In re Martin-Trigona

• Decision Date: 26 September 1983
• Docket Number: Misc. Civ. No. H 83-62. Civ. No. H 83-305,H 83-322.
• Citation: 573 F. Supp. 1245
• Parties: In re Anthony R. MARTIN-TRIGONA. Anthony R. MARTIN-TRIGONA v. Harold LAVIEN et al. Anthony R. MARTIN-TRIGONA v. William French SMITH et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut

573 F. Supp. 1245

In re Anthony R. MARTIN-TRIGONA.

Anthony R. MARTIN-TRIGONA v. Harold LAVIEN et al.

Anthony R. MARTIN-TRIGONA v. William French SMITH et al.

Misc. Civ. No. H 83-62. Civ. Nos. H 83-305, H 83-322.

United States District Court, D. Connecticut.

September 26, 1983.

Anthony R. Martin-Trigona, pro se.

W. Philip Jones, Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Federal defendants (Judge Harold Lavien, Judge Robert L. Krechevsky, Judge Alan H.W. Shiff and U.S. Attorney Alan H. Nevas).

Laura L. Carroll, Goodwin, Procter & Hoar, Boston, Mass., for defendant Jon D. Schneider.

Richard Coan, Coan, Lewendon & Royston, New Haven, Conn., for Richard Belford, Trustee in Bankruptcy of Estate of Anthony R. Martin-Trigona.

Irving H. Perlmutter, Ullman, Perlmutter & Sklaver, New Haven, Conn., for Daniel Meister, Trustee in Bankruptcy of New Haven Radio, Inc.

Francis J. Wynne, Hartford, Conn., for Robert K. Killian.

Elliot B. Pasik, D'Amato & Lynch, New York City, for defendants Belford, Coan and Meister.

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

JOSÉ A. CABRANES, District Judge:

On June 17, 1983, this court entered an order of permanent injunction imposing severe limitations upon the freedom of Anthony R. Martin-Trigona to commence new litigation and to institute appeals from presently pending bankruptcy proceedings in which he claims an interest. The order of permanent injunction entered on June 17, 1983 was read in open court at a hearing attended by Martin-Trigona¹ and copies of the order were delivered in hand to all persons present at the hearing, including Martin-Trigona.² The order of June 17 was replaced on June 23, 1983 by the substantially identical Order of Permanent Injunction (the "Order"), See Appendix C, infra, at 1261;³ the Order has remained in full force and effect since June 23, 1983.

Because of the unusual sweep of the Order, and because of the even more unusual circumstances giving rise to it, the court now enters this memorandum setting forth the factual and legal context within which the Order issued.⁴ Some delay between issuance of the Order and entry of this memorandum has been occasioned by the necessity of waiting for the preparation of transcripts of the pertinent hearings.

I.

In the annals of American pro se litigants, Anthony R. Martin-Trigona is quite special, if not unique. He may not be the most prolific such litigant in our legal history: the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has already awarded that dubious laurel to the Rev. Clovis Carl Green, said to have filed between 600 and 700 complaints. See In Re Green, 669 F.2d 779, 781 (D.C.Cir.1981) (per curiam). A survey prepared for this court suggests that Martin-Trigona has filed at least 250 suits, though that is probably a conservative figure. See Order, Appendix C, infra, Appendices I and II. If Martin-Trigona has not set the record for sheer quantity, however, he has distinguished himself by the style of litigation he has adopted and by the cunning and malignant sophistication he has brought to his avocation.

The contours of his career at the bar can be traced by reference to two of his cases. In 1970, having graduated from the University of Illinois College of Law, Martin-Trigona sat for and passed the Illinois Bar examination. On the basis of the record before it, the Committee on Character and Fitness required Martin-Trigona to undergo a psychiatric examination.⁵ When he refused to do so, the Committee voted against recommending his admission to the bar. Reviewing the Committee's refusal to certify Martin-Trigona, the Supreme Court of Illinois noted that Martin-Trigona's "propensity to unreasonably react against anyone whom he believes opposes him reveals his lack of responsibility...." In re Martin-Trigona, 55 Ill.2d 301, 302 N.E.2d 68, 72 (1973), cert. denied, 417 U.S. 909, 94 S.Ct. 2605, 41 L.Ed.2d 212 (1974). That court noted that Martin-Trigona's dealings with the Committee had been marked by abusive, personally derogatory charges leveled against Committee members by Martin-Trigona in language often vulgar and profane. That court also mentioned two unrelated cases in which Martin-Trigona, proceeding pro se, had accused judges before whom he appeared of insanity and sought their recusal because he had named them as defendants in other actions.

Denying Martin-Trigona's application for admission to the bar, the court wrote: "While it is not challenged that he may possess the requisite academic qualifications to practice law, the record overwhelmingly establishes that he lacks the qualities of responsibility, candor, fairness, self-restraint, objectivity and respect for the judicial system which are necessary adjuncts to the orderly administration of justice." Id., 302 N.E.2d at 74.

Martin-Trigona was not content to let the matter rest there: after the Supreme Court of the United States refused to review the Illinois decision, 417 U.S. 909, 94 S.Ct. 2605, 41 L.Ed.2d 212 (1974), Martin-Trigona launched several federal suits against the members of the Illinois Supreme Court and the Committee on Character and Fitness. See Martin-Trigona v. Underwood, 529 F.2d 33 (7th Cir.1975) (per curiam).

Failure to gain admission to the bar did not mean that Martin-Trigona became a stranger to the nation's courtrooms. On the contrary, he has engaged in litigation with zeal, energy and passion that would be the envy of any attorney, and his practice has been as variegated as that of any law firm in the country, including communications, bankruptcy, contract, environmental, Selective Service, prisoner's rights, antitrust, civil rights, housing discrimination, Freedom of Information Act, transportation, and banking cases, among many others.

Throughout Martin-Trigona's career, however, there has persisted the same ugly strand of personal animus and unjustifiable vituperation that the Illinois Supreme Court observed in 1973. Nearly a decade after that court's denial of his application for admission to the bar, another court took "judicial notice that Martin-Trigona has over the years filed a substantial number of lawsuits of a vexatious, frivolous and scandalous nature." Judge Weinfeld went on to say of Martin-Trigona:

He has been a persistent and calculating litigator. There is a long trail of such actions commenced by him against federal and state judges, bar examiners, public officials, public agencies, lawyers and individuals who in one way or another had any relationship, directly or indirectly, to any matter concerning him.

Martin-Trigona v. Brooks & Holtzman, 551 F.Supp. 1378, 1384 (S.D.N.Y.1982). Judge Weinfeld also quoted the words of the Court of Appeals, which observed in another case that Martin-Trigona tended "to exaggerate, to believe himself the victim of conspiracies where none exist, and to suspect without any reasonable basis that others are persecuting him," Martin-Trigona v. Gouletas, 634 F.2d 354, 362 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1025, 101 S.Ct. 593, 66 L.Ed.2d 486 (1980). As our own Court of Appeals has tersely observed, "Martin-Trigona is not your typical pro se advocate," Martin-Trigona v. Shiff, 702 F.2d 380, 382 n. 1 (2d Cir.1983).

Brooks & Holtzman, supra, gives the flavor of Martin-Trigona's atypical advocacy. Martin-Trigona had filed for bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York and that proceeding had been transferred to the District of Connecticut, the site of a major asset in which Martin-Trigona claims an interest, New Haven Radio, Inc. ("New Haven Radio"), which is also in bankruptcy. In the New York federal bankruptcy action, Martin-Trigona had appealed to the district court the order of transfer, and a Connecticut attorney, representing the trustee appointed by the bankruptcy judge in Connecticut, had been granted leave to appear pro hac vice in order to intervene and oppose Martin-Trigona's appeal. Characteristically, Martin-Trigona filed a complaint against the Connecticut attorney before the state bar grievance committee and sued him many times in several federal and state courts, in three district courts and in two circuits (in, among other cases, Civ. No. H 83-305 in this court). In Brooks & Holtzman, however, Martin-Trigona sued the New York attorney who had merely moved the court to grant the Connecticut attorney leave to appear. The basis of that suit seems to have been an allegation that the New York attorney had somehow lied in his description of the Connecticut attorney's role in the litigation. The suit was, needless to say, frivolous.

But Martin-Trigona did not even stop at anything as uncomplicated as a vexatious and vindictive suit. He also filed a complaint with the Disciplinary Committee of the New York State Supreme Court and sought to attach property of the defendant New York attorney and his law firm. After reviewing Martin-Trigona's machinations, Judge Weinfeld granted summary judgment for the defendants, the New York attorney and his firm, and enjoined Martin-Trigona "from instituting any other actions in proceedings against them, whatever kind or nature, based upon their motion to admit the Connecticut attorney to appear pro hac vice in this Court in the debtor proceedings referred to herein," Martin-Trigona v. Brooks & Holtzman, supra, 551 F.Supp. at 1385.⁶

Suing attorneys who oppose him has been a favored device of Martin-Trigona's for some time, both in the bankruptcy litigation at issue in New York and Connecticut and in other cases, such as, e.g., Martin-Trigona v. Bloomington Federal Savings & Loan Association, 101 Ill.App.3d 943, 57 Ill.Dec. 348, 428 N.E.2d 1028 (1st Dist.1981). Judge Weinfeld has pointed out the cruel effectiveness of that device, which subjects attorneys to the necessity of defending themselves and enduring often outrageous accusations (of insanity, unethical conduct, and criminal activity, to summarize the usual allegations). See Martin-Trigona v. Brooks & Holtzman, supra, 551...