Court Opinion

ID: 9480672
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:54:58.712924+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:49.950056
License: Public Domain

VAN GRAAFEILAND, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I agree with my colleagues that the district court did not err in dismissing the complaint. I disagree with my colleagues’ decision to reverse the imposition of sanctions. An explanation of why I dissent on the sanctions issue requires that I elaborate briefly on both the facts and the law.
From November 29, 1988 until he was discharged on January 12, 1989, Antonio Mareno, Jr. (hereinafter “plaintiff”) was employed by Jet Aviation of Teterboro, Inc. Five days after plaintiff’s discharge, his *1048attorney, without so much as a prior nod in the direction of the EEOC, brought this action in the Southern District of New York seeking $1.5 million in damages. Before plaintiffs attorney hastened so precipitately into court, he was bound to make reasonable inquiry to ascertain that the complaint which he prepared and signed was “well grounded in fact.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 11. My colleagues correctly identify plaintiffs employer as Jet Aviation of Teter-boro, Inc. They neglect to state, however, that, if plaintiffs attorney had made reasonable inquiry as required by Rule 11, he easily would have ascertained this to be the fact. On November 28, 1988 plaintiff executed “AN EMPLOYEE NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT” which identified “Jet Aviation/Teterboro, Inc. (‘the Company’), a Delaware corporation having its principal place of business at Teterboro Airport, Teterboro, New Jersey” as plaintiffs employer. Over the Rule 11 certification of plaintiffs attorney, the complaint, with no reference whatever to Jet Aviation of Teterboro, Inc., alleges that “between November 29, 1988, and January 12, 1989, [plaintiff] was employed by defendant Jet Aviation of America, Inc.” This was an obvious and inexcusable mistatement of fact.
The balance of plaintiffs complaint demonstrates a complete disregard of the requirements of Fed.R.Civ.P. 8. Pursuant to that Rule, the complaint was required to contain “a short and plain statement of the grounds upon which the court’s jurisdiction depends.” The complaint states that plaintiff resides in New York’s Westchester County and that his employment was in New Jersey. It alleges that Jet Aviation of America, Inc. is a Massachusetts corporation which operates a business at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, where plaintiff was employed, and that the defendant Rowe [no residence specified but actually a New Jersey resident] was employed by Jet Aviation of America, Inc. at the Teterboro Airport. There is not a single allegation in the complaint that justifies suit in the Southern District of New York. I agree with my colleagues that the district court had no personal jurisdiction over the defendants. However, I would go a step further and hold that the complaint does not even state grounds upon which a claim of jurisdiction could be based.
Rule 8 also requires that the complaint contain “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the [plaintiff] is entitled to relief.” The philosophy underlying this Rule is plainly applicable to the instant case. “If a civil rights complaint is to survive a motion to dismiss, it must make specific factual allegations indicating a deprivation of rights.” Fonte v. Board of Managers of Continental Towers Condominium, 848 F.2d 24, 25 (2d Cir.1988). Plaintiff’s complaint alleges that he was summarily discharged on the erroneous ground that he had improperly stored a jet plane too close to another plane so that both planes were damaged and that as a result he was deprived of his civil rights. This does not state a civil rights violation, and there are no other factual allegations in the complaint that do. As it stands, the complaint is fatally defective and this fact alone would warrant sanctions. Oliveri v. Thompson, 803 F.2d 1265, 1280 (2d Cir.1986), cert. denied, 480 U.S. 918, 107 S.Ct. 1373, 94 L.Ed.2d 689 (1987).
Finally, I deem it significant that plaintiff’s attorney rejected the defendants’ laudable attempts to remedy the attorney’s shoddy practices. Defense council interposed an answer on behalf of Jet Aviation of Teterboro, Inc., plaintiff’s actual employer, stating that plaintiff had incorrectly referred to it as Jet Aviation of America, Inc. Defense council also offered to stipulate transfer of the action from New York to New Jersey where it belonged. Instead of adopting these reasonable solutions to the problems he had created, plaintiff’s attorney stubbornly continued along the wrong path he had chosen.
In Cooter & Gell v. Hartmarx Corp., - U.S.-, 110 S.Ct. 2447, 110 L.Ed.2d 359 (1990), the Supreme Court stated that a district court has “broad discretion” in imposing Rule 11 sanctions. Id. at-, 110 S.Ct. at 2461. The Court said that abuse of such discretion would be found if the district court “based its ruling on an errone*1049ous view of the law or on a clearly erroneous assessment of the evidence.” Id. My colleagues say that their review of the district court’s decision to impose sanctions is in accordance with this “deferential standard.” I respectfully but strongly disagree. The conduct of plaintiff’s attorney evidenced a complete lack of respect for our trial courts. Our condonation of such conduct will only encourage its repetition. Because I believe that in their exercise of Rule 11 sanctions, our district court judges deserve greater deference from our court than Judge Broderick is receiving in the instant case, I dissent.