Milton I. Shadur
Lawyers representing a man in a dispute over sports trading cards are “major-league scofflaws,” a federal judge has concluded.
In a written opinion last week, U.S. District Judge Milton I. Shadur directed Kevin M. Gallaher or another attorney with Brooks, Trulis, Tibble LLC in Naperville to appear in court Feb. 5 to explain why the firm shouldn’t be sanctioned for its “ongoing and repeated noncompliance” with his orders.
Shadur issued those orders in litigation between the firm’s client, Anthony Swiatek, and Brandon Babich. Both men market trading cards.
Over the course of five months, Shadur wrote in Friday’s opinion, Swiatek’s lawyers flouted orders to pay a fine and to compensate Babich’s counsel after failing to appear in court for a status hearing.
Swiatek’s lawyers also missed the deadline for responding to a counterclaim filed by Babich, Shadur wrote, and then filed an answer that included several flaws.
“This court is of course well aware that its own signature is scarcely a collector’s item — it has, after all, appeared on its judicial orders thousands of time (to say nothing of the fact that modern science often affixes such signatures electronically rather than manually),” wrote Shadur, who has served on the federal trial bench for more than 35 years.
“But the fact that such signatures are obviously not grist for any signature collectors’ mills clearly does not strip them of force.”
Gallaher could not be reached for comment.
The lead attorney for Babich is Kyle D. Rettberg of Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg LLP. He declined to comment.
In a lawsuit filed in August, Swiatek alleged Babich failed to pay him $485,000 for obtaining what Shadur described in his opinion as “five extraordinarily valuable” cards autographed by Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby during his rookie NHL season.
Babich filed a counterclaim accusing Swiatek of failing to deliver certain other trading cards worth $331,605 and of failing to pay him an additional $14,675 owed from other transactions.
Two weeks after Swiatek filed his suit, Shadur directed him to pay a $100 fine for failing to comply with a local court rule requiring lawyers to deliver paper copies of any court filing to the judge presiding over the case.
Shadur upped the fine to $300 in November when it remained unpaid.
After Swiatek’s lawyers didn’t show up for a Dec. 2 status hearing, Shadur reset the proceeding and ordered the lawyers to pay the fees of Babich’s counsel for having to appear in court a second time.
Babich’s lawyers filed a motion seeking a default judgment on their client’s counterclaim when Swiatek’s lawyers didn’t respond to it.
Babich’s lawyers withdrew the motion after Swiatek’s lawyers filed an answer.
But citing deficiencies in the answer, Shadur struck it and gave Swiatek’s lawyers an opportunity to file an amended version.
Shadur issued Friday’s opinion after reviewing the case docket and discovering that Switek’s lawyers haven’t paid the fine or, apparently, the fees of Babich’s counsel.
The case is Anthony Swiatek v. Brandon Babich, No. 15 C 7570.