs' motion to disqualify and transfer the case to a judge outside the Seventh Circuit.
Thirty-one days later, plaintiffs filed their motion for leave to file their Amended Complaint and attached their Amended Complaint to the motion. In the motion, plaintiffs argued that the motion's untimeliness should be excused because plaintiffs did not promptly receive the Court's Order dated November 20, 1987. Motion for Leave to Amend Instanter ¶ 3. Based on plaintiffs' argument, the Court will excuse the untimeliness of their motion and consider their Amended Complaint.
After reviewing the two-count Amended Complaint, the Court finds that plaintiffs have sufficiently complied with the pleading requirements of Fed.R.Civ.P. 8 and 9(b). Plaintiffs have set out each judicial proceeding, made specific allegations concerning the claimed "fraudulent" or otherwise improper proceedings, and sufficiently named the individuals claimed to be involved and the specific extent of their alleged involvement. In Count I, plaintiffs seek to overturn the adverse judgments in their RICO and Civil Rights cases. Amended Complaint ¶¶ 592-93. In Count II, plaintiffs seek money damages totalling $107,110,400 and attorney's fees against defendants for "intentionally wielding the state and federal court fraudulently begotten judgments against Plaintiffs." Amended Complaint ¶ 594.
Plaintiffs have added a number of individually-named defendants to their "fraud on the court" allegations, and these defendants now include me, my secretary, and my minute clerk. Plaintiffs have also renewed their motion to disqualify all federal judges in the Seventh Circuit and to transfer their case to a judge outside the Seventh Circuit. "Renewed Motion for Sanctions" and "Notice of Disqualifying Circumstances & Demand for Administrative Action Upon Plaintiffs' Pending Motion For a Certificate of Necessity."
Ordinarily, the Court's first task in ruling on plaintiffs' "fraud on the court" case would be to determine whether it has subject-matter jurisdiction — if it does not have subject-matter jurisdiction, it does not have the power to rule on the case. Here, however, the Court's first task is to determine whether it should disqualify itself from considering whether it has subject-matter jurisdiction.
In their motions styled "Motion for Sanctions," "Motion for a Certificate of Necessity," "Notice of Disqualifying Circumstances," "Renewed Motion for Sanctions" and "Notice of Disqualifying Circumstances & Demand for Administrative Action Upon Plaintiffs' Pending Motion For a Certificate of Necessity," plaintiffs argue that this Court must disqualify itself and all other federal judges in the Seventh Circuit and transfer their case to "an out-of-the-Seventh-Circuit judge." Plaintiffs correctly point out that disqualification in this case is governed by 28 U.S.C. ¶ 455. Section 455 provides in relevant part:
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