The Missouri Supreme Court has order a St. Louis attorney to "personally deliver a detailed letter of apology" to a circuit court judge after the attorney filed a "frivolous" lawsuit.

John F. Washington has been placed on a one year probation and ordered to apologize to St. Louis City Circuit Judge Michael F. Stelzer after it was determined Washington "engaged in serious professional misconduct by filing a frivolous lawsuit" against two judges "without any basis in law or fact."  

"(Washington)'s misconduct interfered with and caused harm to the administration of justice by disrupting the flow of criminal cases in the St. Louis City Circuit Court," the brief said.

The basis of the lawsuit goes back to 2016 when Washington filed suit charging Stelzer, two St. Louis attorneys and his ex-wife of conspiracy with respect to the 2007 dissolution of his marriage.

Washington's suit was dismissed in 2017 on grounds that judges are "completely and absolutely immune from civil lawsuits based on claims of misconduct during the performance of their judicial duties," the brief said.

According to news reports, Stelzer testified before a hearing committee that Washington's lawsuit made it "very difficult, if not impossible" for him to hear any cases pending before him, according to the brief.

—Source: stlrecord.com