Fries v. Helsper
| Decision Date | 01 July 1998 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 97-2796,97-2846,97-2908 and 97-3142,s. 97-2796 |
| Citation | 146 F.3d 452 |
| Parties | Leo FRIES, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Richard J. HELSPER, Helsper & Rasmussen, P.C., a South Dakota corporation, Paul David, George Richards, C. Duane Patterson, Patterson Richards Hessert Wendorff & Ellison, a Wisconsin law firm, and O. Dale Larson, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Larry W. Rader (argued), Wausau, WI, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
Paul E. David (argued), Patterson, Richards, Hessert, Wendorff & Ellison, Wausau, WI, for Defendants-Appellees.
Before, BAUER, RIPPLE, and ROVNER, Circuit Judges.
Leo Fries filed this action under § 1983 of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that the defendants conspired with a state court judge and acted under color of state law to deprive him of his Fourteenth Amendment right to due process of law. The district court judge denied plaintiff's motion for her removal or recusal, dismissed his complaint for failure to state a claim, and imposed sanctions. Fries appeals, and we affirm.
To make this appeal understandable, we briefly discuss the background of this case and the litigation that preceded this action. In the initial lawsuit, Fries sued Larson Manufacturing Company ("the Company") in federal district court for royalty payments resulting from the Company's alleged use of a component designed by Fries in the manufacture of storm doors. Initially, Fries obtained a default judgment against Larson Company, but it was discovered that he had not served the Company's registered agent, and, therefore, the court had never obtained jurisdiction over Larson Company. When the Company received notice of the default judgement, it immediately filed a motion to vacate the judgment. In light of the Company's motion, Fries and Larson Company stipulated to (1) an order vacating the default judgment and (2) the dismissal of the action without prejudice.
In the second lawsuit, Fries filed an identical complaint in federal district court and properly served the Company's registered agent. Larson Company defended the suit on its merits and moved for summary judgment. The district court granted the Company's motion and dismissed the complaint. Fries then filed a third lawsuit, again in federal court, alleging that various individuals, including some of the current defendants, had fraudulently conducted the litigation in the previous action. The defendants to that action moved for summary judgment, and the district court dismissed the complaint. 1 In a fourth lawsuit, Fries filed a complaint in Wisconsin state court, alleging that he was defrauded out of his default judgment originally entered in the first lawsuit. He argued that Larson Company fraudulently induced him to voluntarily dismiss the default judgment. The state court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment and imposed sanctions against Fries and his attorney for filing a frivolous lawsuit. However, before the court entered its final order dismissing the complaint, Fries filed yet another lawsuit; it is this action that is the subject of this appeal.
In this fifth lawsuit, Fries asserts a § 1983 civil rights action in federal district court against Richard J. Helsper, Helsper & Rasmussen, P.C., Paul David, George Richards, C. Duane Patterson, Patterson Richards Hessert Wendorff & Ellison, and O. Dale Larson (collectively "the defendants"), 2 charging them with violating his constitutional rights and unlawfully depriving him of his property. Specifically, the complaint alleged that the defendants acted under color of state law and conspired with Wisconsin State Court Judge Robert Kinney to obtain the dismissal of Fries's complaint without due process of law. When the instant complaint was filed, the case was randomly assigned to Judge John Shabaz. The defendants then filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and the parties proceeded to brief the case. However, after the briefing schedule was set, the clerk of the district court discovered a clerical error and determined that the assignment of the case to Judge Shabaz departed from routine assignment procedures; the case originally should have been assigned to Judge Barbara Crabb because the parties had previously appeared before her. 3 Once the error was discovered, the case was reassigned to Judge Crabb.
Subsequent to the reassignment, the defendants filed another motion, a motion for sanctions pursuant to Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and requested the district court to set a hearing date to consider its request. Fries received notice from the court clerk that a hearing was scheduled for July 16, 1997 before Judge Crabb, and he immediately questioned why a hearing was set before Judge Crabb and not Judge Shabaz. Fries responded by filing a motion for the removal or recusal of Judge Crabb pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 455, 4 arguing that: (1) Judge Crabb did not have the authority to decide the defendants' motions because the case was assigned to Judge Shabaz; (2) Judge Crabb lacks impartiality because in previous claims involving the current parties she entered improper and arbitrary rulings; and (3) as a member of the Democratic Party, Judge Crabb is biased by her knowledge of defendant Dale Larson's support of and contributions to the Party.
In a memorandum opinion and order entered on July 15, 1997, Judge Crabb declined to disqualify herself and then dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. In consideration of plaintiff's motion for her removal or recusal, she explained that there had been a clerical error in the initial assignment of the case to Judge Shabaz; the case should have originally been assigned to her. After the mistake was discovered, the case then was assigned to her. Judge Crabb also rejected Fries's additional arguments demanding her disqualification, finding that no reasonable person would believe his "balderdash" allegations of bias and impropriety. Therefore, Judge Crabb determined that she had proper jurisdiction and authority to rule on the defendants' motions, and finding no conceivable set of facts under which the defendants could have been acting under color of state law, she dismissed Fries's complaint.
In a motion hearing the next day, Judge Crabb considered defendants' request for sanctions; they submitted affidavits which documented and explained the attorneys' fees and expenses incurred in defending this lawsuit. Although they had received notice of the hearing, neither Fries nor his lawyer attended, and as a result, there were no objections to the affidavits submitted or the fees and expenses requested. The following day the district court granted the defendants' motion and imposed sanctions on Fries and his lawyer for filing a frivolous lawsuit. The district court determined that defendants David, Richards, and Helsper incurred various expenses and had to forgo other opportunities in preparing and presenting their defense and that of their co-defendants and, therefore, were entitled to reimbursement for those expenses and lost opportunities. Accordingly, the district court awarded reasonable attorneys' fees and costs to the defendants in the amount of $5,779.64 and also permanently enjoined Fries from filing another lawsuit in federal district court based on a claim that he is entitled to royalty payments from Larson Company.
Fries filed timely notices of appeal. 5 On appeal, Fries argues that: (1) Judge Crabb did not have the authority to decide either the defendants' motion to dismiss or their motion for sanctions; (2) the sanctions were frivolous and imposed without notice; and (3) the district court erroneously dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim for relief. With these facts and the procedural history as background, we now turn to the issues presented for review.
As a preliminary matter, to the extent that Fries's arguments, which challenge the authority of Judge Crabb to decide the motions and question her ability to remain impartial, deserve any comment, we find the arguments meritless and undeserving of a detailed discussion. The record clearly illustrates that Judge Crabb had proper authority to decide the motions. Pursuant to the case assignment system implemented in the Western District of Wisconsin, it was an obvious clerical error for the case to be assigned to Judge Shabaz. That error was corrected by the reassignment of the case to Judge Crabb; there was absolutely nothing illicit or irregular about the reassignment. Accordingly, we agree that Judge Crabb had the authority to hear and to rule on the motions.
As to Fries's remaining arguments which question Judge Crabb's impartiality and impugn her character, our review of these arguments requires no other comment except to emphasize that there is no evidence of a personal bias, and we have no doubt that Judge Crabb's impartiality was not compromised by any personal prejudice. Accordingly, we agree that Fries's motion to disqualify Judge Crabb was frivolous; jurisdiction was proper. Judge Crabb had the authority to rule on defendants' motions, to dismiss plaintiff's complaint, and to impose sanctions. Let us now turn to the remaining issues on appeal.
We review a district court's decision to grant a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim de novo. Starnes v. Capital Cities Media, Inc., 39 F.3d 1394, 1395 (7th Cir.1994). A complaint should not be dismissed unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim that would demonstrate an entitlement to relief. Vickery v. Jones, 100 F.3d 1334, 1344 (7th Cir.1996). When analyzing the dismissal of a complaint under Rule 12(b)(6), we accept the factual...
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