Beach v. United States

68 Fed. Cl. 289, 2005 U.S. Claims LEXIS 307, 2005 WL 2746553
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedOctober 24, 2005
DocketNo. 05-1111C
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 68 Fed. Cl. 289 (Beach v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beach v. United States, 68 Fed. Cl. 289, 2005 U.S. Claims LEXIS 307, 2005 WL 2746553 (uscfc 2005).

Opinion

[290]*290ORDER

HORN, Judge.

Before the court are plaintiffs’ application to proceed in forma pauperis under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a) (2000) and plaintiffs’ complaint. The plaintiffs’ pro se complaint is titled a “Petition Demand for Emergency Execution of Automatic Stay; Joinder Complaint for Damages and Just Compensation.” In their complaint, the plaintiffs seek more than $1.6 billion in damages on eight counts, each of which attempts to allege a taking of plaintiffs’ private property without just compensation. The plaintiffs’ application to proceed in forma pauperis is incomplete. Specifically, the plaintiff, Galen Beach states that he is employed, but fails to list his employer or his salary as required by the application. In order to provide a rapid response to plaintiffs’ complaint and in the interest of judicial economy, but solely for the limited purpose of addressing whether this court has jurisdiction to consider plaintiffs’ complaint, the court will allow the plaintiffs to proceed without having paid a filing fee. As is discussed below, however, this court is without jurisdiction to address the plaintiffs’ claims and the plaintiffs’ complaint must be dismissed.

FACTS

The facts relevant to this case are taken from the plaintiffs’ complaint and the court documents in United States v. Galen Renee Beach, No. 05-10056-01 (D. Kan. filed Apr. 6, 2005) and United States v. Vickie Lynn Beach, No. 05-10056-02 (D. Kan. filed Apr. 6, 2005), filed in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas, Wichita. On April 6, 2005, Galen and Vickie Beach were indicted by a grand jury on several criminal counts. Specifically, Galen Beach was indicted on: two counts of mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341^2; one count of making a false declaration in connection with the filing of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 152(3); and one count of knowingly using a false Social Security account number in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 408(a)(7)(B). Vickie Beach was indicted on: two counts of mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341-42; one count of making a false declaration in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 152(3) in connection with the filing of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition; and one count of knowingly using a false Social Security account number in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 408(a)(7)(B). See Indictment at 1, United States v. Galen Renee Beach, No. 05-10056-01 (D.Kan. Apr. 6, 2005).

According to the indictment, the counts against the Beaches arose from their bankruptcy petition filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court, Wichita, Kansas. The indictment alleged that on their petition the plaintiffs knowingly and intentionally provided Social Security numbers not assigned to them. After being notified that they had listed incorrect numbers, the plaintiffs filed an amended page one of their petition upon which they provided their true Social Security numbers. The indictment further alleged that on or about July 10, 2003, the plaintiffs filed a false and fraudulent UCC 1 Financing Statement with the Kansas Secretary of State’s office claiming they had a “summary judgment” in the amount of $500,000.00 against J. Michael Morris, a United States Trustee assigned to serve as the Trustee in the plaintiffs’ bankruptcy case. The indictment also alleged that on or about March of 2004, using a “bogus, false and fraudulently generated ‘arbitration award’ ” in the amount of $500,720.00 and another in the amount of $1,500,535.67 from the “so-called Western Arbitration Council,’” the plaintiffs made a false claim against the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company surety bond maintained by the Trustee for Region 20. The bond was intended to protect against any negligent or unlawful conduct on the part of the United States Trustees. After learning that the plaintiffs’ arbitration award was false, Liberty Mutual denied the plaintiffs’ claim.

On May 2, 2005, Vickie Beach entered into a plea agreement with the United States Attorney for the District of Kansas. Pursuant to the plea agreement, Mrs. Beach plead guilty to count three of the indictment against her, which charged a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 152(3), bankruptcy fraud. In re[291]*291turn, the United States Attorney agreed not to prosecute Mrs. Beach for the other charges set forth in the indictment. At sentencing on her guilty plea, Mrs. Beach was sentenced to three months imprisonment and two years probation.

Galen Beach did not enter into a plea agreement with the United States Attorney, but, instead, chose to go to trial. On August 25, 2005, a jury found Mr. Beach guilty of two counts of mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341-12 and one count of bankruptcy fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 152(3). Sentencing on Mr. Beach’s convictions is scheduled for November 14,2005.

On October 14, 2005, the plaintiffs filed a complaint in this court alleging a violation of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Specifically, the plaintiffs’ complaint states that the actions of the United States against the plaintiffs constitute “a taking within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution” and “a taking within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.” Although the complaint also alleges violations of multiple treaties, constitutions, and other laws, the plaintiffs’ complaint appears to be based on an argument that the United States District Court in Wichita, Kansas failed to establish personal jurisdiction over the plaintiffs. Specifically, the plaintiffs state in their complaint that:

The Belligerent Defendant the United States of America via the Wichita Kansas Federal District Court through the Belligerent Insurgent Defendants Magistrate Judge Bostwick and the Administrative Judge Monti L. Belot and Magistrate Karen Humphreys are acting in this criminal case without Proper Jurisdiction. The evidence record in both criminal cases the United States of America v. Galen Renee Beach Case number 05-10056-01-MLB and the United States of America v. Vickie Lynn Beach Case number 05-10056-02-MLB is absent of evidence establishing the existence of jurisdiction over the person of the Plaintiffs galen renee beach and vickie lynn beach, (all capitalization and grammatical errors in original)

During the criminal proceedings in Wichita, Kansas, the plaintiffs also raised their lack of personal jurisdiction argument. On April 18, 2005, the plaintiffs filed affidavits arguing, among other things, that the Kansas District Court lacked personal jurisdiction. Attached to their affidavits was a document titled “Crimes against the U.S.

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Bluebook (online)
68 Fed. Cl. 289, 2005 U.S. Claims LEXIS 307, 2005 WL 2746553, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beach-v-united-states-uscfc-2005.