JONES BEY v. STATE OF INDIANA et al

Filing 27

Entry Granting Marion County Defendants' Motion to Dismiss - For the foregoing reasons, the Marion County Defendants' motion to dismiss [dkt 21] is granted. Judgment consistent with this Entry and the Entry dismissing the claims against the State Defendants shall now issue.(See order). Copy to Plaintiff via U.S. Mail. Signed by Judge Tanya Walton Pratt on 2/18/2016. (JLS)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA
INDIANAPOLIS DIVISION

JOHN JONES BEY Authorized
Representative, Natural Person, In Propria
Persona EX Relatione John Jones; All Rights
Reserved; U.C.C. 1-207/ I-308; U.C.C. 1-103
Not a Corporate Person or Entity,
Misrepresented by Fraudulent Construct of
ALL CAPITAL LETTERS,
Plaintiff,
vs.
STATE OF INDIANA INDIANA
CORPORATION,
et al.
Defendants.

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No. 1:15-cv-01598-TWP-TAB

Entry Granting Marion County Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss
Plaintiff John Jones Bey brings this lawsuit against certain state and local defendants
alleging that these defendants have violated his constitutional rights and seeking an order directing
the defendants to “cease and desist, in their administrating of [his] property without [his] consent.”
He also wishes to recover all “funds received by Marion County . . . for property taxes in the last
40 years with interest and penalties.” Arguing that this action is barred by the Tax Injunction Act,
defendants Marion County Treasury Offices, Joseph P. O’Connor, Billie Breaux, Julie Voorhies,
John C. Satten, and Claudia O. Fuentes (the “Marion County Defendants”) move to dismiss the
claims against them and Jones Bey has responded. For the following reasons, the Marion County
Defendants’ motion to dismiss [dkt 21] is granted.

I. Background
The State of Indiana imposes a tax on real property, such as land and buildings. Ind. Code
§ 6-1.1 et seq. The tax is assessed on an annual basis and is payable by whoever owns the real
property on the assessment date of each year. Ind. Code § 6-1.1-2-4.
According to the complaint, which is titled “Writ of Mandamus,” Jones Bey was born in
the United States, but is not a citizen of the United States and is not subject to the laws of the
United States. Jones Bey also alleges that he is not a “taxpayer” of the United States, and he did
not agree to allow the State of Indiana or Marion County to assess and collect property taxes on
the real estate at issue.
On the basis of these allegations, Jones Bey filed this lawsuit to obtain an order requiring
the Marion County Defendants to: (a) remove the properties at issue from the Marion County
property tax roll; (b) cease and desist assessing and imposing any further property taxes upon the
properties at issue; and (c) refund all of the Indiana real property taxes paid by Jones Bey and/or
his family before him on the subject properties over the last 40 years, together with interest and
penalties. He also seeks more than $11 billion in damages.
II. Standard of Review
The Marion County Defendants move to dismiss Jones Bey’s claims against them for lack
of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil
Procedure. Federal jurisdiction is limited and, subject matter jurisdiction, the “power to decide,”
must be conferred upon a federal court. Flynn v. Sandahl, 58 F.3d 283, 288 (7th Cir.
1995) (internal citations omitted). In assessing a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter
jurisdiction, the Court accepts all well-pleaded allegations from the complaint as true and draws
all reasonable inferences in the plaintiff’s favor. Franzoni v. Hartmarx Corp., 300 F.3d 767, 771
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(7th Cir. 2002). The Court may also “look beyond the jurisdictional allegations of the complaint
and view whatever evidence has been submitted on the issue to determine whether in fact subject
matter jurisdiction exists.” Capitol Leasing Co. v. F.D.I.C., 999 F.2d 188, 191 (7th Cir. 1993).
III. Discussion
The Marion County Defendants argue that the Tax Injunction Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1341,
deprives this Court of jurisdiction to hear the claims against them. That statute provides:
The district courts shall not enjoin, suspend or restrain the assessment, levy of
collection of any tax under State law where a plain, speedy and efficient remedy
may be had in the courts of such state.
The Seventh Circuit has held that the Indiana law provides for a “plain, speedy and efficient
remedy” for disputes relating to the imposition and collection of Indiana property taxes and
therefore federal courts lack jurisdiction to hear matters challenging the assessment of taxes. Hay
v. Indiana State Bd. of Tax Commnr’s, 312 F.3d 876, 880 (7th Cir. 2002); Miller v. Bauer, 517
F.2d 27 (7th Cir. 1975); Sacks Bros. Loan Co. v. Cunningham, 578 F.2d 172 (7th Cir. 1978)).
Jones Bey opposes the motion to dismiss, but does not deny that he is challenging the
imposition of taxes on his property. He argues that for various reasons, he is not subject to tax.
The taxes assessed, he concludes, violated his constitutional rights and his rights under the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People
among other things. To the extent that Jones Bey can be understood to argue that as a sovereign
citizen or Moorish-American, he is not subject to taxation, such arguments have been repeatedly
rejected and thus are rejected here. See Beck v. McKinney, 16 F. App’x 482, 483-84 (7th Cir. 2001)
(citing United States v. Hilgeford, 7 F.3d 1340, 1342 (7th Cir. 1993)).
The Marion County defendants have shown that the Tax Injunction Act divests this Court
of jurisdiction over Jones Bey’s claims and Jones Bey has failed to show that this Court can
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exercise jurisdiction over his claims. The claims against the Marion County Defendants must
therefore be dismissed
IV. Conclusion
For the foregoing reasons, the Marion County Defendants’ motion to dismiss [dkt 21] is
granted. Judgment consistent with this Entry and the Entry dismissing the claims against the State
Defendants shall now issue.
IT IS SO ORDERED.

Date: 2/18/2016

Distribution:
JOHN JONES BEY
3457 Kinnear Avenue
Indianapolis, IN 46218
All electronically registered counsel

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