His mountain of litigation vexes court clerks

They're dusting off a rarely used law that would prevent the homeless man from filing more lawsuits.

By JENNIFER LIBERTO
Published July 6, 2004

BROOKSVILLE - A murmur rumbled through the Hernando County Courthouse last Thursday afternoon as second-floor employees wondered whether they'd be spared the wrath of Jarrell.

Over the past week, the graying, bushy-bearded Michael E. Jarrell, 38 and homeless, had evoked fear and frustration when he would march into the office near the end of the day, trailed by a screaming child or two.

With a heave, Jarrell plopped stacks of lawsuits on clerks' desks, all to be filed for free on behalf of Jarrell, his wife, Rose, or one of his three disabled daughters, ages 5, 3 and 1.

In less than two weeks, Jarrell filed 73 lawsuits and single-handedly brought the clerk's office to its knees.

Backlogged clerks had yet to finish several days' worth of paperwork and summons by Friday, although Jarrell hadn't shown his face in the courthouse in two days.

Jarrell is no stranger to the judicial system. He has lost a number of court cases over the years in Hernando County. And he has filed for bankruptcy protection in federal court nearly two dozen times for himself and his family, including four cases on behalf of his 3-year-old.

Jarrell said he's not out to pester or disturb, but he has a right to seek legal redress and he hadn't much time to do it.

Last Thursday, new state laws went into effect raising court fees and making it more difficult for the poor to file lawsuits free of charge.

"If they commit tortious acts against me, then I've got a right to go to court and try to get a declaratory judgment; whether I do it properly or not is irrelevant," said Jarrell, who filed so many cases because he figured judges will likely throw out or consolidate many of them.

But Hernando County court clerks want to forestall future waves of Jarrell litigation.

They're dusting off a rarely used, 4-year-old state law that allows judges to squash courthouse frivolity by declaring a particularly prolific plaintiff a "vexatious litigant."

An administrative judge can prevent anyone who has had at least five cases dismissed from filing new cases on behalf of himself without that judge's permission.

"He's slowing down our system for real litigation," said Gerrie Bishop, judicial staff attorney for Hernando County Circuit Court, who planned to ask 5th Circuit Chief Judge Victor Musleh to rule Jarrell a vexatious litigant.

So far, this law has only been called to action once in four years, according to Tom Hall, Clerk of the Florida Supreme Court, which is supposed to maintain a statewide registry of vexatious litigants.

Clerks said Jarrell has proved as time-consuming a pest for the Hernando County Court house as Mel Abele, a legend who in the early 1990s filed and lost dozens of lawsuits against the county, political leaders and residents. In 1994, a judge prohibited him from acting as his own lawyer.

However, Jarrell denies that his lawsuits are frivolous. He says he's a victim of a legal system that favors the rich.

His most recent spate of problems climaxed June 18, when his family was evicted from their home on 12457 Everard Drive.

Jarrell maintains they were tossed out unfairly, because a bankruptcy judge in Nevada had granted the family the right to stay in the home, while one of their many bankruptcy cases continued.

During the eviction, the Sheriff's Office used a battering ram on his front door while his children cried inside, Jarrell said. Then, sheriff's deputies arrested him on an old warrant alleging failure to pay child support. They also charged him with resisting arrest without violence.

Jarrell is out on $1,750 bail that was posted by his in-laws.

Jarrell first filed for bankruptcy in 2000. Over the years he filed more cases, because he wanted to protect his sick children, he said.

Jarrell's 3-year-old daughter has cerebral palsy, and both she and his 5-year-old daughter are legally blind, he said. His 1-year-old daughter is not growing as she should and has problems that have so far stumped doctors.

Jarrell said depression has prevented him from regular work. Mother-in-law Kathleen McCluskey said she has mostly supported the family over the past four years.

And since their eviction, the Jarrells have spent the past few weeks bouncing between McCluskey's home and hotel rooms, which McCluskey has charged to her credit cards.

"Is he (Michael Jarrell) a pain? Absolutely. But he's also gotten the short end of the stick for years," McCluskey said.

Most of Jarrell's lawsuits are related to some aspect of his financial decline.

For example, he has sued the Sheriff's Office for the way he was evicted, attorneys who have represented him in past cases, and Hernando County Circuit Judge Richard Tombrink for setting and holding hearings in past cases that Jarrell couldn't attend.

He's also suing the mortgage company that spearheaded the foreclosure on his home, accusing the company of constitutional rights violations for reducing the state to "almost the status of a third world country," according to one of the lawsuits.

But Jarrell takes particular offense that the Hernando County Clerk's Office wants to cut him off from the legal system, especially with no warning, he said. In all the hours he spent there, not one person has complained to him about overburdening the system.

"They never took me aside to talk about it; there was never any communication," Jarrell said.

"If they rule that I'm a vexation, I guess I'll have to take that to an appeals court."

[Last modified July 5, 2004, 20:21:05]