Team Kimberlin Post of the Day

The Dread Pro-Se Kimberlin’s legal writing style is … well, it’s verbose. Here’s something Mark Singer noted at the beginning of Chapter 23 in Citizen K:

In February 1984, a 273-page appellant’s brief in the matter of U.S. v. Kimberlin was delivered to the clerk of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. … This hernia-inducing brief grossly overshot the fifty-page maximum length permitted by the court, and it was rejected by the senior staff attorney of the Seventh Circuit without receiving even a cursory reading.

The Local Rules for the U. S. District Court for the District of Maryland impose a similar 50-page limit on court papers. A judge’s permission is required for a longer filing. TDPK’s original complaint and first amended complaint in the Kimberlin v. The Universe, et al. RICO Madness just barely exceeded that limit. His second amended complaint ran for 82 pages. Judge Hazel has specifically ordered that Kimberlin’s omnibus response to all of the motions to dismiss his second amended complaint shall not exceed 50 pages.

Which brings us to today’s poll.

11 thoughts on “Team Kimberlin Post of the Day


  1. Either his legal writing is the work of someone careless and untrained, or it is the work of someone deliberately trying to sound nutty. He will “go long” on the new document and he will add additional charges and dubious legal citations which are not “on point.” If he was a lawyer, he’d be incompetent. As a pro se vexatious litigant trying to burn up your time, he has sadly been successful.
    This phrase must be said in open court soon:
    “Thank you, your honor. How about ordering Mr. Kimberlin pay our fees?”


  2. I once read that crime novelist James Ellroy edited a novel to meet his agent’s or publisher’s requirements by removing all of the verbs. I wonder if our lest favorite litigant might use that same device to get close to his 50-page limit? If he did that, I wonder if the response might be more intelligible?


  3. I voted for “within the 50-page limit.” After all, he doesn’t have 50 pages of good arguments to submit.


    • That fact won’t preclude him from later claiming that because he had to file 50 pages of necessary arguments it precluded him from filing the 51st page that would have been pure brilliance.

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