Arthur v. Windsor Shadows Homeowner's Association

District Court, D. Arizona·Decided March 31, 2021·No. 2:20-cv-00435·Unknown

Opinion

1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

9 Francine M. Arthur, No. CV-20-00435-PHX-DJH

10 Plaintiff, ORDER

11 v.

12 Windsor Shadows Homeowner’s Association, 13 Defendant. 14 15 Pending before the Court is Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s Complaint 16 for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction (Doc. 23). Plaintiff filed a Response in Opposition 17 (Doc. 30), and Defendant filed a Reply (Doc. 31). The matter is fully briefed. 18 I. Background 19 Pro se Plaintiff Francine Arthur resides in the Windsor Shadows neighborhood in 20 Mesa, Arizona. (Doc. 21 at ¶ 7). She is of “Hispanic, African American, and Native 21 American heritage” and is mentally and physically disabled (Id. at ¶ 15). Defendant 22 Windsor Shadows Homeowner’s Association is a private organization responsible for 23 enforcing the neighborhood’s Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (“CC&Rs”) (Id. at 24 ¶ 16). In her Complaint, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant has engaged in a scheme (what 25 she refers to as the “Windsor Shadows Strategy”) to displace existing disabled, minority 26 residents and bring into the neighborhood more affluent, white residents (Id. at ¶¶ 7, 27). 27 Plaintiff alleges that Defendant “singled [her] out” for harsh treatment, while white, non- 28 disabled residents were given preferential treatment (Id. at ¶¶ 37, 45, 154). 1 To accomplish this scheme and force her to leave, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant 2 has noted numerous violations of the CC&Rs against her home, imposed large fines and 3 assessments against her, placed a lien on her home, and threatened to foreclose on her home 4 (Id. at ¶¶ 8, 24, 33). Some of these actions were allegedly taken by the Mulcahy Law Firm, 5 which Plaintiff alleges acted as Defendant’s agent (Id. at ¶¶ 31, 34). Plaintiff alleges that 6 Defendant failed to maintain the common areas of the neighborhood in clean and sanitary 7 condition, causing various injuries (Id. at ¶¶ 25–26). Additionally, Plaintiff alleges that 8 Defendant did not permit her to use her wheelchair on the street, forbade her from installing 9 a wheelchair ramp at her home, made derogatory remarks about her disability and national 10 origin, and threatened her (Id. at ¶ 8). 11 Invoking federal question jurisdiction and supplemental jurisdiction, Plaintiff lists 12 fifteen causes of action, including alleged violations of the Federal Fair Housing Act and 13 Fair Debt Practices Act, as well as various state, local, and common law causes of action. 14 Defendant moves to dismiss the Complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and for violating Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. 15 II. Discussion 16 The Court will first address the Rule 8 issue. 17 A. Rule 8 18 In its Motion to Dismiss under Rule 12(b)(1), Defendant also moves to dismiss 19 Plaintiff’s Complaint under Rule 8, arguing that the Complaint’s “length” and “lack of 20 coherence” justify an involuntary dismissal. (Doc. 23 at 2–3). The Federal Rules of Civil 21 Procedure require that all complaints contain “a short and plain statement of the claim 22 showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). Additionally, “[e]ach 23 allegation must be simple, concise, and direct.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(d). But allegations in a 24 pro se complaint are held to “less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by 25 lawyers.” Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94 (2007) (per curiam) (quoting Estelle v. 26 Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 106 (1976)). Courts must liberally construe pleadings submitted by 27 a pro se plaintiff, affording the claimant the benefit of any doubt. Karim–Panahi v. L.A. 28 Police Dep’t, 839 F.2d 621, 623 (9th Cir. 1988) (citing Bretz v. Kelman, 773 F.2d 1026, 1 1027 n.1 (9th Cir. 1985) (en banc)). However, courts “may not supply essential elements 2 of the claim that were not initially pled.” Ivey v. Bd. of Regents, 673 F.2d 266, 268 (9th 3 Cir. 1982). If the complaint’s deficiencies can be cured, a court must give the pro se litigant 4 leave to amend her complaint. See Karim–Panahi, 839 F.2d at 623 (citing Noll v. Carlson, 5 809 F.2d 1446, 1448 (9th Cir. 1987)). 6 Complaints demonstrating “extraordinary prolixity” may be dismissed, Cafasso, 7 U.S. ex rel. v. Gen. Dynamics C4 Sys., Inc., 637 F.3d 1047, 1058 (9th Cir. 2011), but 8 ordinarily a complaint’s “verbosity” and “length” alone cannot be grounds for dismissal 9 under Rule 8. See Hearns v. San Bernardino Police Dep’t, 530 F.3d 1124, 1131 (9th Cir. 10 2008). This leniency does not allow plaintiffs to draft complaints that are “argumentative, 11 prolix, replete with redundancy and largely irrelevant,” McHenry v. Renne, 84 F.3d 1172, 12 1177 (9th Cir. 1996), “confusing and conclusory,” Hatch v. Reliance Ins. Co., 758 F.2d 13 409, 415 (9th Cir. 1985), or “distracting, ambiguous, and unintelligible.” Schmidt v. 14 Herrmann, 614 F.2d 1221, 1224 (9th Cir. 1980). To lessen a defendant’s burden of responding to a complaint with “excessive factual detail,” courts have the authority to strike 15 any redundancy from a complaint and can excuse a defendant from answering repetitive or 16 irrelevant paragraphs. See Hearns, 530 F.3d at 1132. Dismissal with prejudice is a “harsh 17 remedy,” so courts must first “consider less drastic alternatives.” Id. (citing McHenry, 18 84 F.3d at 1178). 19 Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint is eighty pages long, alleging fifteen causes of 20 action against Defendant. It totals 279 paragraphs, approximately half of which are 21 excessive background details that improperly mix facts and legal standards. Many of its 22 factual allegations are repetitive and irrelevant. Even affording Plaintiff the benefit of the 23 doubt, a generous reading of the Complaint leaves the Court confused about what Plaintiff 24 is alleging Defendant to have done, when Defendant’s alleged conduct took place, and how 25 those actions violate the law. The Complaint is too specific about irrelevant facts and not 26 specific enough about relevant ones. In its present state, Plaintiff’s Complaint must be 27 dismissed for its prolixity, redundance, irrelevance, and ambiguity. This dismissal will be 28 without prejudice and with leave to amend, as will be further explained in Part III of this 1 Order (“Instructions”). 2 B. Subject Matter Jurisdiction 3 Notwithstanding the Rule 8 violations, the Court turns to consider whether it has 4 subject matter jurisdiction over Plaintiff’s claims. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(h)(3) 5 requires courts to dismiss claims over which they lack subject matter jurisdiction. A Rule 6 12(b)(1) challenge to subject matter jurisdiction may be either facial or factual. Safe Air 7 for Everyone v. Meyer, 373 F.3d 1035, 1039 (9th Cir. 2004).

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Arthur v. Windsor Shadows Homeowner's Association, (D. Ariz. 2021).

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