An Alabama fire district and its five board members are facing a lawsuit by a landowner who claims that the district’s imposition of a fee on gaming machines violates his Constitutional rights. Dennis St. John filed suit against Eastern Valley Fire District and its board of trustees.
The suit was originally filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court, but removed by the fire district to US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. St. John alleges that his problems began in 2022 when he leased property on Eastern Valley Road to Frank’s Charity Bingo, LLC.
Thereafter, two things occurred. First, he was charged criminally with operating a business without a license. Those charges were dismissed because being a landlord is not a business that requires a license in Alabama.
Second, the fire district imposed a fee of $1,000 per gaming machine pursuant to Eastern Valley Fire Ordinance 2023-01. St. John alleges he was never informed of the fee. He learned of the fees in 2024 when he received lawyer’s letters informing him that liens had been placed on the property, one for $3,899.91 for unpaid homeowners’ association dues and attorney fees, and the second for $66,665.00 for the gaming fees and attorney’s fees.
According to St. John, his fire fee prior to Fire Ordinance 2023-01 was $210.60 a year. The suit alleges due process violations, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and recklessness.
Surprisingly missing from the complaint are three seemingly important allegations we would expect to see on these facts: an allegation that the fee was illegally or somehow improperly imposed – perhaps as an illegal tax; slander of title for the filing of the liens which in effect have clouded title to St. John’s property, and an action to quiet title. Here is the complaint:
