United States Second Circuit

District court judgment dismissing plaintiff's second amended complaint against various state entities and imposing sanctions on his attorneys is affirmed where: 1) the New York State Unified Court System is an arm of the state, and thus the lawsuit against it is barred as it is entitled to Eleventh Amendment sovereign immunity; and 2) the court did not abuse its discretion in imposing sanctions as plaintiff's counsel acted in bad faith, plaintiff's claims were frivolous and there was nothing improper in recovering reasonable attorney's fees from plaintiff-s counsel as a form of sanctions.

Appellate Information

• Decided 06/08/2009
• Published 06/08/2009

Judges

• JOSÉ A. CABRANES, Circuit Judge:, Before:  LEVAL, CABRANES, and LIVINGSTON, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Second Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Madeline Sheila Galvin, Galvin & Morgan, Delmar, NY, for Plaintiff-Counter-Defendant-Appellant., Kathleen M. Arnold, Assistant Solicitor General (Andrew M. Cuomo, Attorney General of the State of New York, Barbara D. Underwood, Solicitor General, Andrew D. Bing, Deputy Solicitor General, on the brief), Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York, Albany, NY, for Defendants-Appellees.