Colbert v. New York Avenue Presbyterian Church

• Court: District Court, District of Columbia
• Decided: February 8, 2011
• Docket: Civil Action No. 2011-0320
• Status: Published

Opinion

FEB ~ 8 ?_"reg UNITED sTATEs DISTR!CT CoURT Cc¢em, u.s. alarm ¢,. tatum cy FoR THE l)isrmcr oF coLUMB1A vwrs farm earner or columbia

ANroNlo CoLBERr, ) ) Piainriff, )

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V_ ) civil A¢rion N@. UJZ{) ) Nr~;w YoRK AVENUE ) PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ) ) Defendant. ) MEMoRANDUM oPlNloN

This matter is before the Court upon consideration of plaintiff s application to proceed in forma pauperis and his pro se complaint. The application will be granted, and the complaint will be dismissed.

Plaintiff alleges that he had been receiving mail at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, and that a church employee considered this arrangement "as some type of game in which they could gain sexual favors from [him]." Compl. at 2. This alleged "criminal misconduct" has led to "more criminal harrassment [sic]." Id. Plaintiff demands damages of $200,000. ld.

ln Neitzke v. Wz`llz`ams, 490 U.S. 319 (1989), the Supreme Court states that the trial court has the authority to dismiss not only claims based on an indisputably meritless legal theory, but also claims whose factual contentions are clearly baseless. Claims describing fantastic or delusional scenarios fall into the category of cases whose factual contentions are clearly baseless. Id. at 328. The trial court has the discretion to decide whether a complaint is frivolous, and such finding is appropriate when the facts alleged are irrational or wholly incredible. Denton v. Hernana’ez,i 504 U.S. 25, 33 (1992). The Court deems the instant complaint frivolous, and

accordingly, dismisses this action under 28 U.S.C. § l9l5(a)(2)(B)(i). An Order consistent with

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this Memorandum Opinion is issued separately.

l%itecn`>tates District Judge

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