The plaintiff who has sued Media Matters, using as his nom de guerre "Anthony 'Andy' Martin" (described in this recommended dkos diary) is also known as Anthony Martin-Trigona, one of the truly great vexatious litigators in a nation not known for its shortage of vexatious litigation. When I first heard of him, at the beginning of my legal career, he was legendary. Join me after the jump and I'll try to impart some of the flavor of Martin-Trigona's career, some of the activities that have lead otherwise valiant members of the legal profession to speak his name in whispers.
Martin-Trigona's history in the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which is comprised of New York, Connecticut and Vermont, dates back at least to the eighties. In 1984, Hon. Jose Cabranes enjoined Martin-Trigona from continuing to burden the court system with frivolous and scurrilous pleadings. Substantially affirming Judge Cabranes's order, the Second Circuit laid out Martin-Trigona's history to that point in In re Martin-Trigona, 737 F.2d 1254 (2d Cir. 1984). I am aware of no better summary of Mr. Martin's checkered history than the first paragraph of the "Background" section of that opinion, in which the court spake thusly:
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 Second Circuit proceeded to summarize the factual findings made by Judge Cabranes to support the injunction:
Martin-Trigona is known to have filed over 250 civil actions, appeals, and other matters throughout the United States, which have been pursued with "persistence, viciousness, and general disregard for decency and logic." He has used legal pleadings to ventilate his contempt and hatred of persons of Jewish heritage and to level accusations which "have often been personal, have often emphasized racial or religious affiliations, and have often involved the members of . . . judges' and counsel's families." The purpose, nature and effect of his resort to multiple litigation has been to involve as many persons in as many confounding legal processes as possible. . . . Martin-Trigona's voluminous filings have "inundated" the District of Connecticut and his activities have burdened judicial operations to the point of impairing the administration of justice. Finally, Martin-Trigona has not desisted from his course of vexatious litigation but has expressly stated his intent to file yet more actions.
Cabranes's findings were, the Court of Appeals concluded, "abundantly supported by the record." Accordingly, while it found some of the provisions of the district court's injunction to be overly broad, the Second Circuit affirmed most of Judge Cabranes's order.
The 1984 injunction proved only partially effective, though. Between 1984 and 1986, Martin-Trigona still managed to burden the circuit with over 100 mostly frivolous motions, bearing titles such as "Motion for Leave to Appeal Bizarre Order." The Second Circuit strengthened the injunction by authorizing monetary sanctions for future frivolous filings. Martin-Trigona did score one victory, though. He argued that the 1984 injunction had only been temporary. The Court of Appeals agreed and ordered that the injunction be made permanent. In re Martin-Trigona, 795 F.2d 9 (2d Cir. 1986).
These setbacks hardly fazed our valiant litigator. In 1993, Martin-Trigona's continuing flair for the vexatious inspired the Second Circuit to take the extraordinary step of appointing an unidentified judge to screen his lawsuits in an effort to minimize his abuse of the system. What had Martin-Trigona done to deserve this increased level of scrutiny? Well, among other things
the appeals court cited what it called an "outrageous action" taken by Mr. Martin to get back at the Federal judge whose rulings displeased him. The court said Mr. Martin had sought to intervene in the judge's divorce case and have himself appointed as the guardian for the judge's children.
Andy has fans on the Florida Supreme Court as well. In pursuing a course of vigorous litigation in the Sunshine State, Martin-Trigona attempted to avail himself of Florida's procedures that allow financially-challenged litigants to avoid paying court fees. Aware of his history, the Florida courts declined to provide him a free forum despite the fact that, based on his economic circumstances, Andy qualified for indigency status. The state's Supreme Court upheld the lower court's decision, holding that the judicial branch could deny a litigant indigency status as a sanction for abusing the court system. Describing him as "one of this State's most active, as well as abusive, pro se litigants," the court noted that in 1995 alone, Martin-Trigona had bombarded one Florida court with more than 43 filings that "were not only without merit, but included extremely abusive insults directed at numerous non-respondents, public officials, judges and the judicial system as a whole." Ordered to show cause why the court should allow him to proceed in forma pauperis in light of his history of abusing the system, Martin-Trigona "responded by attaching a copy of another lawsuit he was filing against all the judges of the Fourth District Court." Surprisingly, the court was unmoved, one of many developments Martin-Trigona described as "extraordinary treatment and monolithic harassment which is being directed at petitioner by judges, the only excuse [for] which does appear [to be] retaliation by Jewish judges."
Martin-Trigona remains active in both the courts and in politics. A fervent supporter of Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign, Martin-Trigona has recently taken it upon himself to expose the "truth" about Barack Obama. He might be well-advised to be discreet about his claims, though; according to one sharp-eyed commenter on an op-ed in the Broward-Palm Beach New Times, the would-be muckraker has an outstanding warrant for his arrest out of Palm Beach County, Florida dating to 2004 for violation of probation. Perhaps he could join Bernard Kerik as an advisor to the Giuliani campaign. Assuming Bernie and Andy can get their respective legal difficulties cleared up in time.