Magistrate Judge Torres Cites Groucho!

This sanctions opinion, post-remand by the 11th Circuit, is an enervating read but not because the Magistrate Judge did a poor job with it.

To the contrary, the opinion shows restraint, judgment, and discretion.

Here's the concluding passage:

The case is the quintessential example of what the consequences are for abusing our litigation system. The genesis of this litigation was a political dispute; the intentions behind each filing lacked even a modicum of good faith and it was driven and exacerbated by negative emotions stemming from that dispute, which was then compounded by bad lawyering.

Even worse, the actual legal issues were simple and provable as a matter of law and fact very early on in the proceedings. The necessary discovery and dispositive motion practice should have been straightforward and, if utilized, would have secured Lewis a quick and positive result. What transpired, however, is quite the opposite. This lawsuit has dragged on for over seven years, generated excessive sanction motions, numerous hearings, dispostive motions, a jury trial, post-trial motions, attorney’s fees motions, and appeals ... all over the illusory residency and unremarkable credit report of one Christopher Peer.

Props to Judge Torres for his stylish Groucho quotation at footnote 10:  politics can be summarized as "the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies."

True 'dat!