Brackens v. Best Cabs, Inc.

151 F. App'x 659
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Brackens v. Best Cabs, Inc.. Read the opinion of the Court — 146 F. App'x 242
Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit·Decided October 12, 2005·No. 05-3039·Unpublished

Opinion

ORDER AND JUDGMENT *

TIMOTHY M. TYMKOVICH, Circuit Judge.

After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist the determination of this appeal. See Fed. R.App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.

*661 Stacey W. Brackens, appearing pro se, appeals from the district court’s order dismissing his claims against defendants Best Cabs, Inc. and Amy McClellan. Upon the recommendations of the magistrate judge to whom the case was initially assigned, the district court sua sponte dismissed the claims under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. Because we conclude that all claims were properly dismissed, we affirm.

I.

We review a § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) dismissal de novo. McBride v. Deer, 240 F.3d 1287, 1289 (10th Cir.2001). “ ‘[I]n reviewing the dismissal of a complaint, all well-pleaded facts, as distinguished from conclusory allegations, must be taken as true. In addition, we will take the allegations in the plaintiffs objections to the magistrate’s report and recommendation as true.’ ” Id. (quoting Dunn v. White, 880 F.2d 1188, 1190 (10th Cir.1989) (brackets and italics omitted)). We review the district court’s discretionary decision to dismiss a plaintiffs pendent state-law claims for abuse of that discretion. See Baker v. Bd. of Regents, 991 F.2d 628, 634 (10th Cir.1993).

II.

Since 2002, Mr. Brackens has sued Best Cabs and Ms. McClellan at least three times each. 1 In November 2002 he sued Best Cabs for retaliation and discrimination under Title VII. 2 In February 2004 and August 2004 he sued Best Cabs, Ms. McClellan, and most of the other defendants listed in the instant case for retaliation, discrimination, defamation, harassment, and false imprisonment. The suits filed in 2004 relate to Mr. Brackens’s challenge to three temporary restraining orders (TROs) issued in 2008 that prohibit his contact with three women: Ms. Abushi-kha (who leases a taxi from Best Cabs) on June 20, 2003; Ms. McClellan (Mr. Brack-ens’s next-door neighbor with whom he and his wife have been feuding for over three years) on July 21, 2003; and Ms. Fleming (who is allegedly Ms. McClellan’s friend) on October 9, 2003. According to his 2004 complaints, Mr. Brackens was arrested and sentenced to sixty days in jail for contempt of court for violating the TRO involving Ms. McClellan when he appeared in court to challenge the TRO prohibiting contact with Ms. Fleming. He claims his arrest and confinement were unlawful because there was no probable cause to arrest him; because he had no notice of the contempt charge, no representation at the hearing, and no opportunity to prepare a defense; and because the defendant state-court judge was not a neutral judge.

Although he appeals only from the dismissal of his claims against Best Cabs and Ms. McClellan, Mr. Brackens also sued the local sheriff and the state-court judge in both federal complaints filed in 2004, alleging violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for the above-described imprisonment on the contempt charge. 3 These allegations gave the district court federal-question jurisdiction over the two suits. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1343.

*662 Just over a week after filing his February 2004 complaint, Mr. Brackens filed a voluntary motion to dismiss, seeking an order of dismissal with prejudice. The district court granted the motion. Mr. Brackens then filed the instant suit in August 2004. After reviewing both suits, the district court concluded that all of Mr. Brackens’s claims were now barred by the doctrine of res judicata because of the previous with-prejudice dismissal. R. Doc. 16 at 4-7. The court also concluded that, even though Ms. McClellan had filed for an extension of the TRO after the court had granted Mr. Brackens’s voluntary motion to dismiss the February 2004 case, that was not an “adequate ground[] to permit [Mr. Brackens] to open a case in which he initiated dismissal.” Id. at 6.

Mr. Brackens moved for reconsideration. He argued that, because his August complaint asserted wrongful acts that had occurred after the filing of his February complaint, his claims against Best Cabs and Ms. McClellan were not precluded by res judicata. See Mitchell v. City of Moore, 218 F.3d 1190, 1202-03 (10th Cir.2000) (holding that claim preclusion does not necessarily bar a plaintiff from litigating a claim based on conduct occurring after the initial complaint was filed). On reconsideration, the district court concluded that the claims against Best Cabs merely alleged “new theories to reopen his earlier case,” and declined to change its judgment. R. Doc. 29 at 3. As to Ms. McClellan, the district court refused to review the “new evidence and facts” raised in the motion for reconsideration, stating that those arguments should have been made prior to the entry of judgment. Id. at 4. In the alternative, the district court essentially determined that, having dismissed the § 1983 claims, it no longer possessed federal subject-matter jurisdiction. The court held that there was no showing that Ms. McClellan was a state actor or that she acted under color of state law such that the court could maintain federal-question jurisdiction over her, and that there was no diversity between the parties giving rise to diversity jurisdiction. See id. Mr. Brackens appeals.

III.

A. Best Cabs. In his August 2004 suit, Mr. Brackens sought compensation from Best Cabs for retaliation, causing false imprisonment, and stress. See R. Doc. 1 at 23. He asserted that Best Cabs was “the mother to this whole case” because Ms. McClellan would not have filed her stalking complaint that resulted in his imprisonment if Best Cabs had not allegedly told Ms. Abushikha to file the first stalking complaint in retaliation for Mr. Brackens having filed his November 2002 complaint against Best Cabs. Id. One may wonder what Mr. Brackens’s problems with Best Cabs had to do with his problems with his next-door neighbor, Ms. McClellan. Mr. Brackens explains that he informed Ms. McClellan of those problems by distributing a letter in which he complained that he had been unfairly adjudged of being Ms.

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