Opinion

Garner v. United States of America

Court
District Court, District of Columbia
Filed
Oct 1, 2013
Status
Published
On the bench
Judge Robert L. Wilkins
Nature of suit
Civil
Cited by
0 cases
Authority
More cited than 31.3%

The opinion

FiLEo

UNITED sTATEs DISTRICT coURT 097 ' 1 2013

FoR THE DISTRICT oF CoLUMBiA C'°"‘» U-S- D'="lvf & Bvnkruotcy

Courts for the D|str|ct of Columb|a

Valencia Garner, )

)

Piainriff, )

)

v. ) civil A¢tion N@. /3 ~ /:S'£ /

)

United States of America et al., )

)

Defendants. )

)

MEMORANDUM OPINION

This matter is before the Court on its initial review of plaintiffs pro se complaint and

application for leave to proceed in forma pauperis The Court will grant the in forma pauperis

application and dismiss the case because the complaint fails to meet the minimal pleading

requirements of Rule 8(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Pro se litigants must comply with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Jarrell v. Tisch,

656 F. Supp. 237, 239 (D.D.C. 1987). Rule 8(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requires

complaints to contain "(l) a short and plain statement of the grounds for the court's jurisdiction

[and] (2) a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief."

Fed. R. Civ. P. S(a); see Ashcrofi v. lqbal, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1950 (2009); Ciralsky v. CIA, 355

F.3d 661, 668-71 (D.C. Cir. 2004). The Rule 8 standard ensures that defendants receive fair

notice of the claim being asserted so that they can prepare a responsive answer and an adequate

defense and determine whether the doctrine of res judicata applies. Brown v. Califario, 75

F.R.D. 497, 493 (D.D.c. 1977).

Plaintiff, a resident of Atlanta, Georgia, sues the United States, the Central Intelligence

Agency, and the Internal Revenue Service for "squillions of dollars" in damages. Compl. at 2.

Plaintiff lists 32 various causes of action, both civil and criminal, ia'. at 3-5, and includes a

variety of unexplained attachments. She mentions delayed payments by the IRS and "reckless

off-sets," id. at 3, and alleges that she failed to receive "any stimulus money" from 2007 to 2013.

Id. at 4. Since the complaint consists entirely of disj ointed statements that provide no notice of a

claim, it fails to comply with Rule S(a) and, thus, will be dismissed. A separate Order

accompanies this Memorandum Opinion. /

¢l' -`i 1 -- il __

United States ljistrict Judge

Date: September , 2013

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

A word about cookies

We need a few to keep you signed in and the library working. The rest help us see which pages people use and where they get stuck. They stay off unless you say yes.