(CN) - The 3rd Circuit closed the door on a New York attorney's judicial misconduct claims, ending more than two years of litigation against four New Jersey Superior Court judges and the state Supreme Court.
Eleanor Capogrosso had claimed that the four judges violated her rights when she was a litigant in tenancy disputes in 2001.
One Superior Court judge allegedly saw Capogrosso in the hallway with her attorney and went into the chamber of the judge she was about to appear in front of, who subsequently denied Capogrosso's motion. Such motions were routinely granted, according to Capogrosso's attorney at the time.
The 3rd Circuit upheld dismissal of Capogrosso's 21-claim lawsuit against the judges and the Advisory Committee on Judicial Misconduct, writing that she had failed to supply any factual basis for judicial conspiracy or state constitution violations.
The judges enjoy immunity because they were acting within their jurisdiction, the Philadelphia-based appellate court ruled. The lower court properly dismissed Capogrosso's action, which sued the judges in their official capacity, the per curiam opinion states.
A ruling from a New York appellate court earlier this year upheld an injunction preventing Capogrosso from filing suit without administrative court approval, in light of "repeated abuse of the judicial process and her penchant for vexatious conduct."
The defendant judges were Maurice Gallipoli, Peter Bariso, Barbara Curran and Mahlon Fast.
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