Court Ruling On ‘Commercial Liens’ Defeat For Self-Described Patriots
Residents legally can’t record oddball “commercial liens” that seek millions of dollars from public officials they feel have wronged them.
That’s the word from Kootenai County Clerk Tom Taggart following a Monday court ruling.
District Judge Gary Haman dealt a blow to self-described patriots and constitutionalists when he refused to force Taggart to file the documents based on centuries-old legal principles.
“I’d say it’s rather biased,” said tax resister Gorden Ormesher, who tried to pay his property taxes with promissory notes. “He (Taggart) has had some of these liens filed against him, too, you know.”
About half a dozen county residents have attempted to file the papers they claim are based on “International Merchant Law.”
Last year, resident Leroy Murray tried to file a lien demanding $16,589,892.13 from four Internal Revenue Service agents he said had violated his civil rights.
Deputy attorneys general have said the documents are worthless and don’t have any legal basis. But they can still spark headaches.
This spring, outlaw Avon Lady Rose Christmann mailed 21 city and county leaders home-drawn legal-looking papers seeking $525 million in gold and silver.
Officials worried that if she attempted to record those documents with the county, they could appear as a traditional cloud on public officials’ land titles. That also could affect officials’ personal credit.
The judge ruled that state law doesn’t “require the recorder to record all documents that are presented without question.” Taggart’s position as recorder allows him to use discretion, Haman wrote.
Ormesher said the question isn’t whether Taggart should record everything, but whether he must record these particular documents. The judge and Taggart say no; Ormesher says yes.
“I think it’s clear that at some point they (public officials) have to recognize there are other facets of the law other than statutory law,” Ormesher said.
To avoid conflict, Taggart has agreed to record “allodial titles” - a document former Populist Party presidential candidate Bo Gritz says eliminates the need to pay taxes - because such documents can only hurt the person filing them.
Gritz has pitched allodial title, based on 800-year-old English common law, as the first in a seven step process that frees property owners from taxation.
However, state attorneys have said that process was eliminated in Europe in the 16th century and was never used in the United States. Residents who don’t pay their taxes could have their land taken.
, DataTimes