Griffin v. Brown
Docket: No. 02-2701
Court: Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit; December 16, 2003; Federal Appellate Court
Johnny Griffin alleges that a March 1999 meeting with a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) administrator led to a conspiracy to invade his privacy and damage his reputation. In his pro se lawsuit filed in May 2001, Griffin claims that after reporting misconduct by VA employees during his benefits application process, he was questioned at home by two Milwaukee police officers regarding threats he allegedly made against VA staff. The officers purportedly directed him to meet with an assistant district attorney, who attempted to coerce a confession from Griffin concerning a robbery charge for which he had been acquitted in 1988. Griffin accuses the defendants—comprising the VA administrator, a VA police officer, a VA dentist, the two police officers, and the assistant district attorney—of conspiring to monitor him through various means, including wiretapping his phone, paying individuals to surveil him, monitoring his bank activities, and implanting a tracking device in his ear. In June 2002, the district court granted Griffin leave to proceed in forma pauperis but dismissed his complaint as frivolous under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(i) and for failing to state a claim under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). Griffin’s appellate brief reiterates some factual claims but does not provide arguments contesting the district court's dismissal. Despite the liberal interpretation afforded to pro se litigants, the court found Griffin's appeal devoid of cognizable arguments and consequently dismissed it, citing Fed. R. App. P. 28(a)(9) and Anderson v. Hardman, 241 F.3d 544, 545 (7th Cir. 2001).