City Goes to Court to Stem Tide of Suits From Council Critic : Ventura: Officials seek a ruling declaring Carroll Dean Williams a ‘vexatious litigant.’ They call his actions frivolous.

Ventura city officials have gone to court in an effort to make it more difficult for City Council critic Carroll Dean Williams to file lawsuits they view as frivolous.

Since last July, according to court records, Williams has sued the city, the City Council, the city manager, the city attorney and the chief of police in three lawsuits.

The suits are among more than two dozen that he has filed against governments and businesses in the last year, according to one court document.

It’s costing the taxpayers more than $35,000 this year to fight the legal battles against Williams, who represents himself in all his lawsuits, city officials said.

“Enough is enough,” said City Atty. Peter D. Bulens.

For the first time in Ventura history, the city went to court on Tuesday and tried to get Williams declared a “vexatious litigant.”

This would prevent him from filing any more lawsuits against the city and city officials unless his lawsuits are approved by the presiding judge of the county Superior Court or unless he is represented by an attorney in a lawsuit, Bulens said.

Ventura County Superior Judge Barbara Lane said she will not to listen to the case until Williams has a chance to get his arguments ready or hire an attorney. Lane set a hearing date for Aug. 24.

The city asked that Williams be temporarily restrained from filing any more lawsuits until Aug. 24, but Lane refused to grant the order because she said she feels the city could not prove that Williams would rush out and file a lot of lawsuits before Aug. 24.

“Access to the courts is a fundamental right,” Lane said in an interview. “If (the temporary order) was granted, it would really limit his ability to come to court and litigate.”

Williams said he is unfazed by the city’s attempt to muzzle him and doesn’t file lawsuits just for fun.

“I’m not too concerned because I’m not the type of person who goes out there and files suits without having a legal tort or code behind it,” said Williams, an unemployed Ventura manufacturing engineer. “It takes a lot of time to do the research and everything.”

If the order is granted, Williams will be the first “vexatious litigant” from the civil courts in the county’s history, according to records from the Judicial Council of California. Reports show there are 46 “vexatious litigants” in civil courts throughout the state.

Williams has a long history of filing frivolous lawsuits, Deputy City Atty. Amy Albano said in court papers. In the past year, Williams has filed about 25 Superior Court cases, including the three against the city of Ventura and Ventura officials, she added in a court document.

The city has successfully defended all three cases, but Williams has appealed two of the cases, according to the city’s court filings.

Although he has always represented himself in the past, Williams said he plans to hire an attorney to help him with his latest legal tussle with the city.

“I’m also going to put my head back in the law books and research this as thoroughly as I can,” he said.

He is planning on filing at least one more lawsuit before his Aug. 24 hearing, however. Williams said he will sue the city, the city manager, the city attorney and the entire City Council for not allowing him to participate in a public hearing at Monday’s council meeting.

Williams said he gave the city notice of the action on Wednesday, and he can file the lawsuit after Aug. 22.

“I’ll get it in right under the wire,” he said.

The hearing, however, may be delayed because Williams also filed a protest on Wednesday claiming that Judge Lane is biased and should not hear his case, Lane said.

Lane said a judge from out of the county will decide whether she can try the case.

“It may be a delaying tactic,” Lane said. “He has learned how to work the system.”