Andersen v. RoszkowskiAndersen v. Roszkowski
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Nоw before the Court are plaintiffs’ motion for leave to file their Amended Complaint and their motion to disqualify all of the federal judges in the Seventh Circuit and transfer this case to an “out-of-the-Seventh-Circuit-judge.” After reviewing these motions and the Amended Complaint, the Court rules as follows: plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint sufficiently complies with
I. Introduction
This is a case about farmers who have lost their farm and their farm equipment. The plaintiffs, Dennis and Benita Andersen, owned and operated a farm in Boone County, Illinois. In 1985, in a series of four state court foreclosure and replevin actions instituted by various lending insti
Instead of taking an appeal, the Ander-sens turned to the federal courts. They filed a “Civil Rights” lawsuit and a “RICO” lawsuit in the Western Division of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Dennis and Benita Andersen v. R. Robert Funderburg, et al.,
86 C 20263 (“RICO case”);
Dennis and Benita Andersen v. Judge Robert French, et al.,
86 C 20329 (“Civil Rights case”). The federal district court judge assigned to these cases dismissed them both on the merits, and the Ander-sens appealed the dismissal of their RICO сase. The Seventh Circuit affirmed the district judge’s dismissal.
Dennis H. Andersen and Benita I. Andersen v. R. Robert Funderburg, et al.,
The Andersens then filed another lawsuit in the Western Division of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and the case was assigned to the same federal district court judge who dismissed their RICO and Civil Rights cases. In their new lawsuit, the Andersens sued that federal district court judge and the Seventh Circuit judges who ruled on their RICO and Civil Rights cases, all of the statе court judges who ruled on their state court foreclosure and replevin cases, and a host of public officials, attorneys, and other individuals, all involved, one way or another, in one or more of the four state court and two federal court lawsuits. In all, the Andersens sued eighty-two individually-named defendants and “50 John Does and 50 Jane Roes.” The Andersens alleged that all of the named judges acted under some kind of a “malign influence” and that all of the dеfendants, including the judges, engaged in a “fraud on the court” against the Andersens. Because the federal district court judge was one of the individually-named defendants, the judge disqualified himself from ruling on the case on October 8, 1987. The case was then transferred to this Court.
Soon after the Andersens’ case was transferred to this Court, individual defendants began filing
On November 20, 1987, after reviewing plaintiffs’ complaint and all of the motions, this Court dismissed the complaint for failure to comply with
Thirty-one days later, plaintiffs filed their motion for leave to file their Amended Complaint and attached their Amended
After reviewing the two-count Amended Complaint, the Court finds that plaintiffs have sufficiently complied with the pleading requirements of
Plaintiffs have added a number of individually-named defendants to their “fraud on the court” allegations, and these defendants now include me, my secretary, and my minute clerk. Plaintiffs have also renewed their motion to disqualify all federal judges in the Seventh Circuit and to transfer their case to a judge outside the Seventh Circuit. “Renewed Motion for Sanctions” and “Notice of Disqualifying Circumstances & Demand for Administrative Action Upon Plaintiffs’ Pending Motion For a Certificate of Necessity.”
II. Discussion
Ordinarily, the Court’s first task in ruling on plaintiffs’ “fraud on the court” case would be to determine whether it has subject-matter jurisdiction — if it does not have subject-matter jurisdiction, it does nоt have the power to rule on the case. Here, however, the Court’s first task is to determine whether it should disqualify itself from considering whether it has subject-matter jurisdiction.
1. Disqualification
In their motions styled “Motion for Sanctions,” “Motion for a Certificate of Necessity,” “Notice of Disqualifying Circumstances,” “Renewed Motion for Sanctions” and “Notice of Disqualifying Circumstances & Demand for Administrative Action Upon Plaintiffs’ Pending Motion For a Certificate of Necessity,” plaintiffs argue that this Cоurt must disqualify itself and all other federal judges in the Seventh Circuit and transfer their case to “an out-of-the-Seventh-Circuit judge.” Plaintiffs correctly point out that disqualification in this case is governed by 28 U.S.C. 11455. Section 455 provides in relevant part:
Disqualification of justice, judge, or magistrate
(a) Any justice, judge, or magistrate of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.
(b) He shall also disqualify himself in the following circumstances:
(4) He knows that he, individually or as a fiduciary, or his spouse or minor child residing in his household, has a financial interest in the subject matter in controversy or in a party to the proceeding, or any other interest that could be substantially affеcted by the outcome of the proceeding;
(5) He or his spouse, or a person within the third degree of relationship to either of them, or the spouse of such a person:
(i) Is a party to the proceeding....
Id. (emphasis added).
Plaintiffs present three bases under Section 455 that might require this Court to disqualify itself from deciding this case. First, plaintiffs have added me as a defendant in their Second Amended Complaint, and therefore have sought to make me a party to the proceeding. Second, plaintiffs allege in their Amended Complaint that I have certain “financial interests” in the
The first basis might seem sufficient to require disqualification. The language of Section 455(b)(5)(i) requires disqualification where the judge is a party to the proceeding, and it implies automatic disqualification. This Section, however, has been construed by courts as not requiring automatic disqualification.
See, e.g., In re Martin-Trigona,
... [Tjhere is a maxim of law to the effect that where all are disqualified, none are disqualified. Evans v. Gore,253 U.S. 245 ,40 S.Ct. 550 ,64 L.Ed. 887 (1920). The theory supporting this maxim is that if disqualification operates so as to bar justice to the parties and no other tribunal is available, the disqualified judge or judges may by necessity proceed to judgment.
Id.,
For either of these reasons, the Court finds that it is not required to disqualify itself under Section 455(b)(5)(i). It is apparent to the Court that plaintiffs do not have a legitimate basis for suing me, my secretary, and my minute clerk. None of us were sued in plaintiffs’ initial complaint; we were added as defendants only after I dismissed plaintiffs’ Complaint for failure to comply with
Plaintiffs’ second basis for disqualification is equally unavailing. Section 455(b)(4) requires disqualification where the judge has “a financial interest in the
Plaintiffs’ third basis for disqualification must also fail. Section 455(a) requires disqualification where the judge’s impartiality might
reasonably
be questioned. “The inquiry is objective, from the point of view of a reasonable person with access to all of the facts.”
New York City Development Corp.,
As stated by another district court judge, Recusal and reassignment is not a matter to be lightly undertaken by a district judge. While, in proper cases, we have a duty to recuse ourselves, in [others] we have concommitant obligations not to re-cuse ourselves; absent a valid reason for recusal, there remains what has sometimes been termed a duty to sit.
Simonson v. General Motors Corp.,
2. Subject-Matter Jurisdiction
Plaintiffs assert that this Court has subject-matter jurisdiction over their Amended Complаint pursuant to either the Court’s inherent power to set aside a judgment for “fraud on the court” or
On motion and upon such terms as are just, the court may relieve a party ... from a final judgment, order, or proceeding for the following reasons: ... (3) fraud (whether heretofore denominated intrinsic or extrinsic), misrepresentation, or other misconduct of an adverse party; ... or (6) any other reason justifying relief from the operation of the judgment. The motion shall be made within a reasonable time.... This rule does not limit the power of the court to entertain an independent action to relieve a party from a judgment, order, or proceeding, ... or to set aside a judgment for fraud upon the court.
As provided by
Plaintiffs have brought an independent action to overturn their adversе federal judgments for fraud on the court. A fraud that constitutes a fraud on the court is a limited kind of fraud. The Seventh Circuit has defined it as a fraud that “defile^] the court itself, or is a fraud perpetrated by officers of the court so that the judicial machinery can not perform in the usual manner its impartial task of adjudging cases that are presented for adjudication.”
Kenner v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue,
Federal courts have inherent subject-matter jurisdiction to review federal judgments obtained by fraud on the court. The theory is that federal judgment “produced by fraud on the court is not ... a decision at all and never becomes final.”
Kenner,
3. Allegations of Fraud on the Court
The gist of plaintiffs’ allegations of fraud on the court is that the federal judges who ruled on their RICO and Civil Rights cases were acting under a “malign influence” against them. As specific evidence of this “malign influence,” plaintiffs’ claim that these federal judges all had financial interests that required their disqualifiсation. Further, plaintiffs claim that the federal judges’ failure to rule in their favor (and remedy the obvious and varied injustices committed against plaintiffs over the long course of events that resulted in the loss of their farm and farm equipment) creates a valid inference that the judges were acting, together with all the other defendants, under a “malign influence.”
As to the claim of improper financial interest, plaintiffs allege that the federal judges who dismissed and affirmed the dismissal of their RICO and Civil Rights cases had interests in certain banks that were “correspondent banks” to a defendant bank. Amended Complaint ¶1¶ 118-120, 122. As already discussed, however, these “financial interests” are too indirect and insubstantial to require disqualification. See Annotation, supra, 55 ALR Fed. at 654 (collecting and discussing cases). Because these allegations of improper financial interests are insufficient to require disqualification, they are insufficient to support plaintiffs’ claim of fraud on the court. The federal judges ruling on their RICO and Civil Rights cases did not have improper financial interests.
As to the claim of failing to rule in plaintiffs’ favor when justice required a favorable ruling, plaintiffs re-allege the basis of their RICO and Civil Rights cases. They allege that certain defendants exacted usurious rates of interest against them (Amended Complaint 11303), failed to credit plaintiffs for their mortgage payments (Amended Complaint ¶ 305), presented false evidence during the state court foreclosure and replevin actions (Amended Complaint ¶ 312), presented perjured testimony in the state court foreclosure and replevin actions (Amended Complaint 11326), and kidnapped the plaintiffs (Amended Complaint ¶ 327).
For several reasons, however, these allegations do not amount to a fraud on the court that would require overturning the federal judgments. First, a federal court’s authority to overturn a federal judgment for fraud on the court does not allow parties to relitigate matters that have already been litigated in both federal and state courts. Wright & Miller,
supra,
§ 2854. Whether plaintiffs’ allegations of injustice amount tо a RICO claim or a Civil Rights claim has already been litigated. Further, although plaintiffs seek to overturn their federal judgments, their federal judgments are essentially based on the alleged injustice of their state court foreclosure and replevin proceedings and those state court judgments. Thus, overturning the federal judgments would also require this Court to review the state court judgments. A federal court, however, has no authority to review state court judgments.
See, е.g., District of Columbia Court of Appeals v. Feldman,
Finally, plaintiffs’ allegations in their Amended Complaint amount to only a biased belief that, because they lost their defenses to the state court foreclosure and replevin actions, аll who were involved and have subsequently been involved in their prolix litigation have acted under a “malign influence” and have engaged in a fraud on the court. Plaintiffs attempt to draw an inference of “malign influence” amounting to fraud on the court by pointing out the claimed injustice of their adverse federal judgments. An adverse decision on these claims, however, simply does not support an inference that the federal judges were acting under a “malign influence” and that there has been a fraud on the court. The Court has given plaintiffs the opportunity to file an Amended Complaint to determine whether they could state a claim of fraud on the court. For the reasons discussed, the Court rules that plaintiffs have failed to state a claim of fraud on the court. The Court therefore denies plaintiffs’ request to overturn their federal judgments.
4. Money Damages
In addition to seeking to overturn their federal judgments, plaintiffs havе also sought $107,110,400 in money damages. Because the Court has found that plaintiffs have failed to state a claim of fraud on the court, plaintiffs’ claim for money damages must be denied. Their claim for money damages, however, must also be denied for other reasons.
First, this Court does not have subject-matter jurisdiction to award money damages for fraud on the court. As discussed, the Court has jurisdiction only to overturn federal judgments and to award costs and attorney’s fees incurred in the proceedings to overturn the judgments.
See, e.g., Universal Oil,
Second, plaintiffs seek money damages against federal and state court judges. These judges, however, are absolutely immune from liability in damages for their judicial acts.
Forrester v. White,
— U.S. -, -,
For all of these reasons, the Court rules that plaintiffs have failed to state a claim for money damages. The Court therefore denies plaintiffs’ request for money damages.
III. Conclusion
For the reasons set forth, the Court rules that plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint fails to state a claim of fraud on the court as to all of the defendants in this case, and the Court dismisses plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint with prejudice. To prevent further improper litigation and to prevent unnecessary expense on the part of both private аnd governmental parties, the Court enjoins plaintiffs from filing with the Clerk of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois any further complaints, motions, or documents of any kind concerning the subject matter of this action without first having obtained permission of the Executive Committee of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Although this Court sympathizes with the Andersens for the loss of their farm, the Court cannot permit disruption of this Court, waste of judicial resources, and further unnecessary expense on the part of the many persons who would otherwise be named defendants in future lawsuits relating to the same past occurrence.