With less than four days until his promised April launch of his much-anticipated “Constitution Headquarters” board game, Jose “Chille” DeCastro was still absent from YouTube as he had a judge rule he must respond to a second motion to dismiss his Nevada-based Ironton, Ohio federal lawsuit.
For those new to the situation, Jose “Chille” DeCastro sued members of the Ironton, Ohio, police force, the city of Ironton and the County of Lawrence in Ohio after an incident where he was arrested for trespassing in the Ironton City Hall in 2022.
The lawsuit lingered in federal court as DeCastro essentially refused to state a claim against the defendants, missed hearings and deadlines, and essentially did his best to delay the trial for as long as possible.
He eventually lost a motion to dismiss in 2023, which he appealed, and in 2024 while the appeal was pending, he filed the same lawsuit in Nevada, stating that he had standing there as he was currently living there and the lawsuit was, in part, for his customers who “lived in Nevada.”
DeCastro also filed the same lawsuit in Nevada state court, but it went nowhere. This lawsuit, however, was hampered by the fact that DeCastro was incarcerated in Nevada a few days after he filed the suit and was unable to serve the defendants in the case.
While he was incarcerated, the appeals court ruled against his appeal of the original case out of Ohio, and the case was dismissed.
After his release, he was allowed an extension until October to serve the defendants. He failed to meet the extension’s deadline. He was later apparently granted a new deadline to show proof of service until mid-March of 2025, which he filed in early March.
The attorney representing the Lawrence County defendants had already filed a motion to dismiss earlier in the week, and DeCastro was ordered by the Judge in the case to respond to that motion to dismiss within two weeks.
On Wednesday, attorney Dawn M. Frick filed a motion to dismiss on behalf of defendants Evan Mcknight, Pam Wagner, Brad Spoljaric, Chance Blankenship, Robert Fouch, City of Ironton Ohio.
While elements of the motion to dismiss are similar to the Lawrence County motion, a key takeaway in the filing is that the Ironton defendants are challenging service of the lawsuit. They contend that DeCastro only attempted service on the City of Ironton and the Ironton police force, which is not named in the suit.
Frick wrote, Thus, as to the Individual Ironton Defendants and pursuant to N.R.C.P. 4.2(a), each should have received a copy of the summons and complaint personally, or at their dwelling or usual place of abode or by delivering a copy of the summons and complaint to an agent authorized by appointment or by law to receive service of process. As to the City of Ironton, the summons and complaint were required to be served “to its chief executive officer” (Fed.R.Civ. P. 4(j)(2)(A)) or by serving “the officer responsible for the administration of the office, department, agency, authority, institution, or unit or by serving the city solicitor or comparable legal officer.” Ohio R. Civ. P. 4.2(N).
In this case, there has been insufficient service of process because none of the Ironton Defendants have been served. Instead, service was made on “Terri – Mayor’s Secretary” and “Officer Corey Allison.” Doc. 14 and 15. Plaintiff did not actually serve any of the Ironton Defendants but merely left a copy of the summons and complaint with a secretary and another police officer, neither of whom are parties to this lawsuit. Due to the insufficient service, the Court lacks personal jurisdiction over the Ironton Defendants and Plaintiffs claims must be dismissed. Butcher’s Union Local No. 498, 788 F.2d at 538.
The Ironton defendants are also seeking a dismissal of the lawsuit or a transfer of the suit to the Southern District of Ohio.
As with the previous motion to dismiss, Judge Daniel J. Albregts ordered DeCastro to reply to the motion within two weeks of service.
Things weren’t all bad for DeCastro as spin-off and quasi-boy ban group “Chille’s Angels” (Thomas “LetzOTVO” Prowitzky and Matthew “Brick Jonesy” Jones), were joined by a third unidentified member in matching “Press” hoodies for an appearance at Albuquerque, New Mexico’s District 5 police precinct.
The spin-off group were successful in not getting arrested as they filed Inspection of Public Records Act forms and talked to a police officer. While heated at times due to lack of air conditioning in the public lobby, and the officer being wary of the group’s matching outfits, Chille’s Angels came through with a rare victory in successfully negotiating the interaction without incident.
We will continue to monitor the tour schedule of the spinoff group as they continue to achieve success where DeCastro has failed in the past.
