NY Daily Record Since 1908
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Sanctions
Attorney and Litigant Misconduct
Ransmeier v. UAL Corporation, et al.
11-175-cv(L)
Judges Hall and Carney
Background: After an appeal from a judgment, the Second Circuit affirmed the court’s judgment denying the appellant’s motion to intervene. The Second Circuit further ordered the appellant and her attorney to show cause why they should not be sanctioned for their conduct on appeal.
Ruling: The Second Circuit found that the appellant’s conduct was frivolous and imposed sanctions. The court noted that counsel for the appellant engaged in a pattern of vexatious and duplicative filings, targeting both opponents and judges with rude language, and asserting poor legal arguments. The court imposed sanctions on the appellant because she asserted in an affidavit that she worked closely with counsel and asserted offensive allegations against the underlying district court judge.
Bruce Leichty for the appellant; Peter G. Beeson of Devine Millimet & Branch for the plaintiff-appellee; Jeffrey J. Ellis of Quirk and Bakalor for the defendants-appellees
Those of you who want to know exactly what I said — which certainly didn’t deserve sanctions except in the highly politicized environment in which I was litigating — can see the “offending” motion and much more at http://www.marianilawsuit.com. The gist of the motion was simply to point out connections between the trial court judge and Israeli affiliates and joint venturers of some of the defendants in his courtroom, in a context in which Mrs. Mariani and I had alleged that the judge had turned a blind eye to conflicts of interest of the Mariani estate fiduciary.