Galveston-based civil rights attorney Anthony Griffin has learned an $18,000 lesson that many local litigators know — do not get U.S. District Judge Sam Kent of the Galveston Division angry.
This Chronicle article reports on the $18,000 fine under Fed. R. Civ. P. 11 that Judge Kent recently levied against Griffin in connection with Griffin’s representation of a former Galveston Independent School District administrator in a wrongful termination-civil rights lawsuit.
As as his nature, Judge Kent did not mince words in sanctioning Griffin. He noted that the district “is currently fighting a severe and genuine economic crisis that has forced budget cuts resulting in the reduction of staff and programs.” He then observed that the money the district spent on the Boone lawsuit “does not come from a magic money tree.”

“Even a minimal investigation into the facts and the law of this case would have revealed the abject frivolity of all of plaintiff’s claims. Filing it shows either an ignorance of the law or an utter disregard for it, both of which are inexcusable.”

He went on to find that Griffin’s client’s claims were “utterly wanting in merit. This attorney, and all others similarly situated, must be made to realize that abusive manipulation of the legal system and attempts to legally extort money from public institutions, with no basis in fact or law, must and will be appropriately rebuked.”
Griffin has 30 days to pony up the $18,000.