United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 21-3826 ___________________________ Herbert A. Igbanugo Plaintiff - Appellant v. Minnesota Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility, [OLPR]; Susan M. Humiston, in her official capacity as Director of OLPR; Amy Halloran, individually and in her offical capacity as Assistant Director at OLPR; Jennifer Bovitz, individually and in her official capacity as Managing Attorney at OLPR; Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board, (LPRB); Jeannette Boerner, individually and in her professional capacity as Attorney Member at LPRB; Tommy Krause, individually and in his professional capacity as Designated Board Member at LPRB; Wilson Law Group; David L. Wilson, individually and in his official capacity as Founder and Managing Attorney at Wilson Law Group; Michael Gavigan, individually and in his official capacity as Senior Attorney at Wilson Law Group; Cassondre Buteyn, individually and in her official capacity as Co-Owner and Lead Attorney at Wilson Law Group; Eva Rodelius, individually and in her official capacity as Senior Attorney at Wilson Law Group; Aust Schmiechen, P.A.; Brian Lincoln Aust, individually and in his official capacity as Purported Expert Witness in the Onofre Case and as Founding Partner of Aust Schmiechen, P.A. Defendants - Appellees ____________ Appeal from United States District Court for the District of Minnesota ____________ Submitted: October 19, 2022 Filed: December 23, 2022 ____________ Before LOKEN, GRUENDER, and GRASZ, Circuit Judges. ____________ GRUENDER, Circuit Judge. Herbert Igbanugo sued the Minnesota Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility (“OLPR”), the Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board (“LPRB”), and associated government officials (“the state defendants”). He also sued David Wilson and his firm the Wilson Law Group, other Wilson Law Group lawyers, and Brian Aust and his firm Aust Schmiechen, P.A. (“the private defendants”). Igbanugo claims that the state defendants violated his constitutional rights and seeks declaratory and injunctive relief. Igbanugo sought Rule 11 and 28 U.S.C. § 1927 sanctions against the private defendants. The district court1 granted all defendants’ motions to dismiss and granted the private defendants’ motion for Rule 11 sanctions against Igbanugo. We affirm. I. Herbert Igbanugo is an attorney practicing immigration and international trade law in Minnesota. Igbanugo worked with defendant David Wilson in the early 2000s. Wilson left Igbanugo’s firm sometime in late 2003 or early 2004 and established the Wilson Law Group. Since then, Wilson and Igbanugo have maintained a less than amicable professional relationship and have submitted ethics complaints against each other to the OLPR. Attorneys from the Wilson Law Group represented three of Igbanugo’s past clients in a malpractice case against Igbanugo (referred to by the parties and the district court as the “Onofre case”) filed in Minnesota state court in 2016. Defendant 1 The Honorable Patrick J. Schiltz, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. -2- Brian Aust served as an expert witness for the former Igbanugo clients. The Onofre plaintiffs won a jury verdict against Igbanugo on malpractice and related breach-of- contract and fraud claims in 2017. See Cedillo v. Igbanugo, No. 27-CV-16-7603, 2017 WL 7411331 (Minn. …
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