FED APPEALS COURT FINDS AGAINST JOE KAYE IN D'AMATO / KOHLER SUIT

AFFIRMS STADTMUELLER'S RULING IN 2005 CASE

RETAINS SANCTIONS IMPOSED BY DISTRICT COURT

Special to the Readers of Milwaukeeworld

By Michael Horne

And The Milwaukee World Hound Dog Team

The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled Friday, December 4th, 2009, that the action of Joseph A. Kaye, Plaintiff-Appelant v. Michael D'Amato, et al, Defendants-Appellees in 05CV982 be dismissed.

The case involved an alleged land swap agreement and other mischief in the East Village, particularly the purchase from the City by Julilly Kohler of a city-owned vacant parcel where the soon-to-be-completed Kane Commons project is underway in the 100 block of E. Kane Place. Kohler, then-Ald. Michael D'Amato and Alterra Coffee owner Lincoln Fowler were all alleged to be conspirators along with mastermind Shirley Ferguson, a housewife on N. Warren Ave., and her alleged sidekick Jan Christenson of the neighborhood association.

The absurdity of the allegations and the unlikely acts of an unlikely cast of characters strained credulity at every level -- including, we now see, at the Federal Appeals Court level.

Kaye's initial pathetic district court filing was laughable, and the judge threw it out.

The District Court had ruled in its decision that:

• "Kaye's first complaint was so plainly lacking that the court had ample reason to dismiss it without unnecessarily expending even more time by examining fully the sufficiency of the bribery claims."

The appeals court used taxpayer money to hire a lawyer for attorney Kaye, as can be the case for pro se appellants -- even those with law degrees like Kaye [Ohio U. '94]. (Usually the appellants with court appointed attorneys are indigent or imprisoned.)

 The hired attorneys cleaned up the bewildering complaint, as far as it was possible to do so, and argued the case before the appeals court on May 20th, 2009.

Throughout the Final Order, the appeals court makes such statements as

• "Kaye's bribery allegations lack the factual support to constitute sufficiently alleged predicate acts..." 
• "Kaye's bribery allegations were wholly unsupported by factual allegations..."

Additionally, the court affirmed sanctions leveled against Kaye by the district court which, in the words of the appeals judges, was appropriate because:

"The district court stated that it was awarding sanctions because Kaye, as an attorney, filed a RICO claim that was unsupported in fact or law.

"It further stated that sanctions were appropriate because Defendants incurred considerable expenses defending Kaye's serious yet demonstrably frivolous claims."

"Congress enacted RICO to target long-term criminal activity, not as a means of resolving routine commercial disputes. ... This well-established fact should have been clear to any attorney, including Kaye, after minimal research. 

"Given the district court's thorough analysis of Kaye's obviously deficient RICO claim and its reasonable explanation for awarding sanctions, we see no reason to fine that the district court abused its discretion. Therefore, we AFFIRM."

IS THIS THE END FOR KAYE?

The decision by the appeals court should be the end of the line for this waste of time.
God help us all if this makes it to the Supreme Court.

FUN FACT: 
In the only recent Wisconsin Circuit Court case where Kaye has appeared as an attorney (one of four times since 2001) the court also heard a request for sanctions against Kaye, but denied the motion in November, 2009 after study.

--Michael Horne


DISCLOSURE:
[I lived at the adjoining Kohler-owned property at the time in a building since demolished for the Kane Commons and was as astonished as anybody (except for Kaye and a few cronies) by the absurd lawsuit and its unsupported allegations.
I also recently planted the trees and shrubs at Kane Commons alongside the developer, so go take a look at what a nice job we did. And, if anybody can find proof that non-working attorney and so-called developer Joe Kaye ever put so much as two bricks together within the last five years, please notify this department.--Ed.]

Here is a link to a list of the numerous stories about this case previously reported by The Milwaukee World Hound Dog Team.

Here is the Final Judgment of the Court.