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Case 1:06-cv-02954-WSD Document 49 Filed 03/05/2007 Page 2 of 20
COMES NOW, Plaintiff James B . Stegeman and files his Response Brief
I. FACTS
defendants named in this Civil Action violated Plaintiffs Civil and Constitutional
violated both United States Laws and Georgia Laws, are guilty of malicious abuse
abuse, and defamation, they conspired to do same, while under "Color of Law" or
"Color of Authority" as well as other Counts . The defendants have violated their
Oaths of Office .
disabilities, has shown that he has been a victim of crime . Due to the illegal acts
of the defendants, Plaintiff has suffered great financial loss, which has forced him
into proceeding as a Pro Se litigant against he wishes and against his better
judgment. This Honorable Court has the power and authority to appoint legal
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representation, or perhaps legal counsel which Plaintiff may ask legal questions, to
are in the nature of "continuing" violations, or are within the statute of limitations .
4 . Plaintiff suffered his claims due to actions recognized as crimes4 by the State
a TITLE 18, U.S.C., SECT ION 241 : If two or more persons conspire to
inju re, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory,
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of Georgia and The United States, for which the statute of limitations is six years5 .
5 O.C .G.A. § _9-3-99. The running of the period of limitations with respect to
any cause of action in tort that may be brought by the vi ctim of an alleged crime
which arises out of the facts and circumstances relating to the commissi.n n of such
alleged crime committed in th i s state . . . provided that such time does not exceed
six years.
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6. The defendants, while acting under color of law , or color of statute , or color
of authority conspired in the deprivation of Plaintiff's Civil Rights, their acts were
negligent, malicious, vile and evil showing moral turpitude 7 , with the intent of
7. Jeryl Rosh was not elected Probate Judge until 2004, began serving as
a 15-9-36. (b) "The appointed clerks, including the chief clerk of the probate
judge, may do all acts the judges of the probate courts could do which are not
judicial in their nature . . ." (c)(1) "In addition to other powers granted to appointed
clerks . . . may exercise all the jurisdiction of the judge of the probate court
concerning uncontested matterss in the probate court . . . ."
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Rosh" as "redundant"9, Plaintiff listed CEO Vernon Jones in His Official Capacity
Oarlock and Rosh Individually and Officially because of their independent acts (as
a regular person) and Official acts (capacity acts) were just that . Each of them
performed acts "Under Color of Law" 10, "Under Color of Authority" and or
Edmondson Oil Co., 457 U.S . 922, 937 (1982); Parratt v. Taylor, 451 U.S . 144,
1 0 " . . .why under color of [state law] . . ." The traditional definition of
acting under the color of state law requires that the defendant have exercised power
"possessed by virtue of state law and made possible only because the wrongdoer is
clothed with the authority of state law," and such actions may result in liability
even if the defendant abuses the position given to him by the state .
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152 1974 . However, in the only case in which the Supreme Court held that a
government employee did not act under color of sate law, the Court held that a
public defender does not act under color of state law while performing a lawyer's
11 . Each defendant committed fraud, violated their Oaths of Office, aided and
conspired to abduct or kidnap, falsely imprison and directly caused a death ; all
criminal acts with extensive prison time . (See fn4} It would be unjust to dismiss
any defendant in this action on this attorney's opinion until the attorney takes the
absolutely immune . . . clear absence of all jurisdiction" . Again, the complaint has
not been read . Clerk Jeryl Rosh, who had heard three cases that month" where the
elderly had been taken advantage of. Even Probate Judge Marion Guess would not
have had authorization to find Plaintiff guilty of felonious acts . The accusations
against Plaintiff were of a criminal nature, as such all of these defendants knew or
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should have known the proper procedure of contacting APS'2, not DFC S.
13 . Defendant Rosh would have this Honorable Court believe that this was
simply an average Guardianship hearing . The facts with supporting evidence has
Plaintiff and the Special Durable Power of Attorne(see complaint Exhibit 2j"
only terminated upon her death, made while Ms . Caffrey was of sound mind .
according to their reports, decided that Plaintiff was guilty of abusing and
attempting to murder his elderly aunt , the only way to overcome the Will in which
12 http ://www.dekalbsolicitorgenera.l.org
/elderconsumer .php
"Elder Abuse/Consumer Fraud Unit : Elder abuse is usually defined as the physical
or psychological mistreatment of a senior , and can include taking financial
advantage or neglect ing the care of a senior ." "Our investigators are certified
peace officers licensed by the Georgia Peace Officers Standards and Tra ining
Council . . . . a wide range of law enforcement and life experience . The eleven full-
time investigators in our office . . ., GBI agent, parole officer, DeKalb Police
homicide detective, DA's Office investigators , sheriff 's deputy, police officers , and
even a Minister."
" The clause stating POA could give items away come s to mean: if the
attorney-in-fact dies, his estate is deemed to include the assets of the principal .
Case 1:06-cv-02954-WSD Document 49 Filed 03/05/2007 Page 9 of 20
mentally incompetent individual was sworn under Oath and testified . As shown in
evidence submitted along with the complaint, every rule, law, custom, process for
16 . For the defendants to "get rid" of Plaintiff and the Special Durable Power of
Attorney they had to violate everything from the day Captain Hughett deemed
Caffrey's "life at risk under nephew's care", Officer Porter's falsified "Reports"
How was Caffrey's life at risk under her nephew's care? To this day Plaintiff has
1 7 . The facts are clear, these defendants did not have proper credentials to make
the decision to take this elderly, incompetent lady from her home when prior to the
incident and while of sound mind, she had decided beyond doubt who was to care
18 . Law dictates con crete proof for Guardianship hearing for An Allegedly
much controversy, find Plaintiff guilty of crimes and allow the elderly to be taken,
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defendants violated many Federal and State laws, violated the Civil and
Constitutional Rights of the Plaintiff and his elderly aunt and directly caused her
20 . Counsel goes on, page 6, I " ¶ "In Georgia, Probate Judges have jurisdiction
21 . The only way to get r i d of Plaintiff and the Special Durable Power of
the Constitution and the Georgia Legislature . For this reason Rosh has no
immunity and it was not within her "judicial capacity", again, there is only one
judge of the Probate Court under Georgia Legislation, Rosh was a Clerk
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23. The fact that Rosh immediately, in front of Attorney Sam Appel, Al
Al-Khaja, Mavis and Mandy Turner, and a Probate Court appointed Attorney
stated that "Sandra and I have been friends for eighteen years" . This means that
before June 13'hthat Rosh had already held two criminal Guardianship hearings
which would make it a policy and that Pro Tem Judge Rosh was approved by
person so appointed shall be as agreed upon by the judge who makes the
appointment and the person appointed, with the approval of the governing
authority of the County for which the person is appointed, and shall be paid from
24. O .C.G .A. §29-5-6 and §29-5-8 give very lengthy guidelines for these type
hearings, they were all violated, Plaintiff was told he was guilty and that his
Special Durable Power of Attorney was revoked and a County Court appointed
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was appointed. At that time, Plaintiffs assets" were "seized without due process
of law", wasted by the guardian, with Rosh approving . Exhibit 1 attached hereto
clearly shows that Rosh was not Probate Judge during this period of time .
Furthermore, Probate Court cannot decide criminal cases. The only way to get rid
25. At the so called Guardianship hearing, Attorney Sam Appel carrying the
Special Durable Power of Attorney, and Rosh went into the hall for discussion,
door left ajar, all could hear: Appel : "You are breaking the law." Rosh : "I don't
care". Appel : "You cannot do that" Ro s h: "It don't matter." (See Exhibit 7, Al
Thompson deposition .)
26. Opposing counsel presumes "he will not be able to establish Section 1983
§ 1985(3) .
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was eligible .
§ 12202 . State immunity . A State shall not be immune under the eleventh
amendment to the Constitution of the United States from an action ink [ 1] Federal
or State court of competent jurisdiction for a violation of this chapter . In any action
(including remedies both at law and in equity) are available for such a violation to
the same extent as such remedies are available for such a violation in an action
A State shall not be immune under the Eleventh Amendment of the Constitution
31 . Counsel must mean Qualified Immunity . This fails because "unless their
person would have known . See Harlow, 457 U.S. at 817• Lassiter, 28 F.3d at
11 49. Or unless his "act" is so obviously wrong, in the light of preexisting law, that
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only a plainly incompetent officer of one who was knowingly violating the law
would have done such a thing . Lassiter, 28 F .3d at 1149; Ensla v. Sopert 142
dismissed
G. See 1 28 above .
H. DeKalb Fire & Rescue & DeKalb Probate Court Are Capa ble Of
Being Sued .
Huff, R. Scott Huff, Timothy A. Guinn, David Miles, Mary Martin, and Jackie
Craig v . DeKalb County, Georgia, and David A . Foster, Individually and in his
official Capacity as Fire Chief of the DeKalb County Fire & Rescue Services was
not dismissed because the defendants were not capable of being sued .
NOTICE
"1 On page four of this brief, Defendants have shown that the instant suit, which
names DeKalb County CEO Jones and Fire Chief Foster in their official capacities
entitled to sovereign immunity from suit, the same is true for the official capacity
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defendants."
"2 Defendants show that if the motion to dismiss is granted, the remaining claims
will be as follows : Title VII and 42 U .S.C. §X981 against Vernon Jones in his
official capacity ; breach of contract and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Foster in his
individual capacity ; and 42 U.S .C.§ 1981 against Jones and Foster ."
Counsel claims the suit against "Foster", when there is no Foster named in
the complaint and then Counsel states : "breach of contract and 42 U .S .C . § 1983"
and then "and 42 U .S .C . § 1981 against Jones and Foster" . This makes no sense to
CONCLUSION
to claim every kind of "Immunity" there is, they claim they are not "persons that
can be sued", they claim "statute of limitations" . Plaintiff has shown that these
claims fail .
Plaintiff again states that should this Honorable Court feels that appointing
Counsel for the Plaintiff would be appropriate or appointing Counsel that Plaintiff
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Defendants, he has suffered discrimination, his assets were seized without due
process, he lost property in the form of inheritance that were personal family items
not to mention property such as the house . His reputation and personalty
The Plaintiff had to endure over two years in a lawsuit in which opposing
party had a duty to the Probate and Superior Courts to find Plaintiff guilty and have
Plaintiff prosecuted of trying to kill his elderly, disabled aunt so that all would be
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safe from a suit such as the very one in front of this Honorable Court presently .
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The heartache, abuse, exploitation, while being denied "programs" that are
in place to assist the disabled such as the Plaintiff . Every complaint ignored, or the
answer to Plaintiff was "Well you shouldn't have abused your aunt" or "Well you
shouldn't have mishandled your aunt's assets", when the allegations were untrue
Not one defendant has disputed the events, evidence or denied that they
made the claimed allegations against the Plaintiff . The "Answers" that have been
filed to the complaint were that everything that's happened to Plaintiff was "his
own fault" or "he failed to protect" . Plaintiff has provided proof of his allegations
and proof that he never did wrong . These defendants still make false allegations
against him .
I f need be, Plaintiff will gladly Amend his complaint to keep it from being
dismissed . The Plaintiff still tries to believe in Justice, that in the end Truth will
prevail, that the guilty will be punished never to do this to anyone again, but that is
individual who forfeits the right to take from the decedent's estate unless those
descendants are also descendants of the decedent .
(d) A final judgment of conviction or a guilty ea for murder , felon
murder, or voluntary manslaughter is conclusive in civil proceedings under this
Code section. In the absence of such a conviction or plea, the felonious and
intentional killing must be established by clear and convincing evidence .
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litigant, further MOVES this Honorable Court to consider all three of Plaintiff s
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CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE
In compliance with LR 7 .1D, N.D. Ga., I certify that the foregoing Motion
has been prepared in conformity with LR 5 .1, N.D . GA. This Motion was prepared
with Times New Roman (14 point) type, with a top margin of one and one-half
(1 .5") i nches and a left margin of one (1") inch, is proportionately spaced.
B . S'`TEG o Se
821. Sheppard Rd
Stone Mountain, GA 30083
(770) 879-8737
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yA~C ~R +r
Case 1:06-cv-02954-WSD Document 49 Filed 03/05/2007 Page 20 of 20
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I hereby certify that a copy of the foregoing was mailed to the defendants
through their attorney on record by caus ing a true and correct copy of same, to be
deposited into The United States Postal Service, proper postage affixed as follows :
Matthew R. LaValle
Daley, Koster & LaValle, LLC
Overlook 1
2849 Paces Ferry Rd ., Suite 160
Atlanta, GA 30339
Mr. Carothers
278 West Main St
Buford, GA 30518
Brenda A . Raspberry
DeKalb County Law Department
1300 Commerce Drive, 5~' Floor
Decatur, GA 30030
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