May 24, 2023

The mother of all abuse of process

 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.


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