Initiating the Florida Lawsuit

In October 2006 I instructed a Florida lawyer, Fred Jaeger, Jr., to take on the case relating to when MI5 had tried to kill me in November/2001, which he agreed to do. I had previously complained to Orlando Police, but they refused to investigate, describing it merely as an assault which was out of time for criminal prosecution. However it was not out of time for civil action, because according to Florida Statutes 772.17 the timelimit for civil action "Notwithstanding any other provision of law" relating to an attempt at homicide 772.102(1)(a)13 would be 5 years, with a similar timelimit for assault cases. Mr Jaeger initiated the matter with the State court and prepared a document for service on MI5, as follows;



I paid Mr Jaeger a retainer of $7500, and signed a retainer agreement; he stipulated an hourly rate of $250. There is an issue with sovereign immunity which MI5 could claim as an agency of a foreign government, but it could be argued that an injury occurred as a result of the assault, and that would be a way around the sovereign immunity provision. Mr Jaeger prepared a complaint document (see above) which was not quite right, so I sent him a list of modifications and he prepared an amended complaint. The initial complaint was filed within the timelimit.

As detailed in the above multipage TIFF file, the summons and other documents had to be served using the Hague Convention method, and we opted for "expedited Hague" at a cost of £ 600 using a British process server "Across The Pond Process Service" and solicitor. Service was effected on 23 Feb 2007. Please see the above multipage TIFF for details of service.

MI5 replied with a Motion to Dismiss the Complaint, as follows.



They quoted several grounds for dismissal, including the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which could apply to MI5 as an agency of the United Kingdom, unless it could be shown that an injury had occurred. They claimed it was barred by the Statute of Limitations, which it was not. They also claimed Forum Non Conveniens, which was incorrect because the acts had been committed in Florida and that was the proper forum for a legal resolution of the event. Also MI5's lawyers removed the case to Federal court because of the claim for Sovereign Immunity could only be heard in a federal court, in this case the District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

My thoughts on their resonse were that sovereign immunity did not apply because of 1605(a)(5) seeking money damages for psychological injury. The applicable Statute of Limitations would be Florida Statute 772.17 because the timelimit for civil action "Notwithstanding any other provision of law" relating to an attempt at homicide 772.102(1)(a)13 would be 5 years with a similar limit for assault. Forum Non Conveniens was inapplicable because the crime occurred in Florida where I was residing at the time.

For further developments, please see the next file in this series.