Martin-Trigona, In re
| Decision Date | 18 June 1984 |
| Docket Number | P,MARTIN-TRIGON,No. 577,D,MARTIN-TRIGONA,577 |
| Parties | In re Anthony R.Appeal of Anthony R. Martin-Trigona. Anthony R.laintiff-Appellant, v. Harold LAVIEN, et al., Defendants-Appellees. Anthony R.laintiff-Appellant, v. William F. SMITH, et al., Defendants-Appellees. ocket 83-7534. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
John R. Williams, New Haven, Conn., for plaintiff-appellant.
W. Philip Jones, Washington, D.C. (J. Paul McGrath, Barbara L. Herwig, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., on the brief), for federal defendants-appellees.
Robert E. Mershel, D'Amato & Lynch, New York City, for defendants-appellees Daniel Meister, Richard Belford and Richard Coan.
Before MANSFIELD, PIERCE and WINTER, Circuit Judges.
This appeal is taken from an order, 573 F.Supp. 1245(D. Comm. 1983), entered in three civil actions pending before the district court: In Re Anthony R. Martin-Trigona, Misc.Civ. No. H83-62 (); Martin-Trigona v. Lavien, Misc.Civ. No. H83-305 (); and Martin-Trigona v. Smith, Civ. No. H83-322 (). The order broadly enjoins appellant, inter alia, from instituting litigation in any state or federal court without fulfilling certain conditions. We affirm in part, vacate in part and remand for further proceedings.
To those who follow the business of the courts, the appellant needs no introduction. He is the source of literally hundreds of lawsuits, motions and miscellaneous pleadings, all but a small fraction of which lack any merit whatsoever. Viewing Martin-Trigona's litigious conduct in its entirety yields the inescapable conclusion that he persistently resorts to legal processes without regard to the merits of the claims asserted and that he invokes those processes largely to harass persons who have unluckily crossed his path. His abuse of legal processes is exemplified not only by the number and variety of meritless actions but also by his recent use of pleadings and other legal papers, the contents of which are set out in their appalling detail in the district court's opinion, as a vehicle to launch vicious attacks upon persons of Jewish heritage.
The district court is not the first judicial tribunal to take public notice of Martin-Trigona's determined and persistent misuse of legal processes. A law school graduate, Martin-Trigona was denied admission to the Illinois bar because "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," In re Martin-Trigona, 55 Ill.2d 301, 312, 302 N.E.2d 68, 74 (1973), cert. denied, 417 U.S. 909, 94 S.Ct. 2605, 41 L.Ed.2d 212 (1974). Judge Weinfeld has had occasion to observe
that Martin-Trigona has over the years filed a substantial number of lawsuits of a vexatious, frivolous and scandalous nature. 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). Another circuit has commented that Martin-Trigona's "tendency ... to exaggerate, to believe himself the victim of conspiracies where none exist, and to suspect without any reasonable basis that others are persecuting him is evident from many of his filings in this record," 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). And this court has noted in a prior proceeding,
[h]is tour through the court system is marked by a persistent refusal to cooperate with court orders and purposeful efforts to delay and jaundice court proceedings. His distinctive brand of pro se advocacy has reached [us] after a barrage of procedural and jurisdictional challenges which have frustrated the courts below and have caused these bankruptcy proceedings to advance at a snail's pace, with little progress made toward settling creditors' claims during the past two and one-half years.
Appellant's activities in the district court for the District of Connecticut began in 1981 when two bankruptcy cases in which he was involved were transferred from the Southern District of New York. The bankruptcy court consolidated the cases and appointed trustees for Martin-Trigona's personal estate and for New Haven Radio, Inc., a bankrupt corporation in which Martin-Trigona is sole shareholder. Appellant thereafter refused to be examined and was found in contempt by Bankruptcy Judge Shiff. 1
In the course of the bankruptcy case, Martin-Trigona authored an array of plenary actions, motions, applications, appeals and other proceedings, including an action naming all the judges in the District of Connecticut as defendants. Martin-Trigona's actions were, following the general practice of the district, randomly assigned among district judges in Connecticut. As his filings multiplied, efficient administration of the inter-related litigation became increasingly difficult. Therefore, at the request of Martin-Trigona, Chief Judge Daly transferred all such pending actions in the district to Judge Cabranes on January 11, 1983.
By order filed May 6, 1983, Judge Cabranes stayed the bankruptcy proceedings in all respects and scheduled a hearing on all pending motions for June 6. He also required the parties to the bankruptcy proceedings and the United States as a representative of several federal defendants, including judges and the United States Attorney, sued by Martin-Trigona in related actions, to state their views on the course of further proceedings. The United States advised issuance of a broad injunction to prohibit relitigation of decided issues and to establish conditions for the filing of additional court papers. The various named defendants filed motions to dismiss and sought to enjoin Martin-Trigona from suing the trustees in bankruptcy, their attorneys, their families, and persons in privity with them without prior leave of the district court.
The order issued by Judge Cabranes gave appellant notice of the hearing date and the matters to be dealt with, as did the court calendar. In addition, on June 3, 1983, Martin-Trigona appeared before Judge Cabranes in a separate contempt hearing. 2 At that time, the district court reminded appellant of the June 6 hearing and of the issues to be dealt with at that time. On June 4, Martin-Trigona wrote a letter to Judge Cabranes captioned "Statement Concerning Hearing of June 6, 1983" in which appellant urged the court, inter alia, to cancel the June 6 hearing, which appellant characterized as "a waste of time."
Martin-Trigona did not appear at the June 6 hearing. The court heard from various parties and from the attorney representing Martin-Trigona in the criminal contempt proceeding, see note 2 supra, who was present, on various issues. On June 8, 1983 Judge Cabranes entered a temporary restraining order enjoining Martin-Trigona from filing actions in the District of Connecticut until a further hearing was held.
The court also entered an order to show cause why a permanent injunction should not issue and why all actions brought by Martin-Trigona then pending before the court should not be dismissed. The district court scheduled a hearing for June 16, 1983 on this order and indicated its intent to consolidate it with a trial on the merits. That hearing was postponed until June 17, 1983. Meanwhile, Martin-Trigona moved to recuse Judge Cabranes and for the appointment of counsel. These motions were denied at the start of the June 17 hearing. In accordance with Fed.R.Civ.P. 65(a)(2), the court consolidated the injunction hearing with a trial on the merits.
Martin-Trigona, appearing pro se, indicated a desire to call as witnesses the bankruptcy trustees and their counsel, the United States Attorney, a special prosecutor appointed in a contempt proceeding and Martin-Trigona's own court-appointed counsel in that contempt proceeding to prove that "the Jewish defendants" had sustained no injury warranting injunctive relief. The court refused to allow Martin-Trigona to put on such evidence. Martin-Trigona then asserted his desire to take the stand to testify as to the allegations in his complaints, his intent and his good faith. The court accepted this offer of proof, but when Martin-Trigona was given the opportunity to testify, he declined, stating, "There's no need for it."
On June 23, 1983 Judge Cabranes issued a broad permanent injunction, In Re Martin-Trigona, 573 F.Supp. 1245, 1261-68 (D.Conn.1983), which, in summary, enjoined Martin-Trigona from:
(1) making further filings in any pending case brought by him or on his behalf within the District of Connecticut without first obtaining leave of the court by way of a specific procedure set forth in the injunction. 3
(2) filing any action in any state or federal court in the United States arising out of (a) the acts of any person or entity involved with the bankruptcy proceedings of Martin-Trigona or of any property in which Martin-Trigona claims an interest or (b) the litigation of any civil action filed by Martin-Trigona relating to such bankruptcy proceedings.
(3) filing an appeal from such bankruptcy proceedings without first obtaining leave of the court in which he seeks to file the appeal, pursuant to the procedure set forth in the injunction.
(4) filing "any new action or proceeding in any court (state or federal) without first obtaining leave of...
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