Skolnick v. Spolar
| Decision Date | 06 June 1963 |
| Docket Number | No. 13997.,13997. |
| Citation | 317 F.2d 857 |
| Parties | Sherman H. SKOLNICK, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Otto SPOLAR, Charles T. Martin, J. William Hayton, Arthur G. Lilly, and Charles R. Perrigo, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Peter S. Sarelas, Chicago, Ill., for appellant.
Charles M. Rush, Charles T. Martin, Daniel P. Ward, Ronald Butler, Chicago, Ill., Edward J. Hladis, Chief of the Civil Division, Bell, Boyd, Lloyd, Haddad & Burns, Chicago, Ill., J. William Hayton, Chicago, Ill., of counsel, for Arthur G. Lilly, Charles R. Perrigo, Charles T. Martin, and J. William Hayton.
Before HASTINGS, Chief Judge, and KNOCH and KILEY, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiff Sherman H. Skolnick appeals from a judgment order of the district court, Honorable Joseph Sam Perry presiding, dismissing his complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.
This is a companion case to Skolnick v. Martin, et al., 7 Cir., 317 F.2d 855, decided adversely to appellant today. The instant case finds its genesis in the same state court action referred to therein.
On May 23, 1958, plaintiff filed a civil damage action in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois (58-C-7219). Defendants named in this state court action were his stockbrokers, Hornblower and Weeks and the partners in that firm, including Arthur Lilly and Charles R. Perrigo. This complaint charged defendants with the breach of an alleged oral trust in handling plaintiff's speculation in the stock market. Charles T. Martin and J. William Hayton acted therein as attorneys for defendants.
The state court action was tried by a jury on January 18-26, 1961, resulting in a disagreement of the jury. The case has never been retried in the state court and is still pending. Honorable L. L. Winn, circuit judge, presided at the state court trial and Otto Spolar was assigned as circuit court bailiff to Judge Winn's courtroom.
On June 11, 1962, plaintiff filed the instant action in the United States District Court against Spolar, Martin, Hayton, Lilly and Perrigo. He sought to recover damages for alleged improprieties in the state court trial held in January, 1961.
It is conceded there is no diversity of citizenship present in this case. Plaintiff attempts to invoke jurisdiction of the federal courts by claiming he suffered a deprivation of his rights under the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. He further alleges that the state court trial resulted in a hung jury to his resultant loss and damage because of an alleged violation of the Federal Civil Rights Acts, 42 U.S.C.A. §§ 1981-1988.
Plaintiff asserts jurisdiction under the Federal Civil Rights Acts, supra, by virtue of 28 U.S.C.A. §§ 1343 and 1331. His principal reliance is upon the holding in Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167, 81 S.Ct. 473, 5 L.Ed.2d 492 (1961). We believe this reliance is misplaced.
The acts complained of arose during the progress of the state court trial. In substance, plaintiff (a member of the Jewish faith) charges that defendants conspired with each other to defeat his cause of action in violation of his constitutional rights wherein Spolar, acting as court bailiff, directed a deputy sheriff not to "bring up any blacks or sheenies" for jury service; that Spolar referred to plaintiff as a "kid sitting in a wheelchair making out like he is a cripple"; that Martin and Hayton excused a Negro prospective juror; that during a recess Spolar made derogatory remarks about plaintiff within hearing distance of the jurors who were then in the jury room; that during the deliberations of the jury Martin and Hayton attempted to overhear such deliberations and looked through the keyhole of the jury room door and from...
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...a motion is not a due process right. Spark v. Catholic University of America, 167 U.S.App.D.C. 56, 510 F.2d 1277 (1975); Skolnick v. Spolar, 317 F.2d 857 (7th Cir. 1963), Cert. denied, 375 U.S. 904, 84 S.Ct. 195, 11 L.Ed.2d 145 In our case, the trial judge was ending the second month of the......
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