Ernest J. Franceschi, Jr., Esq. v. Kenneth Schwartz, Commissioner of South Orange County Municipal Court

Ernest J. Franceschi, Jr., a California attorney (State Bar No. 112893), appeals the judgment of the district court 1) dismissing his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action for failure to state a claim pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) and 2) awarding attorneys’ fees to the defendants pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988 . We affirm.

I.

Franceschi bases his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action upon the incidents which occurred at his arraignment in the South Orange County Municipal Court, County of Orange in June, 1992 on charges of illegally possessing more than one driver’s license and making an unsafe lane change in violation of California Vehicle Code §§ 12511 and 21658 respectively. Franceschi appeared before Commissioner Kenneth Schwartz. Prior to his appearance on that date, Franceschi had already missed one court hearing for his arraignment before Commissioner Schwartz in December, 1991. At that time, Commissioner Schwartz had issued a bench warrant for Franeeschi’s arrest and set bail at $2,500. Franceschi claims that he did not receive notice of this hearing until he received a letter informing him of the bench warrant.

During Franceschi’s hearing in 1992, Commissioner Schwartz checked Franceschi’s…