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FOR PUBLICATION

APPELLANT PRO SE: JAMES R. LEONE New Smyrna Beach, Florida

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEES: RICHARD N. BELL AREND J. ABEL KELLEY J. JOHNSON Cohen & Malad, LLP Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
JAMES R. LEONE, ) ) Appellant-Defendant, ) ) vs. ) ) LINDA KEESLING, HAROLD LEPHART and ) PRISCILLA LEPHART, HAGAR ANDERSON, ) JAMES BRIDGES, EARL and EVELYN HAIBE, ) ESCAR APP, MABEL McGUFFEY, ) RUTH AMICK, and DORA BUTRUM, ) ) Appellees-Plaintiffs. )

No. 18A04-0510-CV-626

APPEAL FROM THE DELAWARE CIRCUIT COURT The Honorable Marianne L. Voorhees, Judge Cause No. 18C01-0202-PL-08

December 21, 2006 OPINION - FOR PUBLICATION CRONE, Judge

Case Summary James R. Leone appeals the trial court's denial of various motions and requests for attorney's fees, expenses, and contempt against Linda Keesling, and Priscilla Lephart, Hagar Anderson, James Bridges, Earl and Evelyn Haibe, Escar App, Mabel McGuffey, Ruth Amick, and Dora Butrum (collectively, "Appellees"). We affirm. Issue We consolidate and restate Leone's issues as whether he has waived review of the trial court's rulings on various matters. Facts and Procedural History A "big-picture" version of the facts giving rise to this appeal may be found in a companion case we decide today, Keesling v. Beegle, No. 18A04-0501-CV-10 (Ind. Ct. App. Dec. 21, 2006). For purposes of this opinion, we note that in 1986, Paul Rubera founded Alpha Telcom, Inc. ("Alpha"), an Oregon company that sold, installed, and maintained telephones and business systems. See S.E.C. v. Alpha Telcom, Inc., 187 F. Supp. 2d 1250, 1254 (D. Or. 2002). In 1997, Charles Tummino approached Rubera and suggested selling "payphones to individuals who would then enter into a service agreement with Alpha to install, service, and maintain the payphones." Id. Rubera consulted Alpha's attorney, Dan Lacy, who issued an opinion letter concluding that the arrangement would not constitute the sale of a security. Lacy sought an opinion from Florida attorney James Leone, who reached the same conclusion. Id., slip op. at 3. In another companion case, we recited the following facts regarding Leone's involvement with the payphone program and the procedural history leading to this appeal: Leone understood that his legal opinion "[w]as to be used to give assurance to Alpha Telcom that they were engaged in a legal business. It was issued to Paul Rubera, he specifically wanted his butt covered, you know, for criminal
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purposes as well as civil purposes ...." Leone's opinion addressed whether payphone sales constituted the sale of a security under the laws of Florida, Oregon, and the Eleventh and Ninth Circuits. In October 1998, American Telecommunications Company, Inc. ("ATC"), was created to market and sell the payphone program to investors. Leone allowed his opinion letter to be included in the manual provided to payphone program sales representatives. At the request of Ross Rambach, Leone also sent the opinion letter to individual sales representatives "who said I want to see it from an attorney." Keesling v. Winstead, No. 18A02-0601-CV-73 (Ind. Ct. App. Dec. 21, 2006), slip op. at 3 (footnotes and some quotation marks and citations omitted). In February 2002, several Appellees filed a complaint alleging violations of the Indiana Securities Act and the Indiana Corrupt Business Influence Act (RICO), as well as theft, conversion, and common law fraud. Appellees added Leone as a defendant in their first amended complaint in August 2002. Leone unsuccessfully sought removal to federal court and dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction. In March 2003, Appellees filed a second amended complaint, which Leone unsuccessfully sought to dismiss. In December 2003, Appellees filed a third amended complaint, which Leone unsuccessfully sought to dismiss. In May 2004, Appellees filed a fourth amended complaint, which Leone

unsuccessfully sought to dismiss. On May 3, 2005, Appellees moved for summary judgment against several defendants, including Leone, as to the merits of their claims and the issue of personal jurisdiction. On May 9, 2005, Leone moved for summary judgment and requested attorney's fees and

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expenses pursuant to Indiana Code Section 34-52-1-1 1 . On June 7, 2005, Appellees designated evidence in opposition to Leone's motion, including affidavits from eight of the eleven Appellees, which alleged that a payphone program sales representative showed them Leone's opinion and the payphone program sales manual and that they relied on those documents in making the decision to invest in the payphone program. See Appellant's App. at 451-72 (affidavits of Earl Haibe, James Bridges, Mabel McGuffey, Ruth Amick, Escar App, and Linda Keesling). 2 Also on that date, Leone filed an amended affidavit and brief supporting summary judgment and attorney's fees. On June 20, 2005, Leone filed a reply in which he alleged, among other things, that Appellees' affidavits were "perjurious" and conflicted with deposition testimony given by Appellees and payphone program sales

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Leone gave nine so-called "reasons" for awarding attorney's fees, of which the following is typical:

4H9. The "Stop The Flood Of Strikesuits" Message Has To Flow Up From The Plaintiffs Who Feed At The Trough Of Shotgun Deceptions. If enough Plaintiffs see news articles and hear stories from other investors about how the shady Fat Cat Big City Bullyboy "Broker Busters" lawfirms no longer give a contingency fee free ride to the crowded Courthouse Calendar, then the Tinsel Parade of Falsehood and Half Falsehood Strikesuits will cease. Instead, Plaintiffs will sue their lying lawyers and bring State Bar disciplinary actions for malpractice, solicitation/barristry/ambulance chasing, fraud on the Clients and Courts, and misuse of legal process. Only when the Courts JUST SAY NO to risk free shotgun litigation, will the intoxicating allure of "free money" from garbage strikesuits be shown up for the rotten drain it is on wallets of the Courts, taxpayers and innocent Defendants. If the Courts don't care enough to clean up the sewage clogging their dockets, the shady shysters like Mr. Bell and the monetary jackals of Cohen & Malad, the self proclaimed "Broker Busters", will come back again and again in lots of little towns. Appellant's App. at 680. Leone also took Appellees' counsel to task for soliciting their clients and for a past disciplinary action against lead counsel.
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As Leone later observed, Appellees' counsel did not carefully proofread the affidavits. In each affidavit, paragraph 3 states that a payphone program sales representative "showed me the Sales Manual and a legal opinion by James Leone. I relied on these documents in making my decision to invest in the Payphone Program." A subsequent paragraph then specifies certain information that the customer never received before investing in the payphone program. The next paragraph says, "Had I known of any of the facts stated in paragraph 3 above, I would not have purchased the Payphone Program."

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representatives. Id. at 777-78. On July 20, 2005, Leone filed a notice for expenses, fees, and contempt, in which he asserted that Appellees' affidavits were presented in bad faith and that therefore he was entitled to expenses, including attorney's fees, pursuant to Indiana Trial Rule 56(G). On July 22, 2005, the trial court held a hearing on Appellees' and Leone's summary judgment motions. On August 5, 2005, the trial court issued an order granting summary judgment in favor of Leone on the issue of personal jurisdiction and denying Appellees' summary judgment motion. The trial court also denied Leone's request for fees, expenses, and contempt. The trial court's order reads in pertinent part: 4. Leone's briefs have caused the Court great difficulty in deciding this Motion. Leone seems more concerned with saying as many negative things as he can say about opposing counsel, rather than focusing on the issues' merits. The problem is further exacerbated by Leone's minimal compliance with Trial Rule 56(C). The Court has had to search his filings to determine what exact issues Leone is raising. .... 19. Leone requested that the Court order Plaintiffs to pay his expenses for defending himself in this action. The Court declines to do so for the following reasons. 20. The issue was not a "clear-cut" decision. Trial courts must determine personal jurisdiction issues on a case-by-case basis. They are factsensitive determinations. The Court cannot find that Plaintiffs litigated this matter in bad faith or that the claim was frivolous. 21. In the alternative, the Court declines to award fees and expenses and to find Plaintiffs' counsel in contempt due to Leone's continued pattern of uncivil, personal attacks on Plaintiffs' counsel. The Court cannot condone such behavior, which does not respect this Court or fellow counsel. One who wants fees, expenses, and contempt must make this request with "clean hands." Appellant's App. at 107-08. On September 6, 2005, Leone filed a motion to supplement summary judgment record in which he offered "newly obtained" deposition transcripts that he described as
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"conclusively rebutting Plaintiffs' argument and perjurious Affidavits that Plaintiffs received and relied on the Training Manual and [Leone's] opinion therein, and conclusively showing Plaintiffs' counsel's bad faith, etc. in suing Leone." Appellant's App. at 854. 3 Also on that date, Leone filed a motion to correct error as to the trial court's denial of his request for fees, expenses, and contempt. On September 12, 2005, the trial court denied those motions. On March 3, 2006, the trial court certified the August 2005 order as a final appealable judgment pursuant to Indiana Trial Rule 56(C). Discussion and Decision Initially, we note that Leone's idiosyncratic use of outline form and abbreviations, his fondness for boldface type and capital letters, his convoluted and hyperbolic writing style, and his citations to large swaths of his appellant's appendix without further explanation have needlessly frustrated our review of his appeal. Indeed, many pages of his brief appear to have been written in code, rather than in plain English, and seem calculated to cause the maximum expenditure of time and effort to read and comprehend.4 It is extremely difficult to

In an accompanying affidavit, Leone stated that he "only recently was able to afford a copy of the ENCLOSED eight (8) Depositions transcripts (received August 20, 2005)[.]" Appellant's App. at 857. See, e.g., Appellant's Br. at 32 ("Clearly controlling caselaw preventing PJ had been discussed in the MDs (and later in the August 5, 2005 SJ denying PJ), and in Pls. April 8, 2003 Response To Leone's MD For Lack Of PJ at pages 1

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