Ahuruonye v. U.S. Dep't of Interior

312 F. Supp. 3d 1
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedMay 1, 2018
DocketCivil Action No. 16–1767 (RBW)
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 312 F. Supp. 3d 1 (Ahuruonye v. U.S. Dep't of Interior) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ahuruonye v. U.S. Dep't of Interior, 312 F. Supp. 3d 1 (D.C. Cir. 2018).

Opinion

REGGIE B. WALTON, United States District Judge

Barry Ahuruonye, the pro se plaintiff, brings this civil action against the defendants, the United States Department of Interior ("Department of Interior"), the Merit Systems Protection Board ("MSPB"), the United States Department of Justice, and multiple employees of the Department of Interior, asserting violations of various employment and criminal laws, the Privacy Act, the First and Fifth Amendments to the United States Constitution, the Declaratory Judgment Act, the All Writs Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act (the "APA"). See generally Consolidated Complaints: Case No. 16-cv-1767; Case No. 16-cv-2028; Case No. 17-cv-284 ("Compl."), ECF No. 30. Currently pending before the Court are the Defendants' Motion to Dismiss the Consolidated Complaint for Lack of Subject[-]Matter Jurisdiction and for Failure to State a Claim ("Defs.' Mot."), ECF No. 36, the plaintiff's Motion for Preliminary Injunction Relief ("Pl.'s Mot."), ECF No. 35, the Plaintiff['s] Motion for Sanctions Under Federal Rule 11 for Patricia K. McBride['] Fraud ("Pl.'s Sanctions Mot."), ECF No. 44, and the Plaintiff[']s Response Motion for Sanctions and Striking Out a Fraudulent ECF [Nos.] 36 & 41 ("Pl.'s Sanctions Reply"), ECF No. 49. Upon consideration of the parties' submissions,1 the Court concludes for the following reasons that it must grant in part and deny in part the defendants' motion to dismiss and deny the plaintiff's motion for preliminary injunctive *8relief, motion for sanctions, and motion to strike.

I. BACKGROUND2

In December 2011, the plaintiff "was appointed to a GS-12 Grants Management Specialist position" with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, an agency within the Department of Interior. Defs.' Mot., Exhibit ("Ex.") 1 (Initial Decision (Feb. 5, 2016) ) at 2. "In November[ ] 2012, the [plaintiff] filed a complaint with the Department of Interior Office of Inspector General [ ], alleging that his supervisor, Penny Bartnicki[,] engaged in illegal grant awards ...." Id."Shortly after the [plaintiff] filed [that] complaint, [ ] Bartnicki proposed the [plaintiff's] termination as a probationary employee." Id. On April 15, 2013, the plaintiff and the Department of Interior "settled the [plaintiff's] appeal of [his] removal [ ], and the [plaintiff] was reinstated." Id. After his reinstatement, the plaintiff "raised numerous claims against the [Department of Interior] and [ ] Bartnicki, alleging whistleblowing retaliation and discrimination." Id.; see also id. at 3-4 (listing various adverse employment actions that the plaintiff appealed to the MSPB, including the issuance of a letter of reprimand, poor performance reviews, and wage-increase denials). On March 26, 2015, the plaintiff was issued a notice of proposed removal, see id. at 4, and his employment was terminated thereafter.

Prior to and in conjunction with the filing of his cases in this district, the plaintiff has filed various actions with the MSPB, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Circuit seeking review of allegedly adverse employment actions. See Defs.' Mot. at 4-12. The plaintiff now seeks judicial review of the MSPB's decisions on his adverse employment action appeals, along with asserting additional claims for alleged constitutional and statutory violations. See generally Compl.

II. STANDARDS OF REVIEW

A. Motion to Dismiss Under Rule 12(b)(1)

"Federal [district] courts are courts of limited jurisdiction," Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co., 511 U.S. 375, 377, 114 S.Ct. 1673, 128 L.Ed.2d 391 (1994), and "[a] motion for dismissal under [Federal Rule of Civil Procedure] 12(b)(1) 'presents a threshold challenge to the court's jurisdiction ...,' " Morrow v. United States, 723 F.Supp.2d 71, 75 (D.D.C. 2010) (Walton, J.) (quoting Haase v. Sessions, 835 F.2d 902, 906 (D.C. Cir. 1987) ). Thus, a district court is obligated to dismiss a claim if it "lack[s] ... subject-matter jurisdiction[.]" Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1). Because "it is ... presumed that a cause lies outside [a federal court's] limited jurisdiction," Kokkonen, 511 U.S. at 377, 114 S.Ct. 1673, the plaintiff bears the burden of establishing by a preponderance of the evidence that a district court has subject-matter jurisdiction, see Lujan v. Defs. of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 561, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992).

In deciding a motion to dismiss based upon lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, a district "court need not limit itself to the allegations of the complaint." Grand Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police v. Ashcroft, 185 F.Supp.2d 9, 14 (D.D.C. 2001). Rather, "a court may consider such *9materials outside the pleadings as it deems appropriate to resolve the question [of] whether it has jurisdiction to hear the case." Scolaro v. D.C. Bd. of Elections & Ethics, 104 F.Supp.2d 18, 22 (D.D.C. 2000) ; see also Jerome Stevens Pharms., Inc. v. FDA, 402 F.3d 1249, 1253 (D.C. Cir. 2005). Additionally, a district court must "assume the truth of all material factual allegations in the complaint and 'construe the complaint liberally, granting [the] plaintiff the benefit of all inferences that can be derived from the facts alleged.' " Am. Nat'l Ins. Co. v. FDIC

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Bluebook (online)
312 F. Supp. 3d 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ahuruonye-v-us-dept-of-interior-cadc-2018.