Craig John Maisonville, and James M. Dombroski v. F2 America, Inc. F2 International, Inc.

James M. Dombroski, attorney for plaintiff in the underlying lawsuit, appeals the district court’s affirmance of the magistrate’s imposition of a $1,000 sanction pur suant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 11, for filing a factually frivolous motion for reconsideration.

In the underlying case, Dombroski represented the plaintiff in a trademark infringement action against F2 America, Inc. and F2 International, Inc. The case was automatically referred to a magistrate for all pretrial proceedings pursuant to Local Rule 401-3 of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii. During pretrial proceedings, Dombroski asked the magistrate to sanction the defendant pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(d) for failure to comply with discovery. The magistrate denied Dombroski’s motion. Dombroski then filed a motion for reconsideration. The magistrate denied Dombroski’s motion for reconsideration and ordered Dombroski, sua sponte, to show cause why he, in turn, should not be sanctioned under Rule 11. The magistrate rejected Dombroski’s reasons and sanctioned him $1,000.

Dombroski then appealed the magistrate’s sanction order. In accordance with Local Rule 404-1 of the United States District Court for the…