Deutsch v. US Dept. of Justice, Civ. A. No. 94-1970 (CRR).
Citation | 881 F. Supp. 49 |
Decision Date | 03 April 1995 |
Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 94-1970 (CRR). |
Parties | Melvin P. DEUTSCH, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, et al., Defendants. |
Court | United States District Courts. United States District Court (Columbia) |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
Melvin P. Deutsch, pro se.
W. Mark Nebeker, Asst. U.S. Atty., Civ. Div., with whom Eric H. Holder, U.S. Atty. for District of Columbia, was on the brief, for defendants.
Before the Court in the above-captioned case is the Defendants' Motion to Dismiss. Upon careful consideration of the parties pleadings, the entire record herein, and the applicable law with respect thereto, the Court will GRANT the Defendants' Motion.
Plaintiff, a prisoner incarcerated at the Loretto Federal Correctional Institution at Loretto Pennsylvania, brings the above-entitled action pro se and in forma pauperis, alleging that the Defendants conspired to interfere with his receipt of legal correspondence in violation of his constitutional rights, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, and the Sherman Act. Plaintiff seeks both injunctive and monetary relief from the Defendants in their individual capacities.
More particularly, Plaintiff alleges that Defendants have opened correspondence from his attorney or otherwise denied him access thereto. Complaint, ¶ 5, 8. Such interference, Plaintiff maintains, denied him an effective appeal of his conviction. Complaint, ¶ 38.
While Plaintiff acknowledges that the pertinent regulations require the identification of legal mail as such, and that the correspondence in question was not marked as legal mail, he claims that the name of his attorney on the envelope was followed by the title "Esquire." Plaintiff argues that "all mail coming from an attorney and/or a court should be considered legal mail no matter if it states "Legal Mail" or not on the face of the envelope." Complaint, ¶ 8. Plaintiff further argues that "The title Esquire in New York is all that a lawyer needs to use to be identified as an attorney and that the Federal Bureau of Prisons must respect this marking." Complaint, ¶ 5.
Plaintiff seeks twenty-one million dollars ($21,000,000) in RICO damages, punitive damages "in the amount of One Dollar (1.00) or ten percent of the total assets of each Defendant," Complaint, ¶ 23, and thirty-million dollars ($30,000,000) in general and special damages.
Plaintiff invokes Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents, 403 U.S. 388, 397, 91 S.Ct. 1999, 2005, 29 L.Ed.2d 619 (1971), as the basis for recovery against the various Defendants in their individual capacities. However, because Plaintiff has failed to perfect service against any of the individual Defendants, because the Court would be unable to exercise personal jurisdiction over the nonresident Defendants, because venue does not lie in this district for Plaintiff's Bivens claims, and because Plaintiff has failed to satisfy the heightened pleading standard applicable to suits against government officials in their individual capacities, his Bivens claims must be dismissed.
Because Bivens suits are suits against government officials in their individual, rather than their official, capacities, personal jurisdiction over the individual defendants is necessary to maintain a Bivens claim. See Delgado v. Bureau of Prisons, 727 F.Supp. 24 (D.D.C.1989); Lawrence v. Acree, 79 F.R.D. 669, 670 (D.D.C.1978). Proper service of process upon defendants is necessary to obtain jurisdiction over defendants in their individual capacities. Pollack v. Meese, 737 F.Supp. 663, 666 (D.D.C.1990). Failure, therefore, to perfect service of process is fatal to a Bivens action. Id.
Rule 4 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requires that a copy of the summons and complaint be delivered to the defendant (or his appointed agent) personally, or be left "at his or her dwelling house or usual place of abode with some person of suitable age and discretion" who resides there. Service on the Attorney General and the United States Attorney for the district in which the action is brought, pursuant to the rules applicable to suits against officials in their official capacity "does not obviate the requirement of personal service ... where the action is against a federal official in his or her individual capacity." Lawrence, 79 F.R.D. at 670. Accordingly, because Plaintiff has failed to effect service of process on the Defendants, the Court is unable to exercise jurisdiction over them and the Bivens action against them must accordingly be dismissed.
D.C.Code § 13-423(a)(1)-(4) (1981).
Defendants Smith, Tippy, Hill, Sullivan, Lamitie, and Gilliland are employees of the Federal Bureau of Prisons who work in New York. Defendants Ortiz and Essig are employees of the Federal Bureau of Prisons who work in Pennsylvania. Because these Defendants are not alleged to conduct any business or make any contracts for services in the District of Columbia and because no injury is alleged to have been suffered in the District of Columbia, the Court cannot exercise jurisdiction over them.
28 U.S.C. § 1391(b).
Because all of the Defendants do not reside in the same state, venue cannot lie in this district under § 1391(b)(1). Further, because a substantial part of the alleged events or omissions giving rise to the Plaintiff's claims did not take place in the District of Columbia, but rather New York and/or Pennsylvania, venue cannot lie in this district under § 1391(b)(2).
Absent any allegations that Defendants Reno, Hawk, Tippy, Ortiz, Lamitie, Gilliland, Essig, and Dawion personally participated in the events which gave rise to Plaintiff's claims, or any corroborative allegations to support the inference that these Defendants had notice of or acquiesced in the alleged interference with Plaintiff's legal correspondence by their subordinates, dismissal in their favor is appropriate. See Haynesworth v. Miller, 820 F.2d 1245, 1259 (D.C.Cir.1987) ( ); Smith-Bey v. District of Columbia, 546 F.Supp. 813, 814 (D.D.C. 1982) (same). Respondeat superior has been consistently rejected as a basis for the imposition of Bivens liability. See, e.g., Boykin v. District of Columbia, 689 F.2d 1092, 1097-99 (D.C.Cir.1982); Tarpley v. Greene, 684 F.2d 1, 9-11 (D.C.Cir.1982). Plaintiff's Bivens claims against these Defendants, whose only relationship to the instant litigation is their ultimate supervisory status, must therefore be dismissed.
Martin v. Malhoyt, 830 F.2d 237, 258 (D.C.Cir.1987). Plaintiff fails to assert any factual basis to support the conclusion that a conspiracy existed. Plaintiff's conspiracy claims will therefore be...
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