v. Wilson

Filing 160

ORDER denying ECF No. 153 Motion Judicial Notice in the Nature of Writ of Coram Nobis & Coram Non judice and to Issue Rule NISI pursuant to 28 U.S. Code 1651.... Signed by Judge Robert C. Jones on 04/13/2017. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - KW)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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DISTRICT OF NEVADA

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

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Plaintiff,

3:09-cv-00166-RCJ-WGC

vs.
ORDER

DALTON WILSON,
Defendant.

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Defendant Dalton Wilson owned 80 acres of land in Lander County, Nevada. When the

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United States discovered Defendant had built structures on adjacent federal land, it notified him

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that he was trespassing and asked him to remove the structures but offered in the alternative to

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sell him the adjacent land. Defendant neither purchased the adjacent land nor removed the

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structures, and when he lost his own 80 acres to foreclosure in 2005, he moved into one or more

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of the structures on the federal land.

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In a 2008 criminal trespass case, District Judge Brian Sandoval found that Wilson had no

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lawful interest in the subject property and that he had knowingly and willfully occupied the

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subject property without authorization. However, Judge Sandoval also found that the United

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States had not established beyond a reasonable doubt that the subject property was federal land;

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title to the land was being challenged in a separate action by Lander County. Defendant was

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therefore found not guilty. Lander County’s lawsuit was subsequently dismissed.

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In the present case, the United States sued Wilson for civil trespass in 2009, seeking

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damages and ejectment. On December 22, 2009, District Judge Edward Reed granted Plaintiff

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summary judgment on liability and entered a permanent injunction, leaving damages to a jury.

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(ECF No. 54.) On July 28, 2010, after Plaintiff withdrew its remaining claim for damages, Judge

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Reed entered judgment against Defendant. (ECF No. 99.) Thereafter, Defendant filed several

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motions seeking relief from the Court’s judgment, (ECF Nos. 103, 111, 117, 118), all of which

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the Court denied, (ECF Nos. 107, 116, 123). On November 16, 2010, Defendant appealed the

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last of the Court’s orders denying relief under Rule 60(b), and on March 16, 2011, the Ninth

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Circuit summarily affirmed. (ECF No. 135.)

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More than four years later, Defendant once again sought relief from judgment under Rule

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60. (ECF No. 141.) The Court denied the motion because Defendant identified no circumstances

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under which the Court could find the judgment void. (ECF No. 149.) The Court rejected

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Defendant’s double jeopardy argument because the Double Jeopardy Clause does not prevent

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both a civil and criminal action based on the same acts unless the civil action is in substance

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punitive, which is plainly not the case with common law trespass. Hudson v. United States, 522

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U.S. 93, 99 (1997). The Court also rejected Defendant’s claim preclusion argument because the

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doctrine of res judicata does not prevent a finding of civil trespass after an acquittal as to a

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criminal trespass charge. The Court also noted that these arguments were previously available to

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Defendant, and to the extent he had raised them, the Court of Appeals had already rejected them.

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The Court also subsequently denied Defendant’s motion for clarification on the grounds that it

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was actually a request for an advisory opinion regarding the congressional intent behind Section

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2 of the Homestead Act of 1862. (ECF No. 152.)

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Now, Defendant once again seeks relief from the judgment in the form of a motion for
writ of coram nobis. (Motion, ECF No. 153.) The Court denies the motion. First, Plaintiff

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correctly notes that writs of coram nobis were abolished many years ago by the Federal Rules of

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Civil Procedure. Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(e); see also Telink, Inc. v. United States, 24 F.3d 42, 45 (9th

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Cir. 1994) (noting that the writ of coram nobis is still available in certain criminal cases, “even

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though the procedure authorizing the issuance of the writ was abolished for civil cases”).

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Therefore, to the extent Defendant asks for the issuance of an abolished writ, this Court has no

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authority to issue it.
Furthermore, “[t]he writ of coram nobis was available at common law to correct errors of

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fact. It was allowed without limitation of time for facts that affect the ‘validity and regularity’ of

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the judgment . . . .” United States v. Morgan, 346 U.S. 502, 507 (1954) (emphasis added).

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However, Defendant’s motion does not raise a single issue of fact, be it an alleged factual error

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or misapprehension of the Court or a recent discovery of facts that were previously unavailable.

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Rather, Defendant makes a bevy of frivolous legal arguments, many if not all of which were

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already raised in past motions, and which the Court rejected.
In reality, this motion is merely another request for relief within the ambit of Rule 60(b).

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Such motions must be made “within a reasonable time . . . after the entry of the judgment or

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order of the date of the proceeding.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(c)(1). Surely it is not reasonable that this

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motion was brought more than six years after this Court entered judgment, and more than five

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years after affirmance by the Ninth Circuit, particularly in light of the fact that the motion

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retreads the same meritless jurisdictional and legal challenges that this Court and the Court of

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Appeals have already rejected.

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CONCLUSION

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IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the motion (ECF No. 153) is DENIED.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.

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DATED: This 13th day of April, 2017.

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_____________________________________
ROBERT C. JONES
United States District Judge

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