Moore v. Motz

• Decision Date: 23 June 2006
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 05-2031 (PLF).
• Parties: William MOORE, Plaintiff, v. Frederick MOTZ, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

437 F.Supp.2d 88

William MOORE, Plaintiff, v. Frederick MOTZ, et al., Defendants.

Civil Action No. 05-2031 (PLF).

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

June 23, 2006.

William Moore, Baltimore, MD, pro se.

John F. Henault, Jr., U.S. Attorney's Office, Washington, DC, David Roy Blackwell, North Carolina Department of Justice, Raleigh, NC, Gloria Wilson Shelton, Office of the Attorney General, Baltimore, MD, for Defendants.

OPINION

PAUL L. FRIEDMAN, District Judge.

Plaintiff in this action seeks recovery of money damages from numerous public officials of the federal, Maryland state, North Carolina state and Baltimore city governments.¹ Although plaintiff's pro se complaints are vaguely worded and difficult (at best) to decipher, plaintiff appears to assert due process and equal protection claims arising from several perceived instances of "judicial racism" and from the United States Department of Justice's handling of certain civil rights claims filed by plaintiff. See Complaint ("Compl.") ¶¶ 15, 46; Amended Complaint ("Am.Compl.") ¶¶ 1-4.

Plaintiff filed a complaint and a motion for preliminary injunction on October 14, 2005. On November 22, 2005, plaintiff filed an amended complaint adding claims against two Maryland state officials. On May 8, 2006, plaintiff filed a "Motion to Amend," seeking to join Judge Timothy Dorry as a defendant. The case is now before this Court on separate motions to dismiss filed by the federal defendants Maryland state defendants, and North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper. Upon consideration of the arguments of the parties and the entire record in the case, the Court grants defendants' motions to dismiss, denies plaintiffs motion to join an additional defendant, and dismisses sua sponte plaintiffs claims against City of Baltimore officials Martin O'Malley and Sheila Dixon, who as yet have not responded to the complaint.

I. DISCUSSION

A. Standard of Review

Defendants have moved to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and for lack of personal jurisdiction under Rule 12(b)(2).²

On a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, the Court must assume the truth of the facts alleged in the complaint, and may grant the motion only if it appears beyond doubt that the complainant will be unable to prove any set of facts that would justify relief. Summit Health, Ltd. v. Pinhas, 500 U.S. 322, 325, 111 S.Ct. 1842, 114 L.Ed.2d 366 (1991); Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); Browning v. Clinton, 292 F.3d 235, 242 (D.C.Cir.2002). The complaint is construed liberally in plaintiff's favor, and the Court must grant plaintiff the benefit of all reasonable inferences that can be derived from the facts alleged. Kowal v. MCI Communications Corp., 16 F.3d 1271, 1276 (D.C.Cir.1994); accord Andrx Pharms. v. Biovail Corp. Int'l, 256 F.3d 799, 805 (D.C.Cir.2001). Nonetheless, the Court need not accept factual inferences suggested by the plaintiff if those inferences are not supported by facts alleged in the complaint, nor must the Court accept the complainant's legal conclusions. See Western Associates, Ltd. v. Market Square Associates, 235 F.3d 629, 634 (D.C.Cir.2001); National Treasury Employees Union v. United States, 101 F.3d 1423, 1430 (D.C.Cir.1996); Kowal v. MCI Communications Corp., 16 F.3d at 1276.

Pro se complaints are held to a less stringent standard than complaints drafted by attorneys. See Amiri v. Hilton Washington Hotel, 360 F.Supp.2d 38, 41-42 (D.D.C.2003); see also Gray v. Poole, 275 F.3d 1113, 1116 (D.C.Cir.2002). Even a pro se plaintiffs inferences, however, "need not be accepted `if such inferences are unsupported by the facts set out in the complaint. Nor must the court accept legal conclusions in the form of factual allegations.' " Caldwell v. District of Columbia, 901 F.Supp. 7, 10 (D.D.C.1995) (quoting Henthorn v. Dept. of Navy, 29 F.3d 682, 684 (D.C.Cir.1994)). "`A pro se complaint, like any other, must state a claim upon which relief can be granted by the court.'" Id. (citing Crisafi v. Holland, 655 F.2d 1305, 1308 (D.C.Cir.1981)).

Where it is clear that the plaintiff "cannot possibly win relief," the Court need not await a formal motion under Rule 12(b)(6), but may, on its own initiative, dismiss a complaint for failure to state a claim. See Best v. Kelly, 39 F.3d 328, 331 (D.C.Cir. 1994) (quoting Baker v. Director, United States Parole Comm'n, 916 F.2d 725, 726 (D.C.Cir.1990) (per curiam)); 5B CHARLES A. WRIGHT AND ARTHUR R. MILLER, FEDERAL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE § 1357 at 409 n. 4 (3d ed.2004).

When a defendant files a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the plaintiff bears the burden of establishing personal jurisdiction. Plaintiff must allege specific facts on which personal jurisdiction can be based; it cannot rely on conclusory allegations. See GTE New Media Servs., Inc. v. Ameritech Corp., 21 F.Supp.2d 27, 36 (D.D.C.1998), remanded on other grounds sub nom, GTE New Media Servs., Inc. v. BellSouth Corp., 199 F.3d 1343 (D.C.Cir. 2000); COMSAT Corp. v. Finshipyards S.A.M., 900 F.Supp. 515, 520 (D.D.C.1995).

B. Federal Defendants

Plaintiff has named several federal officials as defendants: (1) Judges Frederick Motz and William D. Quarles of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland; (2) Felicia Cannon, Clerk of that court; (3) Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit; (4) Samuel W. Phillips and Patricia S. Connor, the Circuit Executive and Clerk, respectively, of the Fourth Circuit; (5) Albert N. Moskowitz and Chris Letkewicz of the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, Criminal Section. These defendants (collectively, the "federal defendants") have filed a motion to dismiss asserting a variety of defenses, including absolute and/or qualified immunity; lack of personal jurisdiction; improper service of process; improper venue; collateral estoppel or res judicata; lack of subject matter jurisdiction; and failure to state a claim. Because it finds that these defendants are immune from suit, and that the Court has no personal jurisdiction over most of them, the Court grants the federal defendants' motion without the need to consider all of the asserted defenses.

1. Judicial immunity

The majority of the federal defendants are judicial officers sued in their official capacities. Plaintiffs claims against these individuals are barred by the doctrine of judicial immunity and therefore must be dismissed for failure to state a claim.

In general, judges are immune from suit for money damages. Mireles v. Waco, 502 U.S. 9, 112 S.Ct. 286, 116 L.Ed.2d 9 (1991); Cleavinger v. Saxner, 474 U.S. 193, 106 S.Ct. 496, 88 L.Ed.2d 507 (1985); Butz v. Economou, 438 U.S. 478, 508-09, 98 S.Ct. 2894, 57 L.Ed.2d 895 (1978) (citing Bradley v. Fisher, 13 Wall. 335, 347-48, 20 L.Ed. 646 (1871)); Pierson v. Ray, 386 U.S. 547, 553-54, 87 S.Ct. 1213, 18 L.Ed.2d 288 (1967) (state judge immune from suit for money damages under common law and 42 U.S.C. § 1983). Absolute judicial immunity provides immunity from suit as well as from the ultimate imposition of damages, and may not be overcome even by allegations of bad faith or malice. See Mireles v. Waco, 502 U.S. at 11, 112 S.Ct. 286.³ Of the federal defendants, Frederick Motz, William D. Quarles, and J. Harvie Wilkinson all are sitting judges. The only intelligible allegations in the complaint regarding these individuals describe acts undertaken in their judicial capacities. See Compl. ¶¶ 6, 7, 11, 12, 50, 52 (Motz), 13, 14 (Quarles), 17, 18, 19 (Wilkinson). Plaintiffs claims against these defendants therefore are barred by absolute judicial immunity.

Individuals other than judges who play an "integral" part in the judicial process also may be entitled to immunity in some circumstances. Briscoe v. LaHue, 460 U.S. 325, 335-36, 103 S.Ct. 1108, 75 L.Ed.2d 96 (1983). To determine whether such an individual is performing a judicial function, the Court must inquire "whether the acts in question are `truly judicial' in nature[.]'" Schinner v. Strathmann, 711 F.Supp. 1143, 1144 (D.D.C.1989). In this circuit that immunity has been held to extend to court clerks. See Sindram v. Suda, 986 F.2d 1459, 1460-61 (D.C.Cir. 1993) ("clerks, like judges, are immune from damage suits for performance of tasks that are an integral part of the judicial process"). Federal defendants Samuel W. Phillips, Patricia S. Connor, and Felicia C. Cannon all are court officers sued in their official capacities. See Compl. ¶¶ 15, 16 (Cannon), 52 (Phillips and Connor). Plaintiffs allegations of malfeasance notwithstanding, the allegations in the complaint describe "judicial acts" undertaken in the course of these individuals' official duties. Plaintiffs claims against these defendants therefore also are barred by the doctrine of judicial immunity.

2. Prosecutorial immunity

Plaintiffs claims against Albert Moskowitz and Chris Letkewicz of the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, Criminal Section are barred by prosecutorial immunity. In general, prosecutors are afforded absolute immunity from civil suits for damages arising from the performance of their official duties, because of their intimate association with the judicial function in initiating and prosecuting suits. See Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. at 424, 96 S.Ct. 984. This immunity has been extended to administrative officials performing certain functions analogous to those of a prosecutor. See Butz v. Economou, 438 U.S. at 515, 98 S.Ct. 2894. Here, plaintiff alleges only that Moskowitz and Letkewicz failed adequately to prosecute "interference with [plaintiffs] rights and liberties." Compl. ¶¶ 20-22. The reasons for absolute immunity therefore apply with full force here, and plaintiffs claims against Moskowitz and Letkewicz are barred. See Butz v. Economou, 438 U.S. at...