Basey v. Reardon

District Court, D. Alaska·Decided November 28, 2023·No. 3:23-cv-00124·Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF ALASKA

KALEB LEE BASEY, Case No. 3:23-cv-00124-JMK Plaintiff,

v.

KYLE FREDERICK REARDON, et al.,

Defendants.

SCREENING ORDER Self-represented federal prisoner Kaleb Lee Basey (“Plaintiff’) filed a complaint, a civil cover sheet, a motion to file exhibits, and a sealed declaration in support of his motion.1 Plaintiff asserts this is an action under: (1) The Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) to order production of agency records; (2) Fed. R. Civ. P. Rule (60)(d)(l) and 28 U.S.C. §1331 seeking relief from this Court’s order in the certificate of appealability (“COA”) proceeding in U.S. v. Basey, No. 4:14-cr-00028-RRB (D. Alaska); and

1 Dockets 1–4. (3) 28 U.S.C. §1331 and the U.S. Constitution seeking equitable relief for a deprivation of Basey’s liberty interest in access to pre-trial exculpatory information without due process of law.2

Plaintiff names Kyle Frederick Reardon, Jolene Goeden, the United States of America, the Executive Office for the U.S. Attorney, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI Field Office of Anchorage, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska as defendants (“Defendants”).3 The Court now screens Plaintiff’s Complaint in accordance with

28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e) and 1915A. SCREENING STANDARD Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, a district court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief against a governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity, even if the filing fee has been paid.4

In this screening, a court shall dismiss the case at any time if the court determines that the action: (i) is frivolous or malicious; (ii) fails to state a claim on which relief may be granted; or

2 Docket 1. 3 Docket 1. 4 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915, 1915A. (iii) seeks monetary relief against a defendant who is immune from such relief.5

Before a court may dismiss any portion of a complaint, a court must provide a plaintiff with a statement of the deficiencies in the complaint and an opportunity to amend or otherwise address the problems, unless to do so would be futile.6 Futility exists when “the allegation of other facts consistent with the challenged pleading could not possibly cure the deficiency.”7 Further, courts are not required

to entertain duplicative or redundant lawsuits and may dismiss them as frivolous or malicious.8 DISCUSSION The Court takes judicial notice9 of Plaintiff’s underlying criminal conviction in United States v. Basey, Case No. 4:14-cr-00028-RRB-1. In that case, Plaintiff also filed for post-conviction relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, motion requesting discovery,

reconsideration, recusal of the assigned judge, and appealed multiple court orders.10 The Court also takes judicial notice of Plaintiff’s previous FOIA case

5 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B). 6 See Gordon v. City of Oakland, 627 F.3d 1092, 1094 (9th Cir. 2010) (citing Albrecht v. Lund, 845 F.2d 193, 195 (9th Cir. 1988)). 7 See Schreiber Distributing Co. v. Serv-Well Furniture Co., 806 F.2d 1393, 1401 (9th Cir. 1986). 8 See, e.g., Cato v. United States, 70 F.3d 1103, 1105 n.2 (noting that courts may dismiss under § 1915 a complaint that merely repeats pending or previously litigated claims). 9 Judicial notice is the “court’s acceptance, for purposes of convenience and without requiring a party’s proof, of a well-known and indisputable fact; the court’s power to accept such a fact.” Black’s Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019); see also Fed. R. Evid. 201. 10 See United States v. Basey, Case No. 4:14-cr-00028-RRB. See also United States v. Basey, 784 Fed. App’x 497 (9th Cir. 2019) (denying direct appeal); United States v. Basey, Nos. 4:20- seeking information various agencies compiled in connection with his prosecution.11

I. Failure to State a Claim To determine whether a complaint states a valid claim on which relief may be granted, courts consider whether the complaint contains sufficient factual matter that, if accepted as true, “state[s] a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.”12 In conducting its review, a court must liberally construe a self-represented plaintiff’s pleading and give the plaintiff the benefit of the doubt.13 Factual

allegations must not be speculative; rather, a plaintiff must plead “factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.”14 Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (“Rule 8”) instructs that a complaint must contain a “short and plain statement of the claim showing that the [complainant] is entitled to relief[.]”15 While a complaint

need not, and should not, contain every factual detail, “unadorned, the defendant-

cv00015-RRB, 4:14-cr-00028-RRB-1, 2022 WL 636115 (9th Cir. Jan. 18, 2022) (affirming denial of § 2255 motion and subsequent Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e) motion); In re Basey v. USDC-AK, 2022 WL 6685216 (9th Cir. July 12, 2022) (denying petition for mandamus); Basey v. United States, 142 S. Ct. 1434 (2022) (denying petition for writ of certiorari). 11 See Basey v. Dep’t of the Army, No. 4:16-cv-00038-TMB (D. Alaska 2018). 12 Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (citing Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). 13 Hebbe v. Pliler, 627 F.3d 338, 342 (9th Cir. 2010) (citing Bretz v. Kelman, 773 F.2d 1026, 1027 n.1 (9th Cir. 1985) (en banc)). 14 Ashcroft, 556 U.S. at 678. 15 Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). unlawfully-harmed-me accusation[s]” are insufficient to state a claim.16 A complaint is insufficiently plead if it offers “naked assertions devoid of further factual enhancement.”17

II. Improper Joinder Rule 18(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure allows a plaintiff to join as many claims as he has against an opposing party in one action. Multiple parties may be joined as defendants in one action only “if any right to relief is asserted against them jointly, severally, or in the alternative with respect to or arising out of

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Basey v. Reardon, (D. Alaska 2023).

Basey v. Reardon (Basey v. Reardon) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Garnett v. Jenkins
33 U.S. 75 (Supreme Court, 1834)
Blessing v. Freestone
520 U.S. 329 (Supreme Court, 1997)
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly
550 U.S. 544 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Hebbe v. Pliler
627 F.3d 338 (Ninth Circuit, 2010)
Gordon v. City of Oakland
627 F.3d 1092 (Ninth Circuit, 2010)
Drake v Obama
664 F.3d 774 (Ninth Circuit, 2011)
Coughlin v. Rogers
130 F.3d 1348 (Ninth Circuit, 1997)
United States v. Edward E. Allen
157 F.3d 661 (Ninth Circuit, 1998)
George v. Smith
507 F.3d 605 (Seventh Circuit, 2007)
Stevens v. Rifkin
608 F. Supp. 710 (N.D. California, 1984)
Jason Lee Harris v. J. Kenneth Mangum
863 F.3d 1133 (Ninth Circuit, 2017)
Taryn Christian v. Todd Thomas
982 F.3d 1215 (Ninth Circuit, 2020)
America Unites for Kids v. Sylvia Rousseau
985 F.3d 1075 (Ninth Circuit, 2021)
Buckley v. City of Redding
66 F.3d 188 (Ninth Circuit, 1995)