"A district court lacks subject matter jurisdiction when the complaint 'is patently insubstantial, presenting no federal question suitable for decision.'"
How later courts described this case
- "A district court lacks subject matter jurisdiction when the complaint 'is patently insubstantial, presenting no federal question suitable for decision.'"
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
•
FILED
OCT - 4 2012
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT Clerk, U.S. District & Bankruptcy
Courts for the District of Columbia
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Abdul Ayat Mohammed Bey a.k.a. )
Ronald B. Britt-Bey, )
)
Plaintiff, )
)
v. ) Civil Action No. 12 1649
)
George Herbert Walker Bush 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. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e), the Court is
required to dismiss a complaint upon a determination that it, among other grounds, is frivolous.
28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(i).
Plaintiff, a District of Columbia resident, purports to sue former Presidents George
Herbert Walker Bush and George Walker Bush. The complaint's allegations are mostly
incomprehensible and fail to implicate the named defendants in any wrongdoing. Nevertheless,
plaintiff seeks, inter alia, to enjoin the named defendants "from torturous inhumane and
unconstitutional water boarding" and "from 25 year embezzlement of plaintiff-Bey .... "
Compl. at 10 (page number supplied). Plaintiff also seeks $5 billion in monetary damages. !d. at
11.
The complaint presents the type of fantastic or delusional scenarios warranting dismissal
under§ 1915(e)(2) as frivolous. See Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 325 (1989); Best v.
Kelly, 39 F.3d 328, 330-31 (D.C. Cir. 1994). Furthermore, the allegations "constitute the sort of
~I
/
patently insubstantial claims" that deprive the Court of subject matter jurisdiction. Tooley v.
Napolitano, 586 F.3d 1006, 1010 (D.C. Cir. 2009); see Caldwell v. Kagan, 777 F. Supp.2d 177,
178 (D.D.C. 2011) ("A district court lacks subject matter jurisdiction when the complaint 'is
patently insubstantial, presenting no federal question suitable for decision.'") (quoting Tooley,
586 F.3d at 1009). Hence, the complaint will be dismissed with prejudice. A separate Order
accompanies this Memorandum Opinion.
M.~
)~012
United States District Judge
Date: September
2