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3:26-cv-00396 · U.S. District Court, Middle District of Pennsylvania
Evidentiary treatment: This summarizes the plaintiff's own allegations as stated in the complaint or docket record cited below. It reflects what was filed, not a court finding, and is not a determination that the allegations are true.
Plaintiff Frank Tufano, pro se, alleges fraud, fraudulent concealment (42 Pa. C.S.A. § 5524), tortious interference, and civil conspiracy, plus a claim under 18 U.S.C. § 241 for conspiracy against his First and Seventh Amendment rights, against Paul Saladino, MD and his company Heart & Soil Supplements LLC.
He alleges Saladino copied and commercially exploited his earlier carnivore-diet research and online persona without attribution or compensation, and that Saladino, his attorney, and other unnamed parties conspired to obtain a default judgment against him in an earlier, related S.D.N.Y. case (Saladino, MD v. Tufano, No. 7:20-cv-09346). The complaint seeks economic damages equal to 15% of Heart & Soil's gross sales, estimated at no less than $6,600,600, and demands a jury trial.
This page separates court/ruling records, party filings, research classifications, secondary sources and public statements. Unknown or unresolved fields remain labelled as such.
Outcome reason: The court consolidated removed action 3:26-cv-01266 (C074) into this action, denied a default-judgment motion as premature, and ordered Tufano to show cause by June 5, 2026 regarding service. Update 2026-10-23: the free federal mirror of this docket, which until this pass held only four entries ending Feb. 18, 2026, now carries twenty-three entries running to Sept. 23, 2026, and three undecided matters appear on it. First, a report and recommendation of June 25, 2026 by Chief Magistrate Judge Daryl F. Bloom recommends that the matter be dismissed without prejudice for failure to effect proper service; the plaintiff responded on July 6, 2026 and no order adopting or rejecting it is recorded. Second, both defendants moved to dismiss on Aug. 19, 2026 and that briefing closed on Sept. 23, 2026. Third, on Sept. 2, 2026 defendant Paul Saladino moved under the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. section 1651, for an injunction deeming the plaintiff a vexatious litigant; Heart and Soil Supplements LLC joined that motion on Sept. 23, 2026. Nothing has been decided. The case was also reassigned by verbal order to Judge Joseph F. Saporito, Jr. and Chief Magistrate Judge Daryl F. Bloom for the issuance of a report and recommendation.
Research status: Source-backed complete docket-entry list (CourtListener, read 2026-10-23, twenty-three entries to Sept. 23, 2026). The vexatious-litigant motion, its proposed order and its supporting memorandum were read in full; the plaintiff's opposition and its attachment are image-only scans and were not read; the report and recommendation and the motions to dismiss are recorded by docket-entry title only.
Research notes: C061 was filed as an original federal complaint on Feb. 17, 2026 against Paul Saladino, MD and Heart & Soil Supplements LLC. A separate Lackawanna case, C032, is recorded with the same filing date; after its removal as C074, the federal court consolidated C074 into C061. Update 2026-10-03: Two caveats on this record. The free mirror for this docket was last refreshed in February 2026 and holds four entries ending Feb. 18, 2026, so it shows nothing of the May 2026 consolidation and cannot be used to confirm the current posture. Separately, the docket codes the jury demand as none, while the claims summary recorded here states that a jury trial is demanded; the discrepancy is recorded rather than resolved, because no pleading has been read on either side of it. The two recorded defendants are confirmed by the docket’s party block. Update 2026-10-23: the February 2026 mirror caveat recorded above no longer holds; the docket is now mirrored through Sept. 23, 2026 and the May 2026 consolidation is visible on it. The jury-demand discrepancy noted above is unaffected and still stands unresolved. The vexatious-litigant motion filed on this docket is recorded in VEXATIOUS_MOTIONS; its supporting papers were read in full, while the plaintiff's brief in opposition of Sept. 17, 2026 and the brief attached to it are image-only scans with no text layer. Their five pages were read on 2026-10-23 from page images rendered locally, and the grounds they raise are summarised in VEXATIOUS_MOTIONS. That summary is this project's reading of a rendered image, not a verbatim record, and nothing in those documents is quoted anywhere on this site. The opposition also makes allegations of professional misconduct against the movant's counsel; no court has adjudicated them and they are deliberately not recorded.
Strength labels are research classifications, not judicial declarations that the litigant is vexatious.
Fourteen days after a Feb. 3, 2026 R&R described three earlier Saladino-related actions (C048, C055, C059) as a trilogy raising essentially the same claims, Tufano filed C061 in M.D. Pa. against Paul Saladino, MD and Heart & Soil Supplements LLC. This entry records only the timing; it does not assert that C061 repeats the trilogy's claims.
Source — courtlistener.com ↗Sequence does not by itself prove motive or causation.
Tufano filed C061 in M.D. Pa. against Paul Saladino, MD and Heart & Soil Supplements LLC.
Source — courtlistener.com ↗A Lackawanna County Saladino case (2026-00838 / 26-cv-838) is recorded on the same date as C061.
Source — dockets.justia.com ↗The court consolidated 3:26-cv-01266 into 3:26-cv-00396, denied Tufano's default-judgment motion as premature, and ordered him to show cause by June 5 why the matter should not be dismissed for failure to effect proper service.
Source — courtlistener.com ↗Chief Magistrate Judge Daryl F. Bloom recommended that the action be dismissed without prejudice for failure to effect proper service on the defendants, with objections due July 12, 2026. The plaintiff filed a response on July 6, 2026. No order adopting or rejecting the recommendation appears on the docket.
Source — courtlistener.com ↗Defendant Paul Saladino moved under the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. section 1651, for an injunction deeming the plaintiff a vexatious litigant and requiring prior court approval for further filings against him. A memorandum in support followed on Sept. 16, the plaintiff filed a brief in opposition on Sept. 17, and the second defendant joined the motion on Sept. 23, 2026. The motion is undecided.
Source — storage.courtlistener.com ↗C061 was an original federal action filed Feb. 17, 2026 against Paul Saladino and Heart & Soil. C032 is recorded the same day; after C032 was removed as C074, the court consolidated C074 into C061.
Federal source — dockets.justia.com ↗Frank Tufano Litigation Research. "Tufano v. Saladino, MD et al (3:26-cv-00396)". Research last verified October 23, 2026. https://suedbyfranktufano.com/cases/3-26-cv-00396-tufano-v-saladino-md-et-al/