Hill v. Johnson

CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedMay 21, 2021
Docket3:20-cv-00895
StatusUnknown

This text of Hill v. Johnson (Hill v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hill v. Johnson, (M.D. Fla. 2021).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA JACKSONVILLE DIVISION

JEFFREY LANCE HILL, SR., etc.,

Plaintiff,

v. Case No. 3:20-cv-895-TJC-PDB

LEANDRA G. JOHNSON, etc., et al.,

Defendants.

ORDER AND INJUNCTION In the past two decades, pro se Plaintiff Jeffrey Lance Hill, Sr. has filed numerous lawsuits in this district and in Florida’s Third Judicial Circuit pertaining to a grievance from fifteen years ago. (See Docs. 6, 9, 25). This case is Mr. Hill’s most recent attempt to re-litigate those issues. Like Mr. Hill’s prior cases, this case must be dismissed, and Mr. Hill will be prohibited from filing similar lawsuits in this Court in the future. I. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Several motions are pending before the Court: Suwannee River Water Management District’s 1 Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s Complaint With Prejudice (Doc. 4) and Motion for Injunctive Relief to Limit Plaintiff’s Future

1 The Court refers to Suwannee River Water Management District as “the District” in this Order. Filings (Doc. 5); Mr. Hill’s Motion for Default Judgment (Doc. 20); Defendant Jennifer B. Springfield’s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s Complaint With

Prejudice (Doc. 22) and Motion for Injunctive Relief to Limit Plaintiff’s Future Filings (Doc. 24); Defendants the Honorable Leandra G. Johnson, the Honorable Gregory S. Parker, and the Honorable William F. Williams, III’s Motion to Dismiss Complaint With Prejudice (Doc. 28); Defendant Columbia

County’s Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 33); and Defendants Joel F. Foreman, City of Lake City, and Michael Smallridge’s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s Complaint With Prejudice (Doc. 34). The District responded in opposition to the motion for default judgment

(Doc. 23). Mr. Hill responded in opposition to the District’s motion to dismiss (Doc. 29), to Ms. Springfield’s motion to dismiss (Doc. 30), to Judge Johnson, Judge Parker, and Judge Williams’s motion to dismiss (Doc. 32), to Lake City, Mr. Foreman, and Mr. Smallridge’s motion to dismiss (Doc. 38), and to

Columbia County’s motion to dismiss (Doc. 39). The Court granted Defendants’ Joint Motion to Stay Discovery and Hold in Abeyance Case Management Conference and Reporting Requirements (Doc. 35) on October 30, 2020. (Doc. 37). This case has been stayed since that time, pending resolution of the

dispositive motions. Mr. Hill recently filed a Motion to Vacate Stay (Doc. 41), to which Columbia County, the District, and Judges Johnson, Parker, and Williams responded in opposition (Docs. 41, 42, 43). Mr. Hill has filed numerous lawsuits nearly identical to this one. In 2006, Mr. Hill filed a lawsuit in Florida’s Third Judicial Circuit in and for Columbia

County about what he viewed as improper government action related to his farm. Suwannee River Water Mgmt. Dist. v. El Rancho No Tengo, Inc., No. 06- 203-CA. The decision dismissing that case was affirmed by the Florida First District Court of Appeal. El Rancho No Tengo, Inc. v. Suwannee River Water

Mgmt. Dist., 6 So. 3d 56 (Table), No. 1D08-2568, 2009 WL 401605 (Fla. 1st DCA Feb. 19, 2009). Since then, Mr. Hill has repeatedly sought to challenge those decisions with lawsuits in this Court. See Hill v. Suwannee River Water Mgmt. Dist., No. 3:15-cv-1445-J-34JRK; Hill v. Johnson, et al., No. 3:17-cv-1342-HLA-

JRK. Mr. Hill also filed related lawsuits in the Bankruptcy Court, some of which he appealed to this Court. See Hill, et al. v. Suwannee River Water Mgmt. Dist., No. 3:15-bk-01290-PMG; Hill, et al. v. Suwannee River Water Mgmt. Dist., No. 3:15-cv-1475-J-32; Hill v. Suwannee River Water Mgmt. Dist., No. 3:15-cv-1013-

J-32. In 2016, Mr. Hill made a failed attempt to remove a state court action to federal court. Hill, et al. v. Suwannee River Water Mgmt. Dist., No. 3:16-cv-169- J-32MCR. Mr. Hill’s prior cases were based on facts with no material difference from

the facts alleged in this case. As in his other actions, Mr. Hill purports to bring his claims under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1982, 1983, and 1985, as well as “common law.” (Doc. 1 at 1). Mr. Hill alleges land takings related to an 800-acre farm in Columbia County, Florida, and violations of the Fifth, Seventh, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments. (See Doc. 1). Mr. Hill has not in any way shown that

this lawsuit materially differs from his prior lawsuits. II. DISCUSSION As a preliminary matter, in his Motion for Default Judgment, Mr. Hill claims that the District was served on August 18, 2020 and therefore should

have answered by September 8, 2020. (Doc. 20 at 1). This is incorrect. The District was served on August 21, 2020 and responded in a timely manner. (See Docs. 16, 23). Thus, Mr. Hill’s Motion for Default Judgment (Doc. 20) is denied. All nine Defendants assert similar bases for dismissal: (1) that Mr. Hill

fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6); (2) that Mr. Hill’s claims are barred by the Rooker- Feldman doctrine; (3) that Mr. Hill’s claims are barred by res judicata and collateral estoppel; (4) that Eleventh Amendment immunity applies; and (5)

that Mr. Hill’s claims are barred by the statute of limitations. (See Docs. 4, 22, 28, 33, 34). Columbia County additionally argues that the Complaint should be dismissed as a shotgun pleading, in which it is unclear which factual allegations correspond to each claim for relief. (See Doc. 33 at 3–4).

The Court need not reach the merits of each of these defenses. The Court already adjudicated a nearly identical case from Mr. Hill in 2016 and stated: Plaintiff has filed several actions in this Court arising out of the same underlying facts and seeking essentially the same relief; that is, to revisit the validity of state court liens, judgments, and litigation beginning in 2006. See, e.g., Hill v. Suwannee River Water Mgmt. Dist., No. 3:12-cv-860-TJC (affirming U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s dismissal of Hill’s Chapter 12 case, and explaining “Despite appellant’s request, this Court has no authority to review the state court decisions which underlie the bankruptcy court’s ruling” (Doc. 22 at 2), where Hill identified as issues on appeal from U.S. Bankruptcy Court that “The Bankruptcy Court erred in its refusal to explore the validity of the State Court judgment”; “The State Circuit Court had no jurisdiction . . . in Case No: 06-203 CA, therefore judgment is void ab initio”; and “There is a conflict of authority between State Circuit Case No: 06-203 CA and State Circuit Court Case No. 89-22 CA . . . .” (Doc. 7 at 6)). aff’d, No. 14-10609 (11th Cir. Nov. 19, 2014); Hill v. Suwannee River Water Mgmt. Dist., No. 3:15-cv-1475-TJC (identifying in statement of issues, “Since the bankruptcy court’s abstinence relies on the validity of the State court’s judgments in case # 2006-203 CA, whether the state court and the Suwannee River Water Management District had competent jurisdiction and authority to begin the action.” (Doc. 4 at 5)); Hill v. Suwannee River Water Mgmt. Dist., No. 3:15-cv-1445-J-32JRK (“The objective of this action [for declaratory judgment and quiet title] is to obtain an unprecedented determination of legal authority of the District to begin legal action against the farm and Hill, also to obtain a legal determination of the validity of the state court’s adjudication in case nos. 06-206 CA and 13-666 CA.” (Doc. 1 at 1)).

Hill v.

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Hill v. Johnson, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hill-v-johnson-flmd-2021.