Kane Widow (?) Sues Police

[Prof]

From the morning paper:

Widow wants gold from Ark. police after shootout
(AP) — A Florida woman whose anti-government husband and stepson died last year in a shootout with Arkansas police officers says her loved ones suffered "torture killings" and wants authorities to pay her restitution in the form of gold,... more »

JEANNIE NUSS, Associated Press Associated Press16 hours ago

[wserra]

The "Complaint of Official Torture Killings and Civil Rights Violations" is here. The court sua sponte labeled it "nothing more than a nonsensical recitation of various state and federal constitutional articles and amendments, federal statutory laws, and international treaties", and gave her until May 2 to file an amended one that actually makes factual claims. Can you imagine the kids that couple raised? It's little wonder that one of them started shooting at cops.

BTW, she not only wants her damages in gold, she wants them in "lawful money". David, maybe you and she can get together and figure out what that is.

[Prof]

The "Complaint of Official Torture Killings and Civil Rights Violations" is here. The court sua sponte labeled it "nothing more than a nonsensical recitation of various state and federal constitutional articles and amendments, federal statutory laws, and international treaties", and gave her until May 2 to file an amended one that actually makes factual claims. Can you imagine the kids that couple raised? It's little wonder that one of them started shooting at cops.

BTW, she not only wants her damages in gold, she wants them in "lawful money". David, maybe you and she can get together and figure out what that is.

IIRC, this woman claimed to be the common law wife of Kane. She stated that they planned to marry. I doubt she is a common law wife, from what little I know. I also doubt that she had much to do with raising Kane's son, who appears to have been the only shooter in the murder of the two police officers.

[The Observer]

IIRC, this woman claimed to be the common law wife of Kane. She stated that they planned to marry. I doubt she is a common law wife, from what little I know. I also doubt that she had much to do with raising Kane's son, who appears to have been the only shooter in the murder of the two police officers.

That was my recollection as well. From what I had read of her previous statements, she appeared to be little more than Kane's girlfriend. I may have this wrong but I believe they had been involved in this relationship for less than a year.

[wserra]

Ah.

If she's not his wife, the whole thing is even dumber, if that's possible. If she isn't his wife, she has no cause of action at all, anywhere.

But she knows "lawful money".

[Demosthenes]

Donna and Jerry met for the first time in February 2010. He was out on his luck and lived with her briefly at her soon-to-be-foreclosed-on home in Florida. Jerry left a few weeks later with his 16 year old freakshow of a son to do his seminar road show and was killed in May, 2010.

No one knew they were "married" until after Kane died, and Florida doesn't even recognize common law marriages.

Donna is a nutjob, and her conspiracy-filled website about Kane's shootout is sick.

http://justiceforjerryandjoekane.com/Home.php

[Cathulhu]

If she and David meet, they'll either marry or kill one another, or both.

[fortinbras]

According to the pdf of the complaints (thanks), Donna Lee Wray-Kane of Clearwater, Fla., has filed this lawsuit in the US District Court for the Middle District of FLORIDA. But all the defendants live in or near West Memphis, Ark. Considering that most of them have absolutely no contact with Florida, and that she's suing (by her own account) more than 200 people, some of them unknown, it would appear that a Florida court is a forum non conveniens and she will have to re-file in a court in Arkansas. And perhaps not a federal court since there has to be complete diversity of citizenship between the two sides and it's possible that at least one of those unknown 200 John Does is a Florida resident.

Of course, if she shows up in Arkansas, claiming to represent the estates of Jerry & Joe Kane, someone might sue her for the killing of the two policemen and the wounding of some others.

[Prof]

According to the pdf of the complaints (thanks), Donna Lee Wray-Kane of Clearwater, Fla., has filed this lawsuit in the US District Court for the Middle District of FLORIDA. But all the defendants live in or near West Memphis, Ark. Considering that most of them have absolutely no contact with Florida, and that she's suing (by her own account) more than 200 people, some of them unknown, it would appear that a Florida court is a forum non conveniens and she will have to re-file in a court in Arkansas. And perhaps not a federal court since there has to be complete diversity of citizenship between the two sides and it's possible that at least one of those unknown 200 John Does is a Florida resident.

Of course, if she shows up in Arkansas, claiming to represent the estates of Jerry & Joe Kane, someone might sue her for the killing of the two policemen and the wounding of some others.

And, IIRC correctly, Florida is a community property state, so all of her assets are presumptively community (presuming she is a wife) and any non-exempt assets would be subject to the claims of the Ark. Plaintiffs????

[Famspear]

I believe the community property states are Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin.

[Gregg]

If she and David meet, they'll either marry or kill one another, or both.

I'll pay the airfare one way for one or the other of them. Someone else is gonna have to come up with an indemnity policy in case the universe implodes under the weight of concentrated idiocy the meeting would entail.

[fortinbras]

Reading that complaint (thanks again for the link), Wray-Kane does not mention by name OR by description either Jerry or Joe -- not by name, nor as husband or son (or anything else), nor even that two persons were the cause of action -- and does not articulate the fact that they are dead or the date of their deaths, nor anything else that would tell anyone, from the complaint itself, what the heck had happened to anyone anywhere.

Presumably, Jerry Kane himself had some friends who at least pretended to have some legal know-how, but whoever wrote this complaint seems organically incapable of writing a simple declarative sentence.

[ArthurWankspittle]

IIRC Donna is a sovereign nutjob and was or is an authorised notary. I can't remember where I first came across her but I think it was related to either George Tran or Casey Serin. Her main "claim to fame" prior to the Jerry Kane incident was that she was authorising sovereign affidavits for their hopeless court claims.

[Gregg]

Reading that complaint (thanks again for the link), Wray-Kane does not mention by name OR by description either Jerry or Joe -- not by name, nor as husband or son (or anything else), nor even that two persons were the cause of action -- and does not articulate the fact that they are dead or the date of their deaths, nor anything else that would tell anyone, from the complaint itself, what the heck had happened to anyone anywhere.

Presumably, Jerry Kane himself had some friends who at least pretended to have some legal know-how, but whoever wrote this complaint seems organically incapable of writing a simple declarative sentence.

It's a one size fits all generic death by torture claim form, from "Sov'run Legal Zoom dot Com" and she had trouble filling in the blanks.

[Pottapaug1938]

I'd be willing to wager that this dimbo is bragging to her friends about how she is going to spend all of the Lawful Money she will receive after she wins this lawsuit....

[Prof]

Re: Community Property

Florida, New Jersey, Vermont are equitable distribution states, and all property acquired after marriage is subject to "equitable" if not necessarily equal distribution. This appears to work like a community property state, but I don't know the presumptions/burden of proof.

[LPC]

According to the pdf of the complaints (thanks), Donna Lee Wray-Kane of Clearwater, Fla., has filed this lawsuit in the US District Court for the Middle District of FLORIDA. But all the defendants live in or near West Memphis, Ark. Considering that most of them have absolutely no contact with Florida, and that she's suing (by her own account) more than 200 people, some of them unknown, it would appear that a Florida court is a forum non conveniens and she will have to re-file in a court in Arkansas.

It's more than a question of convenience. I don't think that the federal district court in Florida has personal jurisdiction over the defendants.

My recollection is that, in civil matters, the federal district court have the same jurisdiction over the same persons that state courts would have in the same kind of matter. If the defendants are not physically in the state, and have not performed any action within the state or caused any action within the state (i.e., do not have the "minimum contacts" required for personal jurisdiction), then the Florida courts would have no jurisdiction over the defendants, and so the federal courts in Florida have no jurisdiction.

[wserra]

My recollection is that, in civil matters, the federal district court have the same jurisdiction over the same persons that state courts would have in the same kind of matter.

I started to write essentially the same post Dan did. I then said, "Wait a second - is there a federal question?", looked at the complaint, and saw that wacko had written the number "1983" among the gibberish.

There is no question that Dan's is an accurate statement of the law for a USDC sitting in diversity. There is some uncertainty when sitting in federal question. Some years ago, the ALI proposed FRCP amendments to establish nationwide service in federal question cases. Congress only adopted the proposal to the extent of FRCP 4(k)(2), permitting nationwide service in federal question cases only where the defendant doesn't have minimum contacts with any state. My recollection is that a couple of courts have gone farther.

Anyone who is interested can do the research. Happy Easter to everyone else. No court is about to stretch a point for wacko.

[Prof]

The statute and rules provide for nationwide service in bankruptcy cases with limits depending upon the amount in controversy.

[fortinbras]

Wray-Kane has at least alluded to federal laws that might give her causes of action in a federal court, among them 42 USC 1983 - deprivation of civil rights. But suing a flock of people, most of them still unidentified, all of whom live in the West Memphis area, over events that all occurred in the West Memphis area, in a court in Florida is a non-starter.

Her complaint, such as it was, only cited possible laws that might be relevant (and some non-laws, such as the UN Declaration of Human Rights, that have no authority), without actually mentioning the events of last year. Without first reading the newspaper clipping that tells us who she claimed to be, we wouldn't have the slightest idea why or what she was suing about.