Williams v. Wilkie

• Citation: 320 F.Supp.3d 191
• Decision Date: 13 August 2018
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 17-1483 (ABJ)
• Parties: Michael E. WILLIAMS, Plaintiff, v. Robert WILKIE, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

320 F.Supp.3d 191

Michael E. WILLIAMS, Plaintiff,

v.Robert WILKIE, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, et al., Defendants.

Civil Action No. 17-1483 (ABJ)

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

Signed August 13, 2018

Michael E. Williams, Katy, TX, pro se.

Heather D. Graham-Oliver, U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, Washington, DC, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

AMY BERMAN JACKSON, United States District Judge

Plaintiff Michael E. Williams is a disabled army veteran who, proceeding pro se , brought this lawsuit against President Donald J. Trump; Robert Wilkie,¹ the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; and other individuals allegedly employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs ("VA").² See Compl. [Dkt. # 1]; Am. Compl. [Dkt. # 6] (incorporating the statement of facts in the original complaint). At bottom, plaintiff appears to be dissatisfied with the amount of disability benefits he is receiving from the VA, and the length of time it takes for disputes to be resolved. See Compl.; Am. Compl. at 4. He maintains that he is entitled to an eighty percent disability rating, instead of the ten percent rating he has received, or $150,000.00. Am. Compl. at 5; Pl.'s Resp. to Def.'s Mot. to Dismiss [Dkt. # 27] ("Pl.'s Opp.") at 4.³

Pending before the Court is defendant Wilkie's motion to dismiss. Def.'s Mot. to Dismiss [Dkt. # 25] ("Def.'s Mot"); Def.'s Mem. of P. & A. in Supp. of Def.'s Mot. [Dkt. # 25] ("Def.'s Mem."). While the Court can certainly understand why plaintiff is frustrated with the status of his case, it will grant the motion to dismiss because it lacks subject matter jurisdiction to hear plaintiff's claims.

BACKGROUND

The record⁴ reveals that plaintiff served in the U.S. Army from August 12, 1963, through July 29, 1966. Ex. A to Def.'s Mot. [Dkt. # 25-1] ("Ex. A") at 2. In January 2008, the VA awarded plaintiff monthly benefits for a medical condition found to be related to his military service. Id. at 1. The VA rated this injury as ten percent disabling. Id.

Plaintiff appealed that decision on January 27, 2011, seeking additional benefits. See Ex. A at 2. The VA apparently did not decide the appeal until June 12, 2017. See id. While the VA found that other injuries plaintiff cited were service-connected, it rated them as zero percent disabling and therefore denied additional compensation. Id. at 1–3, 5. On June 14, 2017, the VA sent plaintiff a letter explaining that he would not receive any additional benefits since "[t]he law says VA can't pay for disabilities that are less than 10% disabling." Id. at 5. But it confirmed that plaintiff would continue to receive compensation at the ten percent disability rating, per the 2008 determination. Id.

Plaintiff appealed the decision, and on June 24, 2017, the VA sent plaintiff another letter indicating that the appeal had been certified to the Board of Veterans' Appeals. Ex. A at 6. Plaintiff's case remains open. Id. at 6; Def.'s Mem. at 2; see Pl.'s Opp. at 4–5.

Plaintiff initiated this action on June 19, 2017 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. See Compl. That court observed that plaintiff's complaint lacked "information necessary for the Court's review of [p]laintiff's claims," so it ordered plaintiff to submit an amended complaint using the "General Complaint" form found on the court's website. Order [Dkt. # 3]. Although plaintiff filed an amended complaint, it merely incorporated the statement of facts from the original complaint. See Am. Compl. at 4. On June 30, 2017, the Eastern District of Texas transferred the case to this Court based on the location of the defendants and the alleged misconduct. See Order to Transfer [Dkt. # 8].

While plaintiff filed a lawsuit against six people, the complaint only makes allegations against three of them. The complaint alleges that the Secretary of the VA and the President of the United States have "conspired to cut or eliminate veteran disability payments." Compl.; Am. Compl. at 4. Plaintiff also claims that "Bryan Ross reported [him] as deceased to stop disability payments." Compl.; Am. Compl. at 4.⁵ Plaintiff complains of "age discrimination, fraud in filing false documents ..., conspiracy to deny medical attention, arbitrary and capricious claim, [and] intentional delay to cause [his] death ... prior to [the] resolution" of his unanswered requests. Compl.; Am. Compl. at 4.

On February 14, 2018, defendant Wilkie filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, and Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim. Def.'s Mot. Plaintiff responded on March 5, 2018, Pl.'s Opp., but defendant did not file a reply brief.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

In evaluating a motion to dismiss under either Rule 12(b)(1) or 12(b)(6), the Court must "treat the complaint's factual allegations as true and must grant plaintiff ‘the benefit of all inferences that can be derived from the facts alleged.’ " Sparrow v. United Air Lines, Inc. , 216 F.3d 1111, 1113 (D.C. Cir. 2000) (internal citation omitted), quoting Schuler v. United States , 617 F.2d 605, 608 (D.C. Cir. 1979) ; see also Am. Nat'l Ins. Co. v. FDIC , 642 F.3d 1137, 1139 (D.C. Cir. 2011), quoting Thomas v. Principi , 394 F.3d 970, 972 (D.C. Cir. 2005). Nevertheless, the Court need not accept inferences drawn by the plaintiff if those inferences are unsupported by facts alleged in the complaint, nor must the Court accept plaintiff's legal conclusions. Browning v. Clinton , 292 F.3d 235, 242 (D.C. Cir. 2002).

I. Subject Matter Jurisdiction

Under Rule 12(b)(1), the plaintiff bears the burden of establishing jurisdiction by a preponderance of the evidence. See Lujan v. Defs. of Wildlife , 504 U.S. 555, 561, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992) ; Shekoyan v. Sibley Int'l Corp. , 217 F.Supp.2d 59, 63 (D.D.C. 2002). 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, 114 S.Ct. 1673, 128 L.Ed.2d 391 (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."). "[B]ecause subject-matter jurisdiction is ‘an Art[icle] III as well as a statutory requirement ... no action of the parties can confer subject-matter jurisdiction upon a federal court.’ " Akinseye v. District of Columbia , 339 F.3d 970, 971 (D.C. Cir. 2003), quoting Ins. Corp. of Ir., Ltd. v. Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee , 456 U.S. 694, 702, 102 S.Ct. 2099, 72 L.Ed.2d 492 (1982).

When considering a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction, unlike when deciding a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), the court "is not limited to the allegations of the complaint." Hohri , 782 F.2d at 241. Rather, "a court may consider such materials outside the pleadings as it deems appropriate to resolve the question [of] whether it has jurisdiction to hear the case." Scolaro , 104 F.Supp.2d at 22, citing Herbert , 974 F.2d at 197 ; see also Jerome Stevens Pharms., Inc. v. FDA , 402 F.3d 1249, 1253 (D.C. Cir. 2005).

II. Failure to State a Claim

"To survive a [ Rule 12(b)(6) ] motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ " Ashcroft v. Iqbal , 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009), quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly , 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). In Iqbal , the Supreme Court reiterated the two principles underlying its decision in Twombly : "First, the tenet that a court must accept as true all of the allegations contained in a complaint is inapplicable to legal conclusions," and "[s]econd, only a complaint that states a plausible claim for relief survives a motion to dismiss." Id. at 678–79, 129 S.Ct. 1937, citing Twombly , 550 U.S. at 555–56, 127 S.Ct. 1955.

A claim is facially plausible when the pleaded factual content "allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged." Id. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, citing Twombly , 550 U.S. at 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955. "The plausibility standard is not akin to a ‘probability requirement,’ but it asks for more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully." Id. , quoting Twombly , 550 U.S. at 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955. A pleading must offer more than "labels and conclusions" or a "formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action," id. , quoting Twombly , 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, and "[t]hreadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice." Id. , citing Twombly , 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955.

When considering a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), the Court is bound to construe a complaint liberally in the plaintiff's favor, and it should grant the plaintiff "the benefit of all inferences that can be derived from the facts alleged." Kowal v. MCI Comme'ns Corp. , 16 F.3d 1271, 1276 (D.C. Cir. 1994), citing Schuler , 617 F.2d at 608. Where the action is brought by a pro se plaintiff, a district court has an obligation "to consider his filings as a whole before dismissing a complaint," Schnitzler , 761 F.3d at 38, citing Richardson , 193 F.3d at 548, because such complaints are held "to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers." Haines , 404 U.S. at 520, 92 S.Ct. 594. Nevertheless, the Court need not accept inferences drawn by the plaintiff if those inferences are unsupported by facts alleged in the complaint, nor must the Court accept plaintiff's legal conclusions. Kowal , 16 F.3d at 1276. In ruling upon a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, a court may ordinarily consider only "the facts alleged in the complaint, documents attached as exhibits or incorporated by reference in the complaint, and matters about which the Court may take...