BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1267
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 5, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
Mark Stone, Chair
AB 1267
(Bloom) - As Amended April 27, 2015
SUBJECT: Lawsuits, liens, and other encumbrances
KEY ISSUE: Should an existing law that prohibits filing a
lawsuit, lien, or other encumbrance against a public official
for purposes of harassment be extended to prohibit such filings
to harass a private person or entity?
SYNOPSIS
Existing law prohibits a person from filing or recording a
lawsuit, lien, or other encumbrance against a public official or
employee, knowing that it is false, with the intent to harass
the official or employee or to influence or hinder the official
or employee in carrying out his or her official duties. This
bill would extend existing law protections to all persons who
are the victims of such filings or recordings. This bill would
also extend the associated remedies now only available to public
officials to all other persons. According to the
Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a number of extremist groups -
especially, the anti-government "sovereign citizen" movement -
have increased their use of these tactics since 2009. And while
they often target government officials, given their ideology,
they also sometimes target private citizens. This bill seeks to
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protect these private victims from "paper terrorism" by giving
them the same options currently available to public officials
and public employees: the ability to seek civil remedies and
remove the false lien or encumbrance from the record. The bill
is sponsored by the ADL and supported by the California Police
Chiefs Association, the California District Attorneys
Association, and CSAC Excess Insurance Authority, a Joint Powers
public agency. There is no known opposition.
SUMMARY: Extends an existing law that prohibits a person from
filing or recording lawsuits, liens, and other encumbrances
against a public official or employee for purposes of
harassment, and that provide corresponding remedies to the
victims thereof, to any person or entity subject to such
lawsuit, lien, or encumbrance. Specifically, this bill:
1)Prohibits a person from filing or recording a lawsuit, lien,
or encumbrance against another person or entity, knowing it is
false, with the intent to harass the person or entity or to
influence or hinder the person in discharging his or her
official duties if the person is a public officer or employee.
Subjects any person who knowingly violates this provision to
a $5,000 civil penalty.
2)Permits a person or entity that is subject to lien or
encumbrance that violates the provisions of this bill to
petition the appropriate superior court. Requires the court
to order the lien or other encumbrance claimant to appear at a
hearing before the court and show cause why the lien or other
encumbrance should not be stricken and other appropriate
relief granted. If the court finds that lien or encumbrance
was unlawfully filed, the court shall strike the lien or
encumbrance and award costs and reasonable attorney's fees to
the petitioner. If the court finds that the lien or
encumbrance is valid, it shall issue an order so stating and
award costs and reasonable attorney's fees to the lien or
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encumbrance claimant.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Prohibits a person from filing or recording a lawsuit, lien,
or other encumbrance, as specified, against a public officer
or employee, knowing it is false, with the intent to harass
the officer or employee or to influence or hinder the public
officer or employee in discharging his or her official duties.
Subjects any person who knowingly violates this provision to
a $5,000 civil penalty. (Government Code Section 6223.)
2)Permits a public officer or employee whose property is subject
to a lien or encumbrance that violates the above provision to
petition the appropriate superior court for an order directing
the lien or encumbrance claimant to appear at a hearing to
show why the lien or encumbrance should not be stricken and
other appropriate relief granted. If the court finds that the
lien or encumbrance was unlawfully filed, the court shall
strike the lien or encumbrance and award costs and reasonable
attorney's fees to the petitioner. If the court finds that
the lien or encumbrance is valid, it shall issue an order so
stating and award costs and reasonable attorney's fees to the
lien or encumbrance claimant. (Code of Civil Procedure
Section 765.010. and 765.030.)
3)Makes a person who knowingly procures or offers any false or
forged instrument to be filed, registered, or recorded in any
public office within this state, as specified, guilty of a
felony, and provides a process to allow a judge to declare an
instrument void, as specified. (Penal Code Section 115.)
FISCAL EFFECT: As currently in print this bill is keyed
non-fiscal.
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COMMENTS: Sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), this
bill seeks to address the problem of "paper terrorism" - or the
practice of filing legal documents, knowing that they are false
and meritless, in order to harass, intimidate, threaten, or
retaliate against both public officials and private citizens.
The author and sponsor are particularly concerned by extremist
anti-government groups, especially the so-called "sovereign
citizen" movement. For example, one "sovereign citizen" member
in Chico, California, filed false liens against judges, lawyers,
Internal Revenue Service officers, and private witnesses who
were involved in his trial for various kinds of tax fraud. In
November of 2014, he was sentenced to three years in federal
prison.
Existing Law Protects Public Officials and Public Employees.
Existing law prohibits a person from filing a knowingly false
lawsuit, lien, or encumbrance against a public official or
employee for the purposes of harassing the official or employee,
or attempting to influence or interfere with the official or
employee in the carrying out of his or her official duties.
Existing law also provides expedited procedures by which a
public official or employee may seek civil remedies and have a
false lien or encumbrance removed from the record.
Specifically, existing law allows a public official or employee
to file a petition with the superior court for an order
requiring the person who filed the false and harassing document
to appear before the court and show cause why the lien or
encumbrance should not be stricken from the record. (In the
case of a falsely filed lawsuit, there is, of course, no need to
require the person who recorded the false document to appear
before the court since there is already a lawsuit.) If the
court finds that the lien or encumbrance was filed only to
harass or unduly influence the official or employee, the court
will strike the lien or encumbrance and award costs and
reasonable attorney's fees to the victim. If, on the other
hand, the court finds that the lien or encumbrance was lawfully
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and legitimately recorded, then the lien or encumbrance stays on
the books and the person wrongly accused of recording the false
document will be awarded costs and attorney's fees. The person
who filed the false lawsuit, however, would be subject to a
$5,000 civil penalty.
This straight-forward bill simply applies the existing
prohibitions and remedies relative to false lawsuits, liens, and
encumbrances against public officials and employees to instances
in which false and harassing lawsuits, liens, and encumbrances
are filed or recorded against any person or entity. The
rationale for this extension, according to the author, is an
alleged resurgence in "paper terrorism" by groups like the
"sovereign citizens" movement that target both public officials
and private persons.
The need for this bill, according to the author, is illustrated
by at least three California cases in the past year where
members of the sovereign citizens' movement filed harassing
liens against California public officials, mostly judges and
Internal Revenue Service employees and agents. In each of these
cases the persons who filed the false liens against public
officials were prosecuted. These cases illustrate the recent
nature of the problem, but they also reveal the limitation of
existing law: private persons subject to the same liens would
not have had the same remedies. This bill seeks to address that
shortcoming in existing law.
Recent Amendments Remove Proposed County Recorder Program. The
bill was recently amended twice: first to include, and then to
remove, provisions that would have given a county recorder the
discretion to refuse filings if it has a reasonable belief that
the documents filed for recording are false, fraudulent, or
being filed for some other unlawful purpose. The recent
amendments would also have required county recorders to develop
a fraud alert program by which a person who subscribes to that
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program will be notified whenever another person attempts to
file a lien or other claim against the subscriber's property.
However, the author agreed to delete this portion of the bill
until all the implications and workability of such a program
could be considered by the county recorders and other interested
groups. At some point the author may seek to amend the bill
once again to establish such a program, so that property holders
will know when someone has filed a harassing and unlawful lien
or encumbrance against the property.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author, the impetus for
this bill primarily arises out of concerns about the tactics of
extremist groups like the "sovereign citizen movement" and its
recent "surge of popularity since 2009." According to the
author, one of the most popular sovereign citizen tactics is
known as "paper terrorism," which refers to "the use of bogus
legal documents and filings, or the misuse of legitimate ones,
in order to intimidate, harass, threaten, or retaliate against
public officials, law enforcement officers, or private
individuals." The author contends that acts of "paper
terrorism" can range from "simple and straightforward filings,
such as frivolous lawsuits, to more complex strategies, such as
filing IRS forms that fraudulently allege victims have been paid
large sums of money on which they declared no taxes. The most
popular paper terrorism tactic is the use of bogus liens or
other documents to cloud title to property owned by victims.
Whatever the ploy, the result creates serious legal and
financial problems for those targeted."
ADL, the sponsor, is similarly concerned about the tactics of
the "sovereign citizen" movement and related groups. The ADL
writes that while it is "encouraged by the positive steps the
State of California has already taken to fortify existing paper
terrorism protections, there is more to do. For instance,
California currently provides a fast track removal process and
civil remedies for false filings" these provisions "only apply
to public officers and employees, while sovereign citizens also
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target others." ADL believes, therefore, that AB 1267 will
appropriately extend "these protections to individuals -
including the spouses and relatives of public officers, as well
as private citizens and businesses." ADL notes that AB 1267
will "bring California in line with the ten states that
currently provide fast track removal process to individuals and
businesses, and the twenty-five states that provide civil
remedies for false filings."
Prior Related Legislation: AB 1686 (Wagner, Chapter 455,
Statutes of 2014) amended California Penal Code Section 615,
which generally prohibits the filing of false or forged
documents, to allow a judge to declare an instrument void when
there is a finding that that instrument is forged or false.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Anti-Defamation League (ADL) (sponsor)
California District Attorneys Association
California Police Chiefs Association
CSAC Excess Insurance Authority, a Joint Powers Authority
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Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Thomas Clark / JUD. / (916) 319-2334