People vs Biloxi Academy

Lesson 1: Why Federal Court?

When local government is the problem, local courts are not the solution. State judges are elected locally. Municipal court clerks report to local officials. The same people you're fighting control the courts you'd fight in.

Federal courts are different. Article III judges have lifetime appointments. They don't answer to local politics. They don't golf with your city attorney. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is in New Orleans—they've never heard of your Building Official.

Federal court is where captured local systems go to be reviewed by people who don't owe anyone in your city a favor.

Lesson 2: Subject Matter Jurisdiction

Federal courts need a reason to hear your case. For civil rights cases, that reason is federal question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331. Your complaint arises under the Constitution and federal civil rights laws. That's your ticket in.

You don't need diversity of citizenship. You don't need a minimum amount in controversy (though you'll claim damages anyway). You need a federal question—and constitutional violations are federal questions.

Lesson 3: The Liberal Construction Rule

Courts must "liberally construe" pro se filings. Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519 (1972). This means the judge looks at what you're trying to say, not whether you said it with perfect legal formalism.

This doesn't mean you can be sloppy. It means technical defects won't sink you if your substance is sound. Focus on facts, evidence, and clearly stating what rights were violated. The judge will figure out the legal framework.

Strategy 1: Document Everything

Every email. Every letter. Every interaction. Dates, times, names, what was said. Photographs with timestamps. Screen recordings of websites before they change them. Certified mail with return receipts.

The dinosaurs are sloppy because they've never been held accountable. They send perjured affidavits. They file summonses before the supporting documents exist. They issue stop work orders that violate their own code requirements.

Your documentation is their doom. When you can prove the summons was dated July 9 but the affidavit was dated July 10, the timeline speaks for itself.

Strategy 2: Use Their Words Against Them

Public records requests are your friend. Every email on city servers. Every resolution. Every contract. They have to give it to you (or explain why they won't, which is also useful).

Sworn testimony is golden. When Jerry Creel testified that Pete Abide "directed" him to issue a stop work order, he handed us the conspiracy on a silver platter. Let them talk. Let them testify. Let them create the record that buries them.

Strategy 3: Go Where They Have No Power

Locally, they control everything. The police, the courts, the clerks, the boards. Every appeal goes to someone they appointed or influence.

Federal court? The FBI? The State Department? They have no power there. Peter Abide's traffic of influence stops at the federal courthouse door. Jerry Creel's five hats mean nothing to an FBI agent who had to ask what state Biloxi is in.

When you can't win where they're strong, go where they're weak.

Strategy 4: Make It Expensive

They bill by the hour. Every motion you file, they have to respond. Every discovery request, they have to produce or object. Every hearing, their $150/hour attorneys have to show up.

You're pro se. Your time is free (to them). Their time costs the city—which means it costs taxpayers, which means it becomes a political issue.

$220,000 to deny a $97 certificate? That's not sustainable. That's not defensible at budget meetings. That's not something elected officials want to explain.

Strategy 5: Survive

They win when you give up. Every citizen before you who ran out of money, ran out of energy, ran out of patience—that's their business model. That's what they're counting on.

The only win condition is survival. Survive long enough to get to discovery. Survive long enough to get to a jury. Survive long enough to get the evidence into the permanent public record.

Stubbornness is a litigation strategy.