Osei v. Standard Chartered Bank

Decision Date17 March 2020
Docket NumberCivil Action No.: 19-1644-RC
PartiesAKWASI BOAKYE OSEI, Plaintiff, v. STANDARD CHARTERED BANK, et al. Defendants.
CourtU.S. District Court — District of Columbia

Re Document No.: 9

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR DISMISSAL

Plaintiff alleges a vast conspiracy involving defendant, Standard Chartered Bank, and officials within Ghana's and the United States' court systems. See Compl. ¶ 10-46, ECF No. 1. The defendant moved to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and lack of personal jurisdiction. Def. Mot. Dismiss at 2, ECF No. 9. The Court will grant the motion because the Plaintiff fails to identify a proper basis for jurisdiction.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

Plaintiff, Akwasi Boakye Osei, is a Ghana-born businessman who currently resides in the United States. On December 11, 2014, Osei claims to have obtained a judgment against Standard Chartered Bank Ghana Ltd. in the Ghana High Court of Justice "award[ing] [him] damages of fourteen million US dollars." Osei v. Std. Chtd. Bank, No. 18-cv-1530, 2019 WL 917998, at *1 (D.D.C. Feb. 25, 2019), aff'd sub nom. No. 19-7018, 2019 WL 2563460 (D.C. Cir. June 4, 2019). The award included compensation for "wrongfully dishonor[red] che[ck]s" and for "special and general damages for . . . wrongful acts." Id. (quoting December 11, 2014 Ghana High Court Judgment). On December 18, 2014, Standard Chartered "applied to [the Ghana High Court of Justice] for an order staying the execution of the judgment pending . . . [an] appeal." Id. On March 23, 2015, the Ghana High Court of Justice partially granted the order, requiring Standard Chartered to "pay [roughly $1.3 million USD] of the judgment debt." Id.

After Standard Chartered failed to pay, Osei filed suit in the New York Supreme Court on May 26, 2015, seeking recognition and enforcement of the claimed $14 million judgment. Id. at *2. While the suit was pending, the Ghana Court of Appeal granted a "complete stay of execution of the judgment" of the Ghana High Court. Id. Plaintiff brings the instant action, requesting enforcement of the $14 million judgment by the Ghana court and vacatur of all orders and decisions obtained by Standard Chartered in prior cases in New York Supreme Court. See Compl. ¶ 48-56, ECF No. 1. Osei claims there is a "grand scheme" or conspiracy between the Defendants, Ghana officials, and the state and federal Courts to deprive him of his business and persecute him and his family. Id. ¶ 1.

This is the fifth lawsuit in the United States that the Plaintiff has filed about this supposed conspiracy. The first lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, was dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Osei v. Std. Chtd. Bank, No. 15-cv-03992, 2015 WL 4006211 at *1 (S.D.N.Y. June 30, 2015). Plaintiff continued to write letters to the court to protest the dismissal and Judge Schofield, construing his protests as requests for reconsideration, issued a second opinion affirming the earlier dismissal. Osei v. Std. Chtd. Bank, No. 15-cv-3992, 2015 WL 4557345, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. July 27, 2015).

Plaintiff then brought two lawsuits in state court in New York, asserting the same claims. Osei, No. 18-cv-1530, 2019 WL 917998, at *1. Justice Braun of the Supreme Court, New York County, held, among other things, that there was no personal jurisdiction over the Defendants. Id. Plaintiff appealed and filed "motions" to vacate Justice Braun's decisions, to recuse Justice Braun, to void Defendants' filings, and to investigate court officers for allegedly perpetuating afraud upon the court. Def. Mot. Dismiss, Ex. E at 2, ECF No. 9-7. The Appellate Division dismissed his appeals, denied his motions, and directed him "not to file any further motions without prior written permission of the Clerk of this Court." Id.

In June 2018, Plaintiff then brought his first action in this Court, his fourth U.S. lawsuit arising from the same general facts and seeking the same general relief. See Osei, No. 18-cv-1530, 2019 WL 917998, at *6.1 While this first action was pending, the Court of Appeals in Ghana also overturned the original damages award. Id. at *1. This Court eventually dismissed the June 2018 complaint for lack of subject matter and personal jurisdiction. Id. at *6. Plaintiff appealed, and on June 4, 2019, the D.C. Circuit summarily affirmed this Court's Dismissal Order, finding that "the merits of the parties' positions [we]re so clear as to warrant summary action." Osei v. Std. Chtd. Bank, No. 19-7018, 2019 WL 2563460, at *1 (D.C. Cir. June 4, 2019).

The very next day, June 5, 2019, Plaintiff filled a fifth action against Defendants—this action—and again asserted the same general facts and sought the same general relief. See Compl. ¶¶ 10-56, ECF No. 1. The complaint in this case is substantially similar to Osei's June 2018 complaint. Compare Compl. ¶¶ 10-56, with Osei v. Std. Chtd. Bank, No. CV 18-1530 (RC),2019 WL 917998, at *1 (D.D.C. Feb. 25, 2019), aff'd sub nom. No. 19-7018, 2019 WL 2563460 (D.C. Cir. June 4, 2019). The current action asserts claims of tortious conduct under the Alien Tort Statute ("ATS"), under United States immigration laws, and under United Nations ("UN") Resolutions. Standard Chartered Bank again moves to dismiss for lack of subject matter and personal jurisdiction.2 Def. Mot. Dismiss at 2, ECF No. 9.

II. Legal Standard

Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction, and the law presumes that "a cause lies outside this limited jurisdiction." Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am, 511 U.S. 375, 377 (1994); see also Gen. Motors Corp. v. EPA, 363 F.3d 442, 448 (D.C. Cir. 2004) ("As a court of limited jurisdiction, we begin, and end, with an examination of our jurisdiction."). It is the plaintiff's burden to establish that the court has subject matter jurisdiction. Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 561 (1992). Because subject matter jurisdiction focuses on the court's power to hear the plaintiff's claim, a Rule 12(b)(1) motion imposes on the court an affirmative obligation to ensure that it is acting within the scope of its jurisdictional authority. See 5A Charles A. Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1350 (2d ed. 1987).

A document filed pro se is "to be liberally construed," Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 106 (1976), and "a pro se complaint, however inartfully pleaded, must be held to less stringentstandards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers," id. (internal quotation marks omitted); cf. Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 8(f) ("All pleadings shall be so construed as to do substantial justice").

III. Analysis

When Osei filed this action, Standard Chartered Bank moved to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and lack of personal jurisdiction. Because the Court finds that it lacks subject matter jurisdiction to consider Osei's claims, the Court grants the motion to dismiss. As the Court is able to resolve the case based on lack of subject matter jurisdiction, there is no need to consider personal jurisdiction.

A. Subject Matter Jurisdiction

The Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over this case because the complaint does not explain a basis for federal jurisdiction. Congress mandates that "district courts shall have original jurisdiction of all civil actions arising under the Constitution [and] laws . . . of the United States." 28 U.S.C. § 1331. "The presence or absence of federal question jurisdiction is governed by the well-pleaded complaint rule, which provides that federal jurisdiction only exists when a federal question is presented on the face of the plaintiff's properly pleaded complaint." Caterpillar Inc. v. Williams, 482 U.S. 386, 392 (1987) (internal quotations omitted).

Osei asserts that this court has subject matter jurisdiction over this matter pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1350, the ATS, and 28 U.S.C. 1367, the supplemental jurisdiction statute. See Compl. ¶ 6. He also asserts that because the Defendant committed "heinous crimes" against the Plaintiff subject matter jurisdiction is proper under the "U.S. Refugee Act of 1980; Immigration and Nationality Act; UN Resolution of March 21, 2006 (A/RS/60/147); UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime; UN Convention Against Torture; and 1951 UN Convention and 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugee (Asylee) under Articles 1(2). 12(1), 16(2), 18,25, 30(2), 33(1), 34, 41, etc." Id. Finally, Osei states that this Court also has "Universal Jurisdiction" under international law. Compl. ¶ 8. None of these various laws or resolutions provide a valid basis for subject matter jurisdiction over his claims. The Court will address each law or resolution in turn.

1. 28 U.S.C. 1350

Plaintiff first claims subject matter jurisdiction exists under the ATS. That statute states: "The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States." Plaintiff claims that the ATS provides a basis for jurisdiction because Defendants "collectively have committed heinous crimes in the form of intimidation, threats, persecution, deception, violence, mental/psychological torture, degrading treatment, social pressure, etc." Compl. ¶ 6.

Standard Chartered Bank is a foreign corporation. The Supreme Court recently held that "foreign corporations may not be defendants in suits brought under the ATS." Jesner v. Arab Bank, PLC, 138 S. Ct. 1386, 1407 (2018).3 The D.C. Circuit has further clarified that "Jesner's bar on foreign corporate liability under the ATS involves a nonmerits disposition, such that [the Court] can rely on it without first assuring the existence of personal jurisdiction. . . . In other words, the ATS bar against foreign corporate liability . . . is a threshold basis for dismissal . . . ."Kaplan v. Cent. Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 896 F.3d 501, 515 (D.C. Cir. 2018) (citing Jesner, 138 S. Ct....

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