Parness v. Christie
| Decision Date | 19 August 2015 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. 15-3505 (JLL) |
| Parties | MARTIN S. PARNESS, Plaintiff, v. CHRISTOPHER J. CHRISTIE, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey |
*NOT FOR PUBLICATION
Plaintiff. Martin Parness, filed a complaint against Defendants in the Southern District of New York on April 23, 2015. (ECF No. 1). The Southern District transferred this matter to the District of New Jersey on May 20, 2015. (ECF No. 5, 6). On July 27, 2015, this Court granted Plaintiff's application to proceed in forma pauperis. (ECF No. 10). At this time, the Court must review the Complaint, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B) to determine whether it should be dismissed as frivolous or malicious, for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or because it seeks monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. For the reasons set out below, this Court will dismiss Plaintiff's complaint in its entirety for want of subject matter jurisdiction and failure to state a claim for which relief may be granted.
The following allegations are drawn from Plaintiff's complaint.1 Plaintiff, William Parness, is an individual currently incarcerated in the Essex County Correctional Facility. (ECF No. 1 at 13).2 His incarceration arises out of his "failure to pay a matrimonial judgment in favor of his former wife . . . Robin Parness-Lipson, as well as his alleged failure to take steps that would allow [Lipson] to collect the judgment in Israel, where [Plaintiff] and his current wife own real estate." Parness-Lipson v. Parness, 2014 WL 2533783, at *1 (N.J. App. Div. June 6, 2014). Plaintiff alleges that this judgment was fraudulently obtained by his former wife through proceedings in the New Jersey Superior Court, Essex County, Chancery Division, Family Part, inApril of 2003. (ECF No. 1 at 13). Plaintiff alleges that his former wife, her family, and her attorneys begat a complicated series of conspiracies against him ultimately culminating in the loss of certain property in the 1990s and his eventual incarceration. (Id. at 68-69).
Plaintiff alleges three separate conspiracies, all of which he claims violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization ("RICO") Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1962, 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c)-(d). (Id.). The first such conspiracy allegedly arose out of certain frauds upon the Bankruptcy and New Jersey Family Part courts committed by his former wife and a corporation to which she was attached in 1995 and 2003. (Id. at 68). The second alleged conspiracy apparently came into being when his former wife and her family bribed several attorneys, including Plaintiff's attorneys, and two New Jersey Superior Court judges who heard Plaintiff's case between 2003 and 2012, Judges Troiano and Casale, ultimately resulting in the contempt order under which Plaintiff remains incarcerated. (Id. at 68-69). This second conspiracy also includes judges and employees of both the Essex County Family Part Court and the New Jersey Appellate Division who upheld Plaintiff's incarceration through 2013. The third and final conspiracy Plaintiff asserts concerns the alleged bribery of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie by Plaintiff's ex-wife. (Id. at 167-77). Plaintiff asserts that Christie, to avoid being exposed for these alleged straw-donor bribes, effectively conspired with several attorneys general, several United States attorneys, and the ranking official in the New Jersey Court system, including the Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, to close any and all judicial avenues of relief to Plaintiff following Plaintiff's loss in the trial courts in 2012. (Id.). Because Plaintiff's allegations are not clear and are, in many places, based upon his own bald assertions without any supporting allegations or facts, it is unclear how distinct the second and third conspiracies truly are from one another.
The first alleged conspiracy arises out of Plaintiff's divorce in July, 1992. (Id. at 72). At the time of Plaintiff's divorce from his former wife, Robin Lipson ("Lipson"), Plaintiff agreed to pay Lipson $2,000 per month in child support until the emancipation of the couple's two children, $1,500 per month in alimony for four years, and an equitable distribution of $40,000. (Id.). Plaintiff also agreed to take on $28,000 in debt arising out of the marriage and Lipson's counsel fees in the divorce. (Id.). At that time, Plaintiff also owned several properties, most of which were subject to "under water" mortgages. Plaintiff retained possession of these properties in the initial divorce. (Id.). Among those properties was 1000 Washington Street Corporation and the associated building in Hoboken, New Jersey. (Id.).
Due to an apparent tenant problem, this corporation defaulted on its mortgage and ultimately underwent Chapter 11 bankruptcy. (Id. at 72-73). Because of the bankruptcy, Plaintiff became unable to pay the money owed Lipson in the divorce. Id. Plaintiff and Lipson therefore agreed to increase the amount of money owed by Plaintiff to Lipson to $181,000, allegedly not subject to any interest, in recompense for his missing certain payments. (Id. at 73-74). This agreement was ultimately memorialized in an October 1994 consent order, which was amended in some fashion in January 1995. (Id. at 74).
As Plaintiff continued to be unable to pay the money owed Lipson, Lipson apparently filed a complaint with the Bankruptcy Court handling 1000 Washington Street's bankruptcy seeking ownership of Plaintiff's stock in the corporation in lieu of the money owed her. (Id. at 76-77). Plaintiff alleges that these filings represented a fraud on the court in so much as Lipson stated that she had "no more money and . . . no family" to help her take care of her children were she not awarded Plaintiff's shares. (Id. at 76-78). Plaintiff alleges that Lipson not only has a well to dobrother who could help her, but used several thousand dollars in child support to buy a house in Westfield, New Jersey. (Id.). Plaintiff alleges that Lipson used this fraud on the court to obtain control of 1000 Washington street, and used this control to conspire with 1000 Washington Street and an unknown corporation owned by Lipson to embezzle rents from 1000 Washington Street over the next several years. (Id. at 78-88). This "conspiracy" between Lipson and the unknown corporation forms the basis for Plaintiff's first alleged conspiracy. Plaintiff also alleges that Lipson's filing of a complaint seeking a judgment against Plaintiff in the amount of $341,500 in the Essex County Family Part in 2003 represents a further fraud on the court and predicate act in support of his first alleged RICO conspiracy. (Id. at 89-90). While this first conspiracy was ongoing, Plaintiff emigrated to Israel in 1995 and ultimately became an Israeli citizen and remarried. (Id. at 85).
In April 2003, Lipson filed an action in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Essex County, Chancery Division - Family Part seeking $341,500 which she asserted Plaintiff owed her in alimony, child support, and outstanding debt from her divorce with Plaintiff. (Id. at 91). Lipson also sought an arrest warrant for Plaintiff as he was apparently in contempt of the earlier divorce judgments. (Id.). This matter came before Superior Court Judge James Troiano. (Id.). Although Plaintiff alleges that he was never properly served in this action and Lipson only obtained this judgment, including the arrest warrant, through a fraud perpetrated on the Superior Court, Judge Troiano ultimately granted Lipson's request and entered a judgment in her favor for $341,500 and issued an arrest warrant in Plaintiff's name for civil contempt. (Id. at 91-93). Because Parness resided in Israel at that point, and despite efforts by Lipson to have him arrested sooner, the judgment and order were not enforced against Plaintiff until 2009. (Id. at 91-95).
On April 17, 2009, while vacationing in New Jersey with his new wife, Plaintiff was stopped by the Ridgefield police for a minor traffic violation. (Id. at 94). While stopped, the police discovered the outstanding warrant for Plaintiff's arrest arising out of the 2003 judgment. (Id.). Plaintiff was therefore arrested and incarcerated at the Essex County Correctional Facility. (Id. at 94-95). Following his arrest, Plaintiff was apparently arraigned before Judge Troiano on or about April 21, 2009, and litigation of the 2003 judgment and Plaintiff's civil contempt warrant began before Troiano. (Id. at 95). Plaintiff's second alleged RICO conspiracy arises out of this litigation. Plaintiff alleges that this second conspiracy first arose between the two lawyers who represented him in front of Troiano, James Friedman and Jonathan Rubenstein, who allegedly conspired with Lipson and her lawyer in the 2009 litigation to sabotage Plaintiff's case and gouge him through the charging of excessive legal fees. (Id. at 95-99). Plaintiff alleges that, through Friedman who was apparently a friend of Judge Troiano, Lipson and the lawyers conspired and ultimately bribed Troiano to hamper Plaintiff's case and keep him incarcerated. (Id.). Plaintiff thus alleges that Troiano accepted a $5,000 bribe which was given to Troiano by either "Friedman or [Lipson's counsel] soon after the April 21, 2009 hearing." (Id. at 99). This bribe also was apparently to include a portion of any moneys recovered from Plaintiff.3 (Id.).
Plaintiff alleges that Lipson, the lawyers, and Judge Troiano thereafter impeded his caseand engaged in "perjury, attempted extortion, kidnapping, extortion, perjury, and other criminal acts" without further elaboration as to these specific alleged predicate acts. (Id. at 101-02). Plaintiff does, however, allege that Lipson engaged in further frauds on the court by selectively filing documents in the 2009 action and allegedly admitting to lying and defrauding the Bankruptcy court. (Id. at 102-03). Plaintiff further claims that...
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