Burlison v. United States

75 Fed. Cl. 736, 2007 U.S. Claims LEXIS 83, 2007 WL 925349
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedMarch 22, 2007
DocketNo. 07-116C
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 75 Fed. Cl. 736 (Burlison 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
Burlison v. United States, 75 Fed. Cl. 736, 2007 U.S. Claims LEXIS 83, 2007 WL 925349 (uscfc 2007).

Opinion

ORDER

MARIAN BLANK HORN, Judge.

The plaintiff, Terry A. Burlison, filed a complaint pro se in this court claiming to have presented for payment to the Department of Justice a certified judgment against the United States for $350,000,000.00. As is discussed below, Mr. Burlison has filed numerous lawsuits in a variety of state and federal courts, based on facts related and similar to those at issue in the case before the court. In the action currently before this court, Mr. Burlison claims that the Department of Justice wrongly refused to pay an alleged judgment and demands “immediate payment of the claim and an award of costs under 28 U.S.C.A. § 2414.” For the reasons stated below, the court finds that this court is without jurisdiction to entertain plaintiffs claim and further that the plaintiff fails to articulate a claim upon which relief can be granted.

The highlights of this plaintiffs history and interactions with state and federal courts on the issues raised in the action currently before the court are as follows. In May, 2001, Mr. Burlison brought an action against the Secretary of the United States Treasury in the United States District Court for the Distriet of Columbia, alleging that the Secretary was in contempt of a United States Supreme Court writ of mandamus. According to the District Court, the plaintiff attached to his motion a document titled “WRIT OF MANDAMUS,” which was not signed by the Supreme Court and which did not include a case number. Judge Alan Kay, a United States Magistrate Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, entered an order on August 7, 2001 dismissing the action and noted that a search of Supreme Court decisions revealed that no such writ existed. Mr. Burlison appealed the decision, and on October 12, 2001, the appeal was dismissed by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Following this decision, Mr. Burlison filed a complaint in the Circuit Court for Marion County, Florida against Judge Kay, No. 03-1047-CA-K. Mr. Burlison sought damages in the amount of $350,000,000.00, alleging that “he was deprived of his constitutional right of access to the courts and his constitutional right of the use of his money ____” The clerk of the Marion County Circuit Court executed an entry in the court records, which states: “A default was entered in this action for failure to serve or file any paper as required by law.” On July 10, 2003, plaintiff also filed a document titled “Motion for Final Judgment by Default” and another document, dated July 11, 2001, titled “Order for Final Judgment of Default,” both of which Mr. Burlison himself signed. A review of the Marion County Circuit Court records indicates that neither of these documents was ever signed by a judge or clerk of the Marion County Circuit Court. On August 8, 2003, the defendant filed a notice of removal of the case to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division. The Tampa Division immediately transferred the case to the Ocala Division of the Middle District of Florida, which formally docketed the case on August 11, 2003.1 [738]*738Once in federal court, Mr. Burlison again filed a motion for a default judgment against Judge Kay. The District Court denied the motion on September 2, 2003. After various motions, including Mr. Burlison’s request for sanctions, on February 23, 2004, the United States District Court judge assigned to the case dismissed Mr. Burlison’s case, with prejudice.

On September 16, 2003, Mr. Burlison filed a Writ of Mandamus in the Florida Supreme Court requesting that the court compel the clerk of the Marion County Circuit Court to certify petitioner’s alleged $350,000,000.00 judgment. On February 25, 2004, the Florida Supreme Court transferred the case to the Marion County Circuit Court. The transfer document signed by the Florida Supreme Court specifically states:

The transfer of this case should not be construed as an adjudication or comment on the merits of the petition, nor as a determination that the transferee court has jurisdiction or that the petition has been properly denominated as a petition for writ of mandamus. The transferee court should not interpret the transfer of this case as an indication that it must or should reach the merits of the petition.

On October 21, 2004, the Marion County Circuit Court dismissed the claim, with prejudice, stating that “[t]he bottom line is no final judgment was ever entered by [the] Court in Case No. 03-1048-CA-K so there is nothing for the Respondent, Clerk of the Circuit Court, in the present case to ‘certify’ to the federal court or, for that matter, any other court.” (emphasis in original). Mr. Burlison then appealed the decision of the Marion County Circuit Court to the Fifth District Court of Appeals of Florida, which affirmed the Circuit Court’s decision, per curiam, without opinion. Burlison v. Ellspermann, 900 So.2d 569 (Fla. 5th DCA 2005).

Although Mr. Burlison had received repeated indications from the courts that he did not have a valid or enforceable judgment, attached to plaintiffs complaint filed in this court is an undated, unsigned copy of a memorandum titled “Claim for Payment to the Department of the Treasury” stating that plaintiff had received a final judgment against the United States in the amount of $350,000,000.00. Also attached to the complaint filed in this court is a copy of an ungrammatical letter dated March 17, 2004, in which the United States Department of the Treasury informed Mr. Burlison, “our Office do [sic] not accept claims, unless certified by the Department of Justice.” A March 22, 2004 memorandum from Mr. Burlison addressed to the United States Attorney General, also included as an attachment to plaintiffs complaint in this court, alleged that plaintiff had received a judgment against the United States and requested that the judgment be certified for payment. There is nothing in the record to indicate that the memorandum was received at the Department of Justice or that Mr. Burlison received a response.

Mr. Burlison then filed another action in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida on August 25, 2005, requesting an “interim award of costs” in the amount of $1640.50 for expenses incurred in his previous action against Judge Kay, along with an In Forma Pauperis application. The court dismissed the case, with prejudice, adopting the recommendation and report of a magistrate judge, who determined that the case was barred by “res judicata” and was “frivolous” because the case “is based on the false assumption that Plaintiff obtained a final judgment against Defendant in the Marion county case.”

This court also notes that Mr. Burlison has a long and litigious history in Washington State as well, including on issues similar to the Florida State and federal court litigation. In December, 1989, Mr. Burlison filed an action against Thurston County of the State of Washington and a Superior Court Judge for Thurston County in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, alleging that a Superior Court judge had violated his right to due process by refusing to enter a default judgment in a civil action he had brought against the state insurance commissioner. Burlison v. Thurston County, No. 90-35026, 1990 WL 164666, [739]*7391990 U.S.App. LEXIS 18875 (9th Cir. Oct.26, 1990).

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Bluebook (online)
75 Fed. Cl. 736, 2007 U.S. Claims LEXIS 83, 2007 WL 925349, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burlison-v-united-states-uscfc-2007.