Appeal court SHAMES attorney for horrific appeal brief

The Seventh Circuit on Thursday refused to revive a former Mars warehouse worker's discrimination suit, saying her appeal was a "shameful waste of judicial resources" and demanding her attorney explain why he shouldn't be sanctioned.

The three-judge panel said in its opinion that Edith McCurry's appeal in her suit against candy manufacturer Mars Inc. and Kenco Logistics Services, which managed the warehouse where she worked, was "utterly frivolous," and that her "monstrosity of an appellate brief" was "incoherent."

The court found that Jordan T. Hoffman, McCurry's attorney, violated two of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure when he signed onto the brief, and ordered him to demonstrate why he shouldn't be sanctioned. The panel noted it was also sending a copy of its opinion to the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission.

"The patently frivolous nature of this appeal isn't the only thing that troubles us," U.S. Circuit Judge Diane S. Sykes wrote in the panel's opinion. "The hopelessness of McCurry's cause didn't deter her lawyer, Jordan Hoffman, from signing and submitting a bizarre appellate brief laden with assertions that have no basis in the record and arguments that have no basis in the law."

The panel ruled that the district court correctly deemed Mars and Kenco's statements in their bid for summary judgment to be admissions of fact, since McCurry, who was pro se at the time, violated the local rule governing summary judgment motions in numerous ways.

Thus, the record before the Seventh Circuit was limited to the evidentiary submissions from the businesses, the panel said, ultimately concluding that McCurry's claims that she was discriminated against for her race, sex, age and disability were baseless.

While McCurry claimed that Kenco discriminatorily paid a white male co-worker more than her, he had extensive managerial responsibilities, unlike her, the panel noted.

And McCurry's allegations that the company discriminatorily hired a younger white woman to be human resources manager instead of her were doomed by the fact that she never applied for the job, the panel held, among other things.

The panel was also unpersuaded by McCurry's claims that she was discriminated against for her disability, saying it was unclear how issues she had with her COBRA health insurance violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Further, since the court found in favor of the companies on the employment discrimination claims, McCurry's allegation that they conspired to violate her civil rights failed as well, the panel said.