After two US Attorneys filed a Complaint in US District Court in October 2010 against Glenn Baxter, K1MAN, for not responding appropriately to an order that he pay a $21,000 fine for violating several sections of Part 97, Baxter filed many pro se motions. On May 23, the US District Court in Maine released an Order, dismissing one of Baxter’s motions, an amended counterclaim, on multiple grounds (see link below).

The Court dismissed Baxter’s claim for the following reasons: “That the counterclaim plaintiff [Baxter] does not have standing to file a civil action against the government for its decision not to initiate a prosecution; that this Court does not have subject matter jurisdiction to review a Federal Communications Commission licensing decision, and that the Federal Tort Claims Act does not authorize a civil suit based on a governmental agency’s alleged failure to perform its statutory duty.”

The fine had been levied, according to the October 2010 Complaint “for defendant’s willful and repeated violations of Sections 97.101(d) [commencing transmissions on top of existing communications on 3.890 MHz] and 97.113(a)(3) [transmitting communications in which the station licensee or control operator has a pecuniary interest] of the Commission’s Rules, and for the defendant’s willful violation of Section 97.105(a) [exercising control over station] and 97.113(b) [broadcasting] of the Rules, and for failure to file requested information pursuant to an Enforcement Bureau directive” [information in brackets added]. The Complaint sought to force payment of the $21,000 fine along with a filing fee and “such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper.”