NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION
To be cited only in accordance with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1
United States Court of Appeals
For the Seventh Circuit
Chicago, Illinois 60604
Submitted October 5, 2016*
Decided February 9, 2017
Before
DIANE P. WOOD, Chief Judge
DIANE S. SYKES, Circuit Judge
DAVID F. HAMILTON, Circuit Judge
No. 15‐3593
NANCY MORROW, Appeal from the United States District
Plaintiff‐Appellant, Court for the Northern District of Illinois,
Eastern Division.
v.
No. 15 C 5846
MEGAN J. BRENNAN,
POSTMASTER GENERAL, Charles R. Norgle, Sr.,
UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, Judge.
Defendant‐Appellee.
* These appeals are successive to Morrow v. Donahoe, 564 F. App’x 859 (7th Cir.
2014), and have been submitted under Operating Procedure 6(b) to the original panel. We
have unanimously agreed to decide these cases without oral argument because the briefs
and records adequately present the facts and legal arguments, and oral argument would
not significantly aid the court. See FED. R. APP. P. 34(a)(2)(C). Finally we have substituted
the current Postmaster General as the proper defendant in this suit. See FED. R. CIV. P.
25(d).
Nos. 15‐3593, 16‐1945, & 16‐1951 Page 2
No. 16‐1945
NANCY MORROW, Appeal from the United States District
Plaintiff‐Appellant, Court for the Northern District of Illinois,
Eastern Division.
v.
No. 16 C 2342
MEGAN J. BRENNAN,
POSTMASTER GENERAL, Charles R. Norgle, Sr.,
UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, Judge.
Defendant‐Appellee.
No. 16‐1951
NANCY MORROW, Appeal from the United States District
Plaintiff‐Appellant, Court for the Northern District of Illinois,
Eastern Division.
v.
No. 15 C 6906
MEGAN J. BRENNAN,
POSTMASTER GENERAL, Charles R. Norgle, Sr.,
UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, Judge.
Defendant‐Appellee.
O R D E R
These consolidated appeals represent the latest in a series of efforts by plaintiff
Nancy Morrow to revive an employment‐discrimination suit that she lost more than four
years ago. The district court determined that claim preclusion barred her efforts.
We agree with that assessment and thus affirm the district court’s judgments. We add a
word of caution, that further frivolous efforts to continue to litigate these matters may
lead to sanctions against Morrow.
I. Prior Litigation
Over five years ago, when Morrow worked for the United States Postal Service,
she sued it for age discrimination and retaliation over a seven‐day suspension that she
received for working overtime without authorization. The district court dismissed her
complaint, but we reversed and allowed her to proceed on her claim of age
Nos. 15‐3593, 16‐1945, & 16‐1951 Page 3
discrimination. See Morrow v. Donahoe, No. 12‐2666 (7th Cir. Nov. 2, 2012). On remand,
the uncontested evidence showed that, as part of a settlement, the suspension had been
reduced to an “official job discussion.” As a result, the district court entered summary
judgment against Morrow, reasoning that she had suffered no adverse employment
action. See Morrow v. Donahoe, No. 11 C 4349, 2013 WL 3776278 (N.D. Ill. July 15, 2013).
We affirmed. See Morrow v. Donahoe, 564 F. App’x 859 (7th Cir. 2014).
Morrow responded with two new lawsuits against the Postmaster General. In the
first she alleged that she had suffered age discrimination and retaliation when, among
other things, a supervisor wrote a “threatening” letter to her about her improper use of
sick time. See Morrow v. Donahoe, No. 14 C 3614, 2015 WL 3463554 (N.D. Ill. May 29, 2015).
The district court granted summary judgment for the Postmaster General, explaining that
Morrow had not pursued her administrative remedies for her age discrimination claim
and that the letter was not an adverse employment action. In the second suit Morrow
accused an attorney for the Postal Service of violating her constitutional rights by hacking
into an administrative law judge’s email account and forging an order dismissing her
complaint before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. See Morrow v.
Donahoe, 15 C 761 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 11, 2015). The district court dismissed Morrow’s
complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction because Morrow did not properly serve the
attorney. In a consolidated decision we affirmed both judgments. See Morrow v. Brennan,
653 Fed. App’x 480 (7th Cir. 2016).
Between our first and second affirmances, Morrow filed six additional cases
against the Postmaster General. The district court ruled that, in light of her initial suit,
claim preclusion barred them all. See Morrow v. Donahoe, No. 15 C 6906 (N.D. Ill. Apr. 14,
2016); Morrow v. Donahoe, No. 16 C 2342 (N.D. Ill. Apr. 14, 2016); Morrow v. Donahoe,
No. 15 C 5155 (N.D. Ill. July 31, 2015); Morrow v. Donahoe, No. 15 C 5846 (N.D. Ill.
July 7, 2015); Morrow v. Donahoe, No. 15 C 5161 (N.D. Ill. June 24, 2015); Morrow v.
Donahoe, No. 15 C 760 (N.D. Ill. Feb. 4, 2015 ). Morrow timely appealed three of those
judgments, and we have consolidated them for decision.
II. Cases Before the Court
In the first suit on appeal (15 C 5846), Morrow alleged that a supervisor violated
her right to due process by providing a false affidavit to the district court in Morrow’s
initial lawsuit (11 C 4349). Morrow raised this identical claim in 15 C 760, one of the cases
the district court dismissed on the basis of claim preclusion and that Morrow did not
appeal.
Nos. 15‐3593, 16‐1945, & 16‐1951 Page 4
Morrow’s second suit (16 C 2342) is nearly incomprehensible. In the form
complaint, she provided no facts underlying her claim of employment discrimination.
In the portion of the form asking Morrow to state what relief she seeks, she wrote:
Direct the defendant to (specify): unlawful and personal deprivation at the
hands of the postal serv. and I am a person aggrieved. At the US employee
credit union my zip code mail was changed to 60699. The Inspector office
which almost led to repossession of my car. A change of address was put in
and my mail was forward to Logan Square post office. Financial hardship
(Mistakes in original.) Without further elaboration, she attached to her complaint various
documents from her initial lawsuit (11 C 4349).
Finally, in the third suit (15 C 6906), Morrow accused another Postal Service
attorney of interfering with a different EEOC proceeding. Similar to her allegations in
case 15 C 761, she said that an attorney had hacked into a judge’s email account to
“fraudulently deny” her complaint. Her complaint in this third suit was virtually
identical to the one she filed in case number 15 C 5161, yet another case that the district
court dismissed on the basis of claim preclusion and that Morrow did not appeal.
III. Analysis
Morrow appeals these three judgments, but she does not contend that the district
court erred in dismissing her suits. She has thus waived any appellate issue by failing to
develop any meaningful argument for our review. See FED. R. APP. P. 28(a)(8); Rahn v. Bd.
of Trustees of N. Ill. Univ., 803 F.3d 285, 295 (7th Cir. 2015).
In any case, we agree with the district court’s conclusion that claim preclusion bars
the three suits that Morrow has appealed. That doctrine prohibits “‘successive litigation
of the very same claim’ by the same parties,” Whole Womanʹs Health v. Hellerstedt, 136 S.Ct.
2292, 2305 (2016) (quoting New Hampshire v. Maine, 532 U.S. 742, 748 (2001)), as well as
litigation of claims that could have been raised during an earlier proceeding but were not.
See Bell v. Taylor, 827 F.3d 699, 706 (7th Cir. 2016). Although claim preclusion is an
affirmative defense, see FED. R. CIV. P. 8(c)(1), a district court may raise the issue sua
sponte when preclusion clearly applies. See Turley v. Gaetz, 625 F.3d 1005, 1013 (7th Cir.
2010); Kratville v. Runyon, 90 F.3d 195, 198 (7th Cir. 1996).
The first suit—about the false affidavit in her initial suit—is identical to the claim
that she presented, and the district court resolved, in 15 C 760. It is therefore claim‐
precluded. The second suit, which to the extent it is coherent attacks how the Postal
Service treated Morrow during the time before her initial suit, raises claims that she did
raise or could have raised in that suit, 11 C 4349. It is thus also barred by claim preclusion.
Nos. 15‐3593, 16‐1945, & 16‐1951 Page 5
The third suit, which concerns an attorney’s alleged hacking into a judge’s email account,
mirrors the same claim raised and decided in 15 C 5161. Consequently it too is claim‐
precluded. See Bell, 827 F.3d at 706.
Accordingly, we AFFIRM the district court’s judgment in each case. We end with
a warning. These three suits represent the sixth, seventh, and eighth times that Morrow
has sued the Postal Service or Postmaster General since 2014, when we affirmed the grant
of summary judgment against her on her initial claim of age discrimination. Morrow is
warned that further repetitious litigation arising from her Postal Service employment
would be frivolous and invite sanctions, including possible monetary sanctions that if
unpaid will lead to a circuit‐wide filing bar. See Support Sys. Int’l, Inc. v. Mack, 45 F.3d
185, 186 (7th Cir. 1995).