Haagensen v. Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

• Decision Date: 03 March 2009
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 08-1560.
• Citation: 651 F.Supp.2d 422
• Parties: Janice HAAGENSEN, Plaintiff, v. SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Pennsylvania

651 F.Supp.2d 422

Janice HAAGENSEN, Plaintiff, v. SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA, et al., Defendants.

Civil Action No. 08-1560.

United States District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania.

March 3, 2009.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Janice S. Haagensen, Enon Valley, PA, pro se.

A. Taylor Williams, Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, Philadelphia, PA, for Defendants.

ORDER

TERRENCE F. McVERRY, District Judge.

AND NOW, this 3rd day of March, 2009, after the plaintiff, Janice Haagensen, filed the above-captioned action with a motion for emergency temporary restraining order submitted on behalf of Plaintiff, followed by a motion to dismiss submitted on behalf of all defendants, and after a Report and Recommendation was filed by the United States Magistrate Judge granting the parties thirteen days after being served with a copy to file written objections thereto, and upon consideration of the objections filed by the plaintiff which are found to be without merit, and upon independent review of the motion and the overall record including consideration of the Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation (Docket No. 14), which is adopted as the opinion of this Court IT IS ORDERED that defendants' Motion to Dismiss (Docket No. 5) is GRANTED.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that plaintiff's Motion for Emergency Temporary Restraining Order (Docket No. 2) is DISMISSED as moot.

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

ROBERT C. MITCHELL, United States Magistrate Judge.

I. Recommendation

It is respectfully recommended that the motion to dismiss submitted on behalf of Defendants (Docket No. 5) be granted. It is further recommended that the motion for emergency temporary restraining order submitted on behalf of Plaintiff (Docket No. 2) be dismissed as moot.

II. Report

Plaintiff, Janice S. Haagensen, proceeding pro se,¹ brings this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Defendants, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the seven justices of that court (Ronald D. Castille, Thomas G. Saylor, J. Michael Eakin, Max Baer, Debra Todd, Seamus P. McCaffery, Jane Cutler Greenspan), the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, hearing panel members Matthew F. Burger, Leonard J. Marsico and Philip B. Hart, Jr., Chief Counsel Paul J. Killion, Deputy Chief Counsel Paul J. Burgoyne, Counsel Samuel F. Napoli and Secretary Elaine Bixler. Plaintiff alleges that the Disciplinary Defendants (Burger, Marsico, Hart, Killion, Burgoyne, Napoli and Bixler) improperly investigated and held that she violated the Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct based on conduct that occurred in a case before this Court. After the Board's decision, she petitioned the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for review and raised her objection to the state exercising jurisdiction over alleged attorney misconduct in a federal forum. The Judicial Defendants (the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and its seven justices) reviewed the decision of the Disciplinary Board and issued an order referring the matter to the Board for the imposition of discipline on September 25, 2008. Defendant Bixler, as Secretary of the Board, sent Plaintiff a letter reflecting the Board's decision that she be required to pay the expenses of investigation and prosecution of the disciplinary matter and that, if she fails to do so, she may be transferred to inactive status.

Plaintiff seeks declaratory relief against all Defendants. She asks for a preliminary and permanent injunction "enjoining Defendants ... from enforcing the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Order of September 25, 2008, imposing sanctions upon Plaintiff-respondent, in the form of imposition of future private reprimand, and purporting to demand payment of costs, or cause and effect the Plaintiff's transfer to inactive status, thus destroying her property interest in employment." (Compl. at 24.) She also requests compensatory and punitive damages, attorney fees, costs and interest. (Compl. at 24-25.)

Presently before this Court for disposition is a motion to dismiss, submitted on behalf of all Defendants. For the reasons that follow, the motion should be granted.

Facts

Plaintiff, who is an attorney licensed to practice in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and who is admitted to practice in this Court, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the United States Supreme Court, filed an action entitled Grine v. Coombs, No. 95-342E, on December 21, 1995. Her clients, Margaret M. Grine, JoAnne Grine and Robert Grine, were bringing suit under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, 42 U.S.C. § 6901, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1251, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 9601. They also brought suit against the Environmental Protection Agency and its Region III Director under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552. (Compl. ¶¶ 15-16.)

Plaintiff indicates that the district judge wrote his last order on May 5, 2003 and that the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed the judgment of the court (dismissing the case) on May 28, 2004. (Compl. ¶¶ 17-18.) What she does not indicate-but the Court can take notice of as matters of public record-are the following facts: 1) the district court dismissed the case with prejudice for her failure to prosecute by, inter alia, engaging in dilatory conduct for seven years and refusing to comply with case management orders and the court issued a lengthy opinion explaining the reasons for its action, see Grine v. Coombs, 214 F.R.D. 312 (W.D.Pa.2003), aff'd mem., 98 Fed.Appx. 178 (3d Cir.2004); and 2) the defendants subsequently requested damages pursuant to Rule 38 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure and the Court of Appeals entered an order granting this request based on her filing of frivolous appeals and specifically directed Attorney Haagensen to pay these costs, Grine v. Coombs, 112 Fed.Appx. 830 (3d Cir.2004).

She was served by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel with a Petition for Discipline filed on November 15, 2006, concerning her conduct during the Grine case and accusing her of violating Rules of Professional Conduct 3.1 and 8.4(d). The Hearing Committee found that Disciplinary Counsel proved that Plaintiff violated specific Rules of Professional Conduct after the committee performed an "exhaustive review" of the Grine litigation. Plaintiff filed her answer to the petition for discipline on December 14, 2006. (Compl. ¶¶ 19-20.)

On May 30, 2007, a hearing was held by the members of the Hearing Committee. On October 30, 2007, the Committee issued an order finding Plaintiff guilty of violation of Rules of Professional Conduct 3.1 and 8.4(d). A Dispositional Hearing was conducted on December 18, 2007. (Compl. ¶¶ 21-23.)

A Report of the Hearing Committee was submitted to the Disciplinary Board of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on February 28, 2008, recommending that Plaintiff be made subject to private reprimand by the Board. On May 22, 2008, the Board ordered that Plaintiff be subjected to private reprimand by the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. (Compl. ¶¶ 22-24.)

Plaintiff filed a Notice of Appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on June 6, 2008, requesting de novo review of the decision of the Disciplinary Board. In her appeal, she raised an objection to the exercise of jurisdiction by a state court in conflict with federal law. She filed a petition for review of the Disciplinary Board's order of May 22, 2008, taxing costs and expenses, on the ground that the Board lacked original or appellate jurisdiction to enforce sanctions arising out of Plaintiff's practice of law in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. (Compl. ¶¶ 25-26.)

Plaintiff alleges that, in its Answer to her Petition for Review, Chief Disciplinary Counsel admitted to knowledge of the fact that no federal attorney disciplinary proceeding as initiated or prosecuted by the federal judiciary ever took place or was raised concerning her practice of law in a federal forum. He further stated his belief that this Court's review of the matter or lack thereof was irrelevant to the exercise of the state court's jurisdiction. On September 25, 2008, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued an order, referring the matter to the Disciplinary Board for imposition of a private reprimand pursuant to Rule 204(a)(5) of the Pennsylvania Rules of Disciplinary Enforcement. On October 10, 2008, a letter signed by Elaine M. Bixler enclosed a Revised Notice of Taxation of Expenses in the amount of $1,499.00 and asserted that failure to pay these expenses in thirty day would be deemed a request for transfer to inactive status, i.e., "will result in action being taken by the Board pursuant to § 93.112 of the Disciplinary Rules for the entry of an order transferring [Plaintiff] to inactive status." (Compl. ¶¶ 27-29.)

Procedural History

Plaintiff filed this action on November 10, 2008. Count I alleges that the Defendants' attempts to sanction her in a state court for alleged misconduct arising out of litigation that occurred in a federal court violated her First Amendment rights of free speech and access to the courts, as well as her Fourteenth Amendment right of due process. Count II alleges that Defendants have deprived her of her property interest in employment and violated her right to procedural due process. Count III alleges that she was subjected to an unreasonable search and seizure in violation of her rights under the Fourth Amendment. Count IV alleges that Defendants' actions violated her constitutional right to privacy, as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. Finally, Count V alleges that Defendants have violated the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution through their reliance on state law that was in conflict with the laws of the United States and in so doing they violated her right to substantive due process. On November...