Knight v. Biden
Date Filed2023-12-12
DocketCivil Action No. 2023-3493
JudgeJudge Beryl A. Howell
Cited0 times
StatusPublished
Full Opinion (html_with_citations)
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
NICKHOLAS KNIGHT, SR., )
)
)
Plaintiff, )
) Civil Action No. 1:23-cv-03493 (UNA)
v. )
)
JOE BIDEN, et al., )
)
Defendants. )
MEMORANDUM OPINION
This matter is before the Court on initial review of plaintiff’s pro se complaint, ECF No.
1, and application for leave to proceed in forma pauperis, ECF No. 2. Plaintiff’s in forma pauperis
application is granted, but the case is dismissed, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(i).
“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(2009), quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly,550 U.S. 544, 570
(2007). A complaint that lacks “an arguable basis either in law or in fact” is frivolous, Neitzke v. Williams,490 U.S. 319, 325
(1989), and a “complaint plainly abusive of the judicial process is properly typed malicious,” Crisafi v. Holland,655 F.2d 1305, 1309
(D.C. Cir. 1981).
Here, plaintiff, a resident of Lake Elsinore, California, sues the President of the United
States, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central
Intelligence Agency, and the Department of Justice. See Compl. at 1. The complaint is spare and
difficult to follow. Plaintiff broadly alleges that defendants violated several federal laws and
intentionally violated his rights by stalking him and “sending various agenc[ies] to perform
unnatural acts against [him].” See id.As a result of these alleged bad acts, plaintiff claims to have suffered “various brain and bodily harm.” Seeid.
The relief sought is unspecified.
Subject matter jurisdiction cannot be exercised over a frivolous complaint. Hagans v.
Lavine, 415 U.S. 528, 536–37 (1974) (“Over the years, this Court has repeatedly held that the federal courts are without power to entertain claims otherwise within their jurisdiction if they are ‘so attenuated and unsubstantial as to be absolutely devoid of merit.’”) (quoting Newburyport Water Co. v. Newburyport,193 U.S. 561, 579
(1904); Tooley v. Napolitano,586 F.3d 1006, 1010
(D.C. Cir. 2009) (examining cases dismissed “for patent insubstantiality,” including where the plaintiff allegedly “was subjected to a campaign of surveillance and harassment deriving from uncertain origins.”). A court may dismiss a complaint as frivolous “when the facts alleged rise to the level of the irrational or the wholly incredible,” Denton v. Hernandez,504 U.S. 25, 33
(1992),
or “postulat[e] events and circumstances of a wholly fanciful kind,” Crisafi, 655 F.2d at 1307–08.
The instant complaint falls squarely into this category.
Consequently, the complaint and this case are dismissed without prejudice. A separate
order accompanies this memorandum opinion.
/s/_______________________
BERYL A. HOWELL
Date: December 12, 2023 United States District Judge