Opinion ID: 75971
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: the modification of the injunction

Text: 80 (ORDER 9) 81 After holding Riccard in contempt, on Prudential's motion the district court modified the injunction to prohibit Riccard and anyone acting on his behalf from filing any action, complaint, claim for relief, suit, controversy, cause of action, grievance, writ, petition, accusation, charge or any similar instrument ... against Prudential, its present, former or future agents, representatives, employees, directors, officers, attorneys, parents, assigns, predecessors or successors ..., in any court, forum, tribunal, self-regulatory organization or agency (including law enforcement), whether judicial, quasi-judicial, administrative, federal, state or local, including Bar disciplinary and/or grievance committees ... whether for pecuniary advantage or otherwise, without first obtaining leave of this Court.... This lawsuit and the lawsuit captioned Riccard v. Prudential Insurance Co. of Am., Case No. 6:99-CV-1266-ORL-31KRS, and any appeals from those suits, are the only Actions exempted from this Order. 82 A district court has broad discretion to modify an existing injunctive order when factual circumstances have changed or new ones have arisen since the order was issued, as long as notice and an opportunity to be heard are provided before the modification is made. Rufo v. Inmates of the Suffolk County Jail, 502 U.S. 367, 380, 112 S.Ct. 748, 758, 116 L.Ed.2d 867 (1992); Doe v. Bush, 261 F.3d 1037, 1063-64 (11th Cir.2001). An injunction designed to protect against abusive and vexatious litigation cannot completely foreclose a litigant from any access to the courts. Martin-Trigona v. Shaw, 986 F.2d 1384, 1387 (11th Cir.1993). We review a district court's modification of an injunction only for an abuse of discretion. Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon, Inc. v. Longhorn Steaks, Inc., 106 F.3d 355, 364 (11th Cir.1997). 83 In explaining why the injunction needed to be expanded, the district court pointed out that since the injunction was originally issued, Riccard had expanded his sights to include not only Prudential, but its attorneys, as evidenced by his filing of ethical grievances with the Florida and New York Bar Associations. There was also every reason to believe that Riccard might seek other innovative ways to evade or circumvent the injunction, so the court attempted to foreclose as many of them as possible by broadening the injunction. 84 Riccard contends that the modified injunction is overbroad, violating his First Amendment rights. It is not. A vexatious litigant does not have a First Amendment right to abuse official processes with baseless filings in order to harass someone to the point of distraction or capitulation. See Filipas v. Lemons, 835 F.2d 1145, 1146 (6th Cir.1987) (requiring vexatious litigants to obtain leave of court before filing any further complaints does not violate the First Amendment). 85 Riccard also contends that the injunction as modified violates separation of powers principles by interfering with the investigative authority of federal administrative agencies. It does not. While the executive branch has discretionary power to control criminal prosecutions and the courts should not interfere with the exercise of that power, in determining whether courts have done so we look to the extent judicial action has prevented the executive branch from performing its constitutionally assigned function. See In re Grand Jury Proceedings, 613 F.2d 501, 504-05 (5th Cir.1980) (district court violated separation of powers principles by requiring Department of Justice to furnish to objects of grand jury investigation a statement of issues and facts pertinent to a decision to indict where no constitutional right to such a statement exists). The modified injunction prohibiting Riccard from filings alleging criminal activity unless he first obtains leave of court does not impermissibly interfere with executive branch discretionary power. Riccard is not entirely prohibited from such filings, he is only subject to a judicial pre-screening requirement. Given his history of filing baseless, harassing actions against Prudential and its attorneys, that is a reasonable requirement. 16 86 Riccard also contends that the breadth of the modified injunction is unwarranted, because he only filed four lawsuits against Prudential over several years and never actually sued any judges or lawyers. His point, we suppose, is that he should get credit for what little restraint he has shown so far, but as we have previously said, four lawsuits over one ended employment relationship is enough. And that is especially true since in those four lawsuits Riccard filed countless repetitive motions reflecting his obsession with the idea that Prudential had misrepresented its NASD status to him. He not only filed four lawsuits, but also lengthy complaints with state and federal administrative agencies and executive branch departments, again obsessing about Prudential's NASD status. Perhaps the lawyers against whom Riccard filed ethical grievances with their bar associations stemming from the same subject can take some comfort from the fact that Riccard has not yet sued them, but the district court was not required to wait until he did. The court did not abuse its discretion in modifying the injunction to broaden the scope of actions which Riccard could not take to carry out his vendetta against Prudential and those associated with it.