U.S. Magistrate Jonathan Goodman made an example of a pro se litigant, penning an order sanctioning Marla Martins with attorney fees and nontaxable costs after she’d turned down a $500,000 settlement, filed several “baseless” motions and rejected the court’s offer to provide counsel through its Volunteer Lawyer Program.

It was a “troubling and bitter result” for the mother of a teenager who died aboard a cruise ship in 2013, according to Goodman, but it was the only possible outcome in the judge’s eyes.