No. 25-7079

Nicholas Casavelli, et ux. v. Donna Johanson, et al.

Lower Court: Arizona
Docketed: 2026-03-23
Status: Pending
Type: IFP
IFP
Tags: civil-jury-trial due-process-clause fourteenth-amendment judicial-integrity pro-se-defendants vexatious-litigant
Latest Conference: N/A
Question Presented (from Petition)

Whether a state court violates the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause by conducting a civil jury trial in the absence of pro se defendants, while one defendant is hospitalized with a documented life-threatening medical emergency (TIA/stroke and DKA), and despite the jury expressly questioning the fairness of proceeding in the defendants' absence.

1. Whether a state court judgment violates Due Process and judicial integrity under Hazel-Atlas Glass Co. v. Hartford-Empire Co. when it rests on a verdict form that was filed before deliberations concluded, lacked the foreperson's signature ("SIGNATURE UNAVAILABLE"), was declared "absent" from the record, and was subsequently replaced nunc pro tunc with a duplicate bearing conflicting timestamps.

2. Whether a state court's imposition of "vexatious litigant" pre-filing restrictions —which prevented the submission of evidence regarding fraud upon the court, attorney conflicts, or jurisdictional defects —violates the Fourteenth Amendment right of meaningful access to the courts by effectively insulating a constitutionally defective judgment from review.

Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether a state court violates the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause by conducting a civil jury trial in the absence of pro se defendants while one defendant is hospitalized with a documented life-threatening medical emergency, and whether state court judgments violate Due Process when resting on verdict forms with procedural irregularities and whether vexatious litigant restrictions violate meaningful access to courts

Docket Entries

2026-03-23
Supplemental brief of petitioner Nicholas Casavelli, et ux. filed.
2026-01-31
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due April 22, 2026)

Attorneys

Nicholas Casavelli, et ux.
Nicholas Casavelli — Petitioner