David Randall Kunkleman v. Dena Marie Kunkleman, et al.

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Florida
DecidedOctober 15, 2025
Docket3:25-cv-01872
StatusUnknown

This text of David Randall Kunkleman v. Dena Marie Kunkleman, et al. (David Randall Kunkleman v. Dena Marie Kunkleman, et al.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
David Randall Kunkleman v. Dena Marie Kunkleman, et al., (N.D. Fla. 2025).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA PENSACOLA DIVISION

DAVID RANDALL KUNKLEMAN,

Plaintiff,

v. Case No. 3:25cv1872-TKW-HTC

DENA MARIE KUNKLEMAN, et al.,

Defendants. ________________________________/ REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

Plaintiff David Randall Kunkleman, proceeding pro se, has filed a civil rights complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Doc. 1) and a litany of motions (Docs. 3, 6, 8, 10-12) related to the state court proceedings that dissolved his marriage and required him to pay child support. He has also filed a motion to proceed in forma pauperis. Doc. 13. After reviewing the complaint, the undersigned finds: (1) it fails to comply with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; (2) the requests for declaratory and injunctive relief are barred by Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37 (1971); (3) it fails to state a claim for relief under federal law; and (4) it sues state agencies who are immune from suit under the Eleventh Amendment. Thus, this case should be DISMISSED without prejudice and the pending motions should be terminated as MOOT. I. Background Kunkleman sues the following Defendants: (1) his ex-wife, Dena Marie

Kunkleman (“Ms. Kunkleman”); (2) Ms. Kunkleman’s attorney, Angela Guttmann; (3) the Guttmann Law Firm; (4) Ms. Kunkleman’s parents, Joe and Susan Badeaux; (5) the Florida Department of Revenue (“FDOR”); (6) the Santa Rosa County Clerk

of Court & Comptroller, Jason English; (7) the Florida Department of Children and Families (“DCF”); (8) DCF Investigator Paris; and (9) ten John/Jane Does. In October 2023, Ms. Kunkleman filed a petition for dissolution of marriage. See Santa Rosa County Case No. 2023 DR 1716. The state court entered a final

judgment of dissolution on July 2, 2025. Kunkleman’s complaint in this case sets forth the following allegations regarding the state court proceedings, many of which are vague and disjointed:

• In 2024, Kunkleman paid $19,838 in direct support “which was ignored, creating phantom arrears.” • Guttman threatened Kunkleman with contempt and jail on February 6, 2025, “despite unrebutted affidavit of impossibility.” • A “parallel IV-D action” was opened in June 2025 despite the ongoing proceedings in state court, which Kunkleman claims constitutes “double enforcement.” • During an unspecified proceeding in state court, a bailiff muted Kunkleman’s microphone and threatened him. • The July 2025 final judgment “imposed contradictory child-support figures ($6,550.40 vs. $5,030.40 worksheets).” • Kunkleman filed “affidavits of financial impossibility” on July 11 and September 15 of 2025 showing he had a net income of $1,818 per month; these affidavits were “unrebutted but ignored.” • In July and August of 2025, the FDOR issued a certification for passport denial, a delinquency notice, and a notice of driver’s license suspension, “all on false arrears.” • On September 12, 2025, Ms. Kunkleman submitted a proposed order seeking to impose a $15,000 contempt purge despite Kunkleman’s “affidavit of financial impossibility” and “without lawful findings of ability to pay.” The proposed order “exemplifies the pattern of attempting to enforce phantom arrears through coercive sanctions.” • In an October 2, 2025 affidavit, a paralegal who worked at the law firm that previously represented Kunkleman indicated the firm submitted a financial affidavit to the court which mistakenly listed Kunkleman’s gross sales rather than net income. • At some unspecified time, a DCF Investigator named “Paris” refused to provide his “name/ID/email,” mocked Kunkleman by asking “English or Spanish,” and demanded an in-home visit. • “Federal preservation notices and transparency filings were docketed and ignored.” • Kunkleman’s Social Security number “was submitted in duplicative IV-D certifications tied to false arrears.” • Kunkleman’s obligations “were securitized or reimbursed through Treasury flows, concealed by refusal to produce ledgers and FOIA records.” • A “Global Damages Rider preserved over 100 frauds … suppressed in state court, and establishes self-executing damages of $17,451,747.17 escalating to $174,510,747.17 with treble damages and $1,000/day sanctions.” The Rider “further preserves a two-year role-reversal remedy: obligations wrongfully enforced against [Kunkleman] must be reversed in kind for the same period, requiring [Ms. Kunkleman] to bear the burdens fraudulently imposed.”

Based on the foregoing, Kunkleman brings eight claims, which will be described below. As relief, he seeks a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction “halting all enforcement and contempt actions pending audit”; a “declaratory judgment voiding phantom arrears enforcement as unconstitutional”; a rescission of driver’s license and passport sanctions; an order compelling production of certain documents; monetary damages; the return of silver purportedly possessed

by Ms. Kunkleman’s parents; and an order requiring “a two-year role reversal” whereby Ms. Kunkleman assumes the responsibilities imposed on him by the final judgment. Doc. 1 at 4-5.

II. Discussion For the reasons discussed below, this action should be sua sponte dismissed without prejudice. First, Kunkleman’s complaint fails to comply with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Second, his claims for declaratory and injunctive relief

are barred by Younger because they would interfere with the ongoing state court proceedings. Third, he has failed to state a claim for relief under federal law. And finally, he sues state agencies immune from suit.

A. Kunkleman’s complaint fails to comply with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Kunkleman’s complaint does not comply with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure because it is an impermissible shotgun pleading. The complaint is a shotgun pleading because it asserts “multiple claims against multiple defendants without specifying which of the defendants are responsible for which acts or omissions, or which of the defendants the claim is brought against.” See Weiland v. Palm Beach Cnty. Sheriff’s Office, 792 F.3d 1313, 1323 (11th Cir. 2015). Only two Counts in the complaint specify which Defendants the claim is being brought against—the First Amendment claim against DCF Investigator Paris and the conversion claim against the Badeauxes. Doc. 1 at 3-4. The other six Counts

provide no indication as to which Defendant or Defendants the Counts implicate. And the complaint suggests Defendant English, the Santa Rosa County Clerk, is being sued “for prospective injunctive relief regarding docketing and records

practices” (Doc. 1 at 2), but there are no allegations in the complaint regarding English or those practices. Shotgun pleadings violate the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure because “they fail to one degree or another, and in one way or another, to give the defendants

adequate notice of the claims against them and the grounds upon which each claim rests.” Weiland, 792 F.3d at 1323. Because Kunkleman’s complaint is a shotgun pleading, it is subject to dismissal.1 See Vibe Micro, Inc. v. Shabanets, 878 F.3d

1291, 1295 (11th Cir.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Danny Adams v. State of Florida
185 F. App'x 816 (Eleventh Circuit, 2006)
Meredith T. Raney, Jr. v. Allstate Insurance Co.
370 F.3d 1086 (Eleventh Circuit, 2004)
Nicholson v. Shafe
558 F.3d 1266 (Eleventh Circuit, 2009)
Younger v. Harris
401 U.S. 37 (Supreme Court, 1971)
Griffin v. Breckenridge
403 U.S. 88 (Supreme Court, 1971)
Haines v. Kerner
404 U.S. 519 (Supreme Court, 1972)
Papasan v. Allain
478 U.S. 265 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
James Russell Stevens v. Opal Gay
864 F.2d 113 (Eleventh Circuit, 1989)
Mark D. Davis v. Gilbert Porterfield Self
547 F. App'x 927 (Eleventh Circuit, 2013)
Armstrong v. Exceptional Child Center, Inc.
575 U.S. 320 (Supreme Court, 2015)
Derrick Bailey v. Major Tommy Wheeler
843 F.3d 473 (Eleventh Circuit, 2016)
Cynthia Nunez Collier v. R.L. Butch Conway
672 F. App'x 950 (Eleventh Circuit, 2016)
William A. White v. William Berger, Sr.
709 F. App'x 532 (Eleventh Circuit, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
David Randall Kunkleman v. Dena Marie Kunkleman, et al., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/david-randall-kunkleman-v-dena-marie-kunkleman-et-al-flnd-2025.