Frivolous Appeal and Attorney Fees.

• Author: Hawkins, Derek
• Position: Melvin D. Reed v. PF of Milwaukee Midtown, LLC,

Byline: Derek Hawkins

7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Melvin D. Reed v. PF of Milwaukee Midtown, LLC,

Case No.: 20-3057

Officials: EASTERBROOK, KANNE, and ST. EVE, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Frivolous Appeal and Attorney Fees

Melvin Reed applied for a job at Planet Fitness of Milwaukee. When it did not hire him, he filed with the EEOC a charge of age discrimination. After the agency found a lack of support for that charge, Reed sued under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. 62134.

The clerk of court returned Reed's complaint, unfiled. In 2012 the district court had issued a litigation-bar order based on Reed's history of frivolous suits. Reed v. Lincare, Inc., No. 11-C-221 (E.D. Wis. Nov. 21, 2012). The judge concluded that Reed sent off many employment applications every year. If hired, he worked for a short time before giving the employer cause to fire him, then asserted discrimination. If not hired, he asserted that this, too, was discriminatory. After suing, Reed made settlement demands based on the cost to defendants of defending the suit rather than a plausible estimate of the likelihood that he would prevail. The judge directed Reed to pay a sanction of $5,000 and enforced it by preventing further litigation in federal court until the money had been paid. We affirmed both the order dismissing the suit and the sanction. Reed v. Lincare, Inc., No. 12-3782 (7th Cir. July 30, 2013) (nonprecedential disposition). An earlier...