Thunderfoot v. United States
| Docket Number | Civ. 23-00006 JMS-WRP |
| Decision Date | 22 August 2023 |
| Parties | THUNDERFOOT, both in an individual capacity, and as Trustee of THE RAINY DAY LIVING TRUST and as Personal Representative of THE ESTATE OF BRENDAN SEAN GYPKHAIM CHARLIE (deceased), and as Representative of THE NATIVE AMERICAN CENTER, 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, and as the Representative of the JUNGLE KING COMMUNITY ASSOC., a 501(c)(3) corporation, and as the Representative of DRAGONFLY MOON NOVELTIES, a domestic profit sole proprietorship, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ET AL., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Hawaii |
ORDER (1) GRANTING VARIOUS DEFENDANTS' MOTIONS TO DISMISS, ECF NOS. 224, 226, 229, 231, 232, 236, 239, 247 248, 283, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297, AND 303; (2) GRANTING VARIOUS DEFENDANTS' MOTIONS FOR JOINDER, ECF NOS. 240 AND 256; AND (3) DENYING PLAINTIFF'S MOTIONS, ECF NOS. 326 331, 332, 339 AND 340
Pro se Plaintiff Thunderfoot, both in an individual capacity, and as Trustee of the Rainy Day Living Trust and as personal representative of the Estate of Brendan Sean Gypkhaim Charlie (deceased), and as Representative of the Native American Center, 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, and as the representative of the Jungle King Community Assoc., a 501(c)(3) corporation, and as the representative of Dragonfly Moon Novelties, a domestic profit sole proprietorship, alleges multiple constitutional violations, federal law violations, state law violations, and “absence or voids in the State and County Laws” against scores of defendants. See ECF No. 1 (“Complaint”) at PageID.2-4, 10. As an example, the Complaint alleges violations of the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Ninth, Eleventh, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth amendments of the United States Constitution, along with alleged violations of multiple laws set forth in the United States criminal code, including 18 U.S.C. §§ 3, 371, 402, 621, 641, 648, 653, 654, 876A, 880, 1001, 1002, 1007, 1018, 1201, 1346, 1349, 1951, 1956, 1957, 2233, 3771. See ECF Nos. 1-6 through 1-8. It also includes several state-law claims, including “intentional torts, specialized torts, administrative ruling torts, liability torts, personal injury torts, punitive torts, negligent torts, extraordinary torts, etc.” See, e.g., ECF No. 1-6 at Page ID.196. And the introduction to the Complaint also cites, for example, the Stamp Act of 1765, the Maryland Solution, the California Cartwright Act, the New York Donnelly Act, the Magna Carta of 1215, along with several other federal and state laws. ECF No. 1 at PageID.2-3.
Although the Complaint-totaling over 500 single spaced pages[1]- names over 80 defendants,[2] it provides little detail as to the role each defendant played in Plaintiff's alleged harms. See ECF No. 1-1 (“Continued List of Named Defendants”) at PageID.24-30. Instead, the Complaint-which Plaintiff states is a “three-part action”-contains many highly generalized claims, with little reference to specific harm caused by any defendant to Plaintiff. As one example, the Complaint states:
[D]ue to the long term pattern of over 100 (one hundred) years by the Republic of Hawaii, the Territory of Hawaii, the State of Hawaii, County of Hawaii (and all agencies, officers, departments, governmental officials and employees etc. . . .), corporations and influential individuals abuse of power and position, and self-serving hidden agendas, being shrouded in a self-induced cloud of invincibility, causing the Plaintiffs [to] endure a festering cesspool of rights violations, unConstitutional laws, prolific greed and wilful [sic] corruption that is out of control, since prior to Statehood to the present day that resulted in these continuing controversies in this three-part action.
ECF No. 1 at PageID.5-6.
In total, for all parts of her “three-part action,” Plaintiff lists over 121 claims. See ECF Nos. 1-6 through 1-8 ().[3]
The Complaint is confusing, often repetitive, rambles throughout, yet also lacks sufficient detail as to what specific harm was caused Plaintiff by a specific defendant. Plaintiff describes her three primary claims as: (1) the unlawful use of road names in the County of Hawaii's Fern Forest Vacation Estates subdivision (“FFVE”), along with unlawful enforcement of County laws relating to the roads in the subdivision; (2) a conspiracy to unlawfully convert FFVE agricultural lands to non-agricultural, without due process; and (3) the failure “of proper police reporting, proper police procedure, proper inclusion of witnesses, and proper investigation and prosecution for the vehicular homicide and/or manslaughter” of Plaintiff's son, who died in April 2013 after being struck by a vehicle. ECF No. 1 at PageID.17-21.
Plaintiff seeks monetary damages of approximately 4.8 billion dollars: $114,767,629 for Part I damages; $4,504,391,261 for Part II damages, and $215,025,000 for Part III damages. ECF No. 1-10 at PageID.429, ECF No. 1-11 at PageID.492, and ECF No. 1-12 at PageID.511. She also seeks various equitable relief. For example, she asks the court to “create and implement ‘The Thunderfoot Act,'” to correct voids and vagueness in Hawaii corporate law. ECF No. 1-7 at PageID.253. She also requests the creation of the “Freedom Lives Act,” which would require annual training for lawmakers and the police. Id. at PageID.251.[4]
Numerous defendants have filed Motions to Dismiss (ECF Nos. 224, 226, 229, 231, 232, 236, 239, 247, 248, 283, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297) and Motions for Joinders (ECF Nos. 240 and 256), which the court addresses below, along with Plaintiff's Motions (ECF Nos. 326, 331, 332, 339, and 340).
The court addresses standing, Eleventh Amendment immunity, the statute of limitations, and Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 8 and 12(b)(6). Based on its analysis, the court DISMISSES the Complaint as to all of its federal claims. But as set forth in more detail below, the court will provide Plaintiff an opportunity to file a supplemental memorandum of no more than 15 pages explaining how she could amend her complaint to state a timely claim under federal law. After reviewing this memorandum, due by September 15, 2023, the court will decide whether to grant Plaintiff leave to file an Amended Complaint.
On January 6, 2023, Plaintiff filed her Complaint. ECF No. 1. Thereafter, the following Motions and Joinders were filed.
On April 17, 2023:
On April 18, 2023:
On April 19, 2023:
(6) Defendants Matson Navigation Company, Inc., Matson Inc., and Ku‘uhaku Park filed a Motion to Dismiss, ECF No. 236.
On April 20, 2023:
(7) Defendants George Delorm and Donna Delorm filed a Motion to Dismiss, ECF No. 239.
On April 24, 2023:
(8) Defendants County of Hawai‘i, County of Hawai‘i Office of the Prosecuting Attorney, Hawai‘i County Mayor Office, County of Hawai‘i the Hawai‘i Police Department, County of Hawai‘i Department of Environmental Management, County of Hawai‘i Mass. Transit Agency, County of Hawai‘i Planning Department, County of Hawai‘i Department of Finance, Mitch Roth, Keldon Waltjen, Paul Ferreira, Harry Kubojiri, K. Ishii, Christopher Ragasa, Benheilden Del Toro, Loyd Ishikawa, G. Horton, Ramzi I. Mansour, Deanna Sako, Grant G. Nagata, Mary Aken, Michael Yee, Zendo Kern; and Kim Tavares filed a Motion to Dismiss, ECF No. 247, with a joinder by Defendant Fidelity National Title & Escrow of Hawaii, Inc., ECF No. 256.[5]
On April 25, 2023:
(9) Defendant Polynesian Investment Company, Ltd. filed a Motion to Dismiss, ECF No. 248.
On May 17, 2023:
(10) Defendants United States of America, Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigations, United States Attorney's Office, District of Hawaii, Clare E. Connors, in her capacity as U.S. Attorney, Florence T. Nakakuni, in her capacity as former U.S. Attorney filed a Motion to Dismiss, ECF No. 283.
On June 15, 2023:
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