Johnson v. Champions

• Decision Date: 02 January 2014
• Docket Number: CIVIL ACTION 12-0334-WS-M
• Parties: REGINALD JOHNSON, et al., Plaintiffs, v. RANDALL CHAMPIONS, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Alabama

REGINALD JOHNSON, et al., Plaintiffs, v. RANDALL CHAMPIONS, et al., Defendants.

CIVIL ACTION 12-0334-WS-M

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA SOUTHERN DIVISION

DONE: January 2, 2014

ORDER

This matter comes before the Court on plaintiffs' "Leave for a Motion to Determine who among the Parties of this Litigation has the Superior Title to the Property" (doc. 97), defendant City of Satsuma's Motion for Summary Judgment (doc. 99), the Harless defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment (doc. 104), and the Harless defendants' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (doc. 105). These Motions have been extensively briefed and are now ripe for disposition.¹

I. Nature of the Action.

Plaintiffs, Reginald Johnson and Shirley A. Johnson-Young, siblings who are proceeding pro se, brought this action asserting claims for federal civil rights violations (among others)against defendants, City of Satsuma (the "City"), MKH Properties, LLC ("MKH" or "MKH Properties") and Maurice Kirk Harless ("Harless").²

In their Amended Complaint (doc. 17), plaintiffs allege that defendant Harless (who owns property adjacent to plaintiffs' family's property) had erected an "illegal barricade that prevented and impeded" access to the front of plaintiffs' family home. (Id. at ¶¶ 8-9.) Plaintiffs allege that the City allowed this barricade to stand, that MKH and/or Harless caused Hilliard Drive (the road abutting the front of plaintiffs' family home) to be closed and instead constructed a road to access the home from the back, that defendants illegally moved a U.S. mailbox servicing the home, that the City turned a blind eye to plaintiffs' pleas for help, and that plaintiff Shirley A. Johnson-Young ("Johnson-Young") ultimately removed said barricade. (Id. at ¶¶ 8-25.)³ After the barricade was destroyed, the Amended Complaint alleges, plaintiffs were arrested by a City police officer, taken to the City jail, and charged with second-degree criminal mischief. (Id. at ¶¶ 28-34.) At trial, plaintiff Reginald Johnson ("Johnson") was acquitted of those charges, but plaintiff Johnson-Young was found guilty. (Id. at ¶¶ 45-46.)

On the basis of these asserted facts, plaintiffs purported to bring the following claims and causes of action in their Amended Complaint: (i) a federal constitutional claim of false arrest and false imprisonment against Randall Champions (the City police officer who took them intocustody, transported them to jail, and processed paperwork for the criminal charges) (Count I); (ii) a claim against all defendants under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 for "denial and interference of Equal Protection of the Law" (Count II); (iii) an equal protection claim against all defendants under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that plaintiffs are a "class of one" (Count III); (iv) a § 1983 claim against all defendants for an unspecified "deprivation of rights" (Count IV); (v) a § 1983 claim against all defendants for "conspiracy against rights," again without specifying the rights at issue (Count V);⁴ and (vi) a claim for violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1705 against all defendants for "tampering with the plaintiff's [sic] family's U.S. Mailbox" (doc. 17, ¶ 61) by moving it to the back of the home (Count VI).

In a responsive pleading filed on May 1, 2013, defendant MKH requested Rule 11 and "inherent powers" sanctions against plaintiffs. (Doc. 70, at 10-11.) As grounds for these requests, MKH insisted that plaintiffs' claims are "frivolous" and "without substantial justification," and that plaintiffs are pursuing them in bad faith. (Id.) On that basis, MKH sought an award of attorney's fees and an injunction imposing prospective restrictions on filings by Reginald Johnson and Shirley Johnson-Young. In that same pleading, MKH asserted state-law counterclaims against plaintiffs for breach of contract (alleging that the filing of this action breaches a settlement agreement previously entered into by MKH and Johnson), trespass (alleging that Johnson and Johnson-Young trespassed on MKH's property in late November 2009, when they destroyed MKH's privacy fence with a chainsaw and sledgehammer), conversion (alleging that Johnson and Johnson-Young committed conversion by destroying MKH's fence), trespass (alleging that Johnson and Johnson-Young trespassed on MKH's property in September 2012 and cut a road from Parcel A across two adjacent lots in Parcel B), and civil conspiracy (alleging that Johnson and Johnson-Young engaged in concerted action to commit the above-described torts).

The City, MKH and Harless have now moved for summary judgment on all of plaintiffs' claims. Plaintiffs and MKH/Harless have filed cross-motions for partial summary judgment relating to certain of MKH's counterclaims.

II. Factual and Procedural Background.⁵

A. Basic Facts Concerning the Subject Real Property.

Plaintiffs are a brother and sister who reside in Houston, Texas. (Johnson-Young Dep. (doc. 101, Exh. 2), at 105; Johnson Dep. (doc. 101, Exh. 5), at 45.) Plaintiffs' parents owned and resided on a five-acre tract of real property (referred to in the record as "Parcel A") in the police jurisdiction of Satsuma, Alabama, near the intersection of Interstate 65 and Highway 43, until their deaths in 1988 and 2000. Parcel A remains in the Johnson family, and it is undisputed that Johnson and Johnson-Young possess an ownership interest in said property.⁶ At all relevant times, a single-family dwelling has stood on Parcel A. Adjacent to Parcel A is a 28-acre tract of land known as "Parcel B," which historically was unoccupied but was crisscrossed with dirt trails, some of which were used as roads to access nearby tracts, including Parcel A. (Harless Decl. (doc. 104, Exh. 1), ¶ 5.) One of those thoroughfares was known as Hilliard Drive and provided access to the front of the Johnson family home on Parcel A. (Johnson-Young Dep., at 95-97.)

Prior to the year 2000, Parcel B was owned by nonparty Gilbert Leasing Company, Inc. Based on a dispute with Rosemary Johnson (the mother of Johnson and Johnson-Young), Gilbert Leasing initiated a lawsuit in 1997 to quiet title to the property.⁷ Such litigation was styledGilbert Leasing Company, Inc. v. Rose Mary Johnson, et al., Civil Action CV-97-3705-EBM (the "Gilbert Action"), and was filed in Mobile County Circuit Court. (Doc. 104, Exh. 4.)⁸ Johnson and Johnson-Young actively participated in the Gilbert Action. They filed pleadings, gave depositions, attended court, and otherwise considered themselves to be parties. (Johnson-Young Dep., at 42-43, 57; doc. 104, Exhs. 6-9, 11-13.) On July 6, 1998, Circuit Judge Edward B. McDermott entered a Judgment (doc. 104, Exh. 14) in the Gilbert Action (the "1998 Judgment"), finding that the deeds prepared by Reginald Johnson purporting to convey interest in Parcel B from Ernest Johnson to Rosemary Johnson "did not, in fact, vest in her any interest in the subject property." (Id., ¶ 2.)⁹

The Gilbert Action having resolved all questions of title to Parcel B, Gilbert Leasing sold the tract of land to defendant MKH Properties, LLC in December 2000. (Harless Decl., ¶ 3 & Exh. 2.) MKH (whose sole member is defendant Maurice Kirk Harless) proceeded to develop a 49-lot residential subdivision (inclusive of roads and sidewalks) called Gilbert Creek Estates on Parcel B. (Harless Decl., ¶ 6.) The subdivision's restrictive covenants called for the entire subdivision to be enclosed by a wooden privacy fence. (Id., ¶ 7.)

In October 2003, after the subdivision had been completed with paved streets, MKH erected a wooden perimeter fence, with such fence being placed entirely within the boundaries ofParcel B. (Johnson-Young Dep., at 94; doc. 101, Exh. 1, at 99-101; Harless Decl., ¶ 11.) Plaintiffs found this event traumatic and upsetting. MKH caused a truck to block Hilliard Drive, then caused stakes or posts to be placed in Hilliard Drive, blocking traffic in or out. (Johnson-Young Dep., at 80-81.) On each occasion, plaintiffs or their family members called the Satsuma Police Department, and City police officers visited the property and required MKH to remove the obstruction. (Id.) But then MKH caused a mound of dirt to block Hilliard Drive, closed the road altogether, and constructed the fence, effectively cutting off the front of the Johnson family home on Parcel A from being accessed via Hilliard Drive. (Id.) As an accommodation, MKH graded, straightened and widened a driveway on Parcel B from Powers Road to the rear of the Johnson family home, to allow access to the home. (Harless Decl., ¶ 8; doc. 104, Exhs. 27 & 28.)¹⁰ MKH also caused the mailbox servicing the Johnson family home to be moved from the front of the house (where it was no longer accessible to the U.S. Postal Service because of the closure of Hilliard Drive) to the back of the house (where the USPS could access it via Powers Road and the expanded driveway). (Johnson-Young Dep., at 81, 95-96.) Plaintiff Johnson-Young testified that MKH blocked off Hilliard Drive "without the City of Satsuma's permission to close us off." (Id. at 96.) Hilliard Drive was thereby blocked and encompassed in the Gilbert Creek Estates subdivision. (Id. at 97.) All of these events occurred in 2003, some nine years before Johnson and Johnson-Young commenced the instant lawsuit. (Id. at 94, 105; Harless Decl., ¶ 11.)

B. Plaintiffs' Litigation History Regarding Parcel B.

For whatever reason, Johnson and Johnson-Young refused to accept the 1998 Judgment that their family owned no right or interest in Parcel B. To that end, they have brought at least four lawsuits (not counting the case at bar) against MKH, the City of Satsuma, and others to contest the very same property ownership issues underlying their Complaint in this case. As discussed below, each of these previous civil actions ended with an unfavorable disposition to Johnson and Johnson-Young.¹¹

In 1999, Reginald Johnson sued Gilbert Leasing and a company called Harless/Stokke, Inc. in this District Court, in an action styled Reginald...