A federal judge on Monday ordered a self-represented plaintiff to pay $5,000 for a string of offensive actions, including his treatment of a female attorney, meritless motions and refusal to correct his conduct after being warned.

Although U.S. District Court Senior Judge Raymond P. Moore did not cite Ethan West-Helmle’s attacks on him — which resembled the disrespectful tone West-Helmle took with opposing counsel — Moore noted the problematic behavior was well outside the norm.

“Without restating the offending statements here, the Court notes that Plaintiff has persisted in making inappropriate and disrespectful statements to opposing counsel despite admonishment by the Court,” Moore wrote in an Aug. 12 order. “Plaintiff’s relentless filing of baseless and duplicative motions sets this case apart from the vast majority of civil matters that have come before this Court.”

West-Helme filed suit against the Denver District Attorney’s Office, University of Denver and others to litigate a negative experience he had as a law student. Ultimately, the lawsuit boiled down to a single claim of retaliation against DU following West-Helmle’s unsuccessful semester working with the DA’s office that allegedly related to his disability.

Representing himself, West-Helmle made numerous filings that referred to the university’s lawyers or employees in personal terms:

• He claimed one of DU’s attorneys sent the other “to rehab”

• He referred to the male attorney as “Mr.” while calling the female attorney by her first name

• Referring to a female DU administrator, West-Helmle wrote, “some women never change, especially the bad ones. Bad girls get sued. Bad girls get jailed”

West-Helmle also denigrated Moore by:

• Calling him “Mr. Moore” or “Raymond”

• Labeling Moore a “former” judge and “retired old curmudgeon”

• Claiming, incorrectly, that Moore “tricked” him about the number of allowable pages he could submit

• He likened Moore and opposing counsel to “school boys, children”

They further observed U.S. Magistrate Judge Scott T. Varholak, who was also assigned to the case, slammed West-Helme at a hearing for claiming without evidence there was “some sort of conspiracy” because Varholak’s son was friends with the son of a DU administrator. West-Helme had argued Varholak would naturally not want to “share his personal space with a boy while throwing his father in jail” — even though the DU administrator was not a defendant and the case was not a criminal matter.

“This Court simply cannot allow Plaintiff to continue to raise these false, defamatory, and shocking personal attacks against defense counsel,” DU’s lawyers wrote in asking Moore to sanction West-Helmle.

“Plaintiff is not misogynistic. Plaintiff respects all women,” West-Helmle wrote in response to the motion for sanctions, while continuing to refer to the female DU attorney by her first name.

As for Moore, West-Helmle wrote he “truly believed” Moore was no longer a judge, attaching a Colorado Politics article as the source of his misunderstanding. The article, from 2022, accurately reported Moore was stepping down from active service to become a senior judge who handles cases part time.

Moore agreed with DU that West-Helmle’s conduct in litigating his case generated unnecessary costs to the university.

“Based on the examples cited by Defendant and the Court’s familiarity with the content and tone of Plaintiff’s numerous filings in this case over the course of nearly five years, the Court agrees that a sanction is appropriate,” Moore wrote in imposing the $5,000 penalty.

In the remainder of his order, Moore ended the lawsuit in DU’s favor after concluding West-Helmle failed to demonstrate DU took a negative employment action against him when he objected to discriminatory treatment on the basis of his disability.

DU’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.

West-Helmle told Colorado Politics that Moore’s reasoning was “seriously flawed” and a “sham.”

“He hates me because I asked him to be recused,” West-Helmle wrote in an email. “He acts here like a small child who knows in the least he will be overturned.”

The case is West-Helmle v. University of Denver.