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Florida Couple Secedes
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Kevin Underhill
Kevin Underhill is the author of the severely entertaining legal blog Lowering the Bar, as well as a partner in the San Francisco Law Firm of Shook, Hardy & Bacon, where he has worked for nearly 15 years.
Kevin’s essay series, “If Great Literary Works Had Been Written by Lawyers,” was published in The Green Bag law journal, and was mentioned in the Wall Street Journal and on National Public Radio, among other places. He is currently working on an article about the national push to outlaw low-rise and/or baggy pants, and also on an anti-BlackBerry screed tentatively called “Why Satan Wants You to Use Your BlackBerry All The Time, Including in Meetings and While You Are Driving.”
Kevin Underhill | Lowering the Bar
October 16, 2008
Apparently not knowing that their entire state tried this about 150 years ago, and that it turned out badly, Florida couple Joel and Donna Brinkle have declared themselves independent and claim they are not subject to the authority of the United States government, or any other government, for that matter.
It was unclear whether Joel considers himself subject to the authority of Donna, and/or vice-versa.
Surprisingly, for the most part their claim of independence involves not wanting to pay taxes, which the Brinkles have not done since the 1990s. The government remains fairly touchy about this kind of thing, however, and both the IRS and state officials have pursued them for the unpaid amounts. Now the Brinkles are in more trouble because, acting under their self-declared sovereign authority, they have been filing liens against people they say have wronged them. The liens don’t have any direct effect, but they can cause problems for the subject, who, for example, may not be able to sell a home until the lien is removed. Over the past six years, the Brinkles have filed dozens of liens against everyone from a tow company to Bill Clinton to (in an especially ill-advised tactic) the chief judge of the local judicial circuit.
Independence also frees the Brinkles from the need to get a drivers’ license, but the government keeps arresting Joel Brinkle for not having one. Chief Judge Simmons found there was probable cause for one of those arrests, and a month later he had a lien on his house. Florida’s attorney general has now gotten involved, suing the Brinkles for fraud and harassment and seeking to ban them from filing any more liens without first getting court permission to do so. (If the case ends up before Judge Simmons, I would advise trying to change the venue.)
Being independent has other benefits, too, like as the ability to print your own money. Although they live on Social Security (which they get from the federal government they don’t recognize), in February the Brinkles made an offer on a $700,000 house. The developer was probably expecting to get United States money, but instead was presented with a money order hand-printed in the Land of Brinkle. He didn’t accept it, but Donna Brinkle (a former court clerk) recorded the sale anyway. As head of her own sovereign country, she said, she has the right to create her own monetary system. A judge disagreed, and soon had a lien on his stuff, too.
Despite the rather dramatic lack of success of this scheme, a lesson they could have learned from Wesley Snipes, among others, the Brinkles are not giving up. “All we lack,” Donna said, “is someone with a bigger stick than they have in Seminole County.” Again, folks, that would be the federal government you don’t recognize, unless you are hoping to get the British to intervene on your behalf.
Link: Orlando Sentinel
Read the Original Article.
arnetta1129
5 months ago
474 comments
OK....If they want to secede from this country why don't they just leave it. They want the freedoms that the USA has to offer but don't want to live by the laws of the land. The government should stop giving them Social Security as well
aintgettinrich
6 months ago
4 comments
Hmmm...wouldn't they have to issue themselves passports and apply to the US State Department for a visa in order to leave their sovreign land--i.e., property--and thus enter the United States?
chief3dej
6 months ago
2 comments
The article show us as well that people with some knowledge of legal manipulation can cause havoc in our daily routines, as well. Even the judges had to address the "illegal liens against them."
gvk003
6 months ago
6 comments
another nut has popped thier heads to the surface. why even bother printing a stupid story like this on. It just gives the other nuts more ammunition
peacebe
6 months ago
12988 comments
What are people thinking when they do these things?! Good article!
Account Removed
7 months ago
I thought of the Family Guy episode also. This was a great article. Good for a laugh and a head shake.
wtudela
8 months ago
4 comments
Why the government do not put sanctions on them like they do those terrorist countries or why they do not garnish their SS check like they do to the people that do not pay child support, the state of Florida is letting them get away with it and they are taking advantage, well I never knew this could happen, but everything is possible, my only question is how they can put a lien in a judge.
brnhart
8 months ago
2 comments
Quite a nifty little scheme; if the authorities take action, such as is suggested by many of these blogs, they then give credence to the seceding, and at the same time, breach land-owner's rights as foreigners are allowed to own property in the U.S. and are entitled to Constitutional protections. However, to say, or assert through legal action, that one has seceded does not make it so. Like any other legal action, a Jurist in authority must enter a judgment for it to have legal validity. So, in my opinion, rather than take action against their rights or their property, they should be given a dose of their own medicine by said jurist's refusal to enter a judgment, hence allowing the various agencies involved to request a stay or injunction upon the benefits and services they render until a judgment is entered. This puts the buttheads in the various courts for the rest of their lives trying to prove that each of the many stays or injunctions are illegal, and in the meantime, they starve. Then when this is all done, if ever, they can only then have genuine grounds to secede, and only then will the agencies duties resume. Meanwhile, every lien debtor should sue for frivolous tort action, which they will win because the lien creditor has no existing basis in law to assert damages that justify the liens. With that, judgments will be entered against the lien creditor, and they will have to pay all associated legal costs, fees, and likely treble damages. But I could be wrong; if their are any lawyers out there, please correct me. Many thanks.
SJLEO
8 months ago
14 comments
This is the most outrageous scheme if ever I heard of one. Absolutely as stupid as anything I have ever read and to think that these people have not even paid taxes since 1990! its amazing how the IRS let these FOOLS getaway with not paying any taxes and then go and audit tax paying real citizens that use real money to make a real living.
pua
8 months ago
184 comments
Can't believe these people! Moreso, the lack of government action - especially when they're not paying taxes and receiving SS benefits?! (helllllo???) The government can easily get rid of these two headaches by doing simple things as amf85 pointed out: turn off utilities, stop mail and require international shipping, put up fence/border - requiring them to show passports when they leave their property... (OMG) The whole thing is just ridiculous, anyway. Simply, they live in the U.S. so they just have to follow the laws of the land like everyone else or... suffer the consequences. For starters, put them in jail for not paying taxes. (And they're still receiving SS benefits?! ^&^$$#@!!!)
mstefan
8 months ago
2 comments
What happens if the people sue them right back. Do they show up to court. If not can you be awarded their country? Granted not likely much of a prize.
Rattamah
8 months ago
6 comments
If we can Invade a country like Iraq for dictatorship, why don't we send in the Marines to the land of these two for stupidity? Or to free them from theier mentality?
amf85
8 months ago
1806 comments
Link has nothing to do with the topic. With regards to an individual's right to secede, that is up for debate, and is subject to plenty of controversy. If a person DOES secede, they would necessarily give up all the benefits that come with being a US citizen, including, among other things, the government's protection of both the person in question and their possessions. The moment a person secedes they, and all they own, become free game for anyone and everyone as they will no longer have anyone except themselves to look to for legal or physical protection.
raythemoneyman
8 months ago
4 comments
This is not a unique story. We have hundreds of people doing this around here. They have every right to do it and the government seems to have some rights to. As extreme as it sounds, we need people like this on both extremes so we can fall somewhere in the middle.
Great story!
http://crudeoiltrader.blogspot.com
amf85
8 months ago
1806 comments
"And there is nothing legal you can do to stop them, because this is there constitional right." --- That isn't quite true. There is nothing you can do to prevent FRIVOLOUS lawsuits. This is true. However, what the couple in this article are doing constitutes (in my opinion) what is called vexatious litigation, where legal action is used to harass or subdue an adversary without any legal merit. Vexatious litigants are usually added to a list, and at that point may no longer take any further legal actions without judicial permission (not likely in their case!).