Opinion
Civil No. 04-71173.
May 22, 2006
OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO ENJOIN FURTHER LITIGATION BY PLAINTIFF
Defendant Compuware Corporation brings a motion requesting that this Court prevent Plaintiff Butler from filing similar suits in any other court. For the reasons below, this motion is GRANTED.
Plaintiff first sued Defendants in the Oakland County Circuit Court in 2000. Upon his dismissal on summary judgment, he appealed, and the Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's dismissal. The Michigan Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal from that decision. He then filed a suit in this Court, which I dismissed on res judicata grounds in 2004. He appealed that decision to the Sixth Circuit, which affirmed my decision. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal from that decision. He has now filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts against both Defendants on the same claims.
Defendants argue that under the All Writs Act, this Court should enjoin the litigation in Massachusetts and bar him from filing any further cases based on the same set of facts. The Sixth Circuit permits such injunctions. Terlecky v. Hurd (In re Dublin Sec.), 133 F.3d 377, 381 (6th Cir. 1997), citing Kentucky Fried Chicken Corp. v. Diversified Packaging Corp., 552 F.2d 601, 603 (5th Cir. 1977) ("there is no good reason to put a [prevailing party] to the harassment of an expensive, time-consuming procedure to prove its res judicata or estoppel claims in another court."). InTerlecky, the litigant filed an action asserting the same claims against the same defendants in state court while an appeal of the federal court's decision was pending. Id. Here, the situation is more extreme: Plaintiff has now filed the same claims for the third time, and his Complaint indicates he will likely continue to do so. Compl. at 1 ("I refuse to go quietly into the night.") Thus, under the reasoning of Terlecky, an injunction should issue this case.
As binding Sixth Circuit precedent strongly supports the issuance of an injunction in this case, I hereby GRANT it and ENJOIN Plaintiff Butler from commencing or prosecuting any action in any court against Defendant Compuware in any way relating to any of the facts, transactions or occurrences set forth in or underlying his Complaint filed in the Oakland County Circuit Court in Case No. 00-022028-CL.
IT IS SO ORDERED.