From https://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/A164148.PDF:
No doubt due to the scattershot presentation of issues by Kinney,
neither party gives us a cogent explanation of the wider context behind the
events immediately at issue here. That context is illuminating. [...]
1. The Ferndale Cases
Stated generally, the pertinent facts are as follows. Eighteen years
ago, Clark had the misfortune of selling a home to Kinney and Kempton in
the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. (Kinney v. Clark, supra,
12 Cal.App.5th at p. 727.) What began as a dispute over a fence and some
purported easements led to multiple lawsuits in Los Angeles County Superior
Court by Kinney and Kempton against Clark, various Silver Lake neighbors,. [...]
There is no question Kinney was the ringleader in all of this. A Second
District Court of Appeal panel observed in 2011 that “[w]ith Kinney at the
helm, Kempton has pursued six lawsuits in Los Angeles Superior Court over
the last five years. All of the lawsuits relate to real property owned by
Kinney and Kempton (the K’s), located on Fernwood Avenue in the Silver
Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles . . . . The K’s have continually—and
resoundingly—lost their cases in the trial courts. As one trial judge aptly
wrote in a statement of decision, Kinney is ‘a relentless bully’ who displays
‘terrifying arrogance’ by filing ‘baseless litigation against the City and its
citizens.’ ” (In re Kinney, supra, 201 Cal.App.4th at p. 953.)
2. The Federal Litigation and the Vexatious Litigant Orders
After suing unsuccessfully in state court, Kinney and Kempton filed a
series of equally unmeritorious actions in federal court attempting to
relitigate issues they previously lost in state court. As judgment after
judgment in these cases went against them, the federal litigation snowballed into a series of actions against Clark’s attorneys3 and various official actors
who were involved with the litigation and the subsequent disciplinary
proceedings, including the State Bar,4 members of the Second District Court
of Appeal panels that rejected the appeals in the Ferndale cases,5 a federal
district court judge,6 and every member of the California Supreme Court who
voted on denials of review in those cases.7
There were dozens of these satellite federal actions.
The opinion continues in this vein.
Amazing.
