Linda Wright v. United States

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• Decided: July 14, 2023
• Docket: 22-1164
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT ___________

No. 22-1164 __________

LINDA ANN WRIGHT, Appellant

v.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; STATE OF CALIFORNIA; STATE OF TEXAS; THE U.S. ATTORNEYS OFFICE PENNSYLVANIA; ALEX KOZINSKI; NEAL KATYAL; BARBARA BOXER; BONNIE S. GRAHAM; U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS; SYLVIA MATTHEWS BURWELL; ARNOLD RUSSO; U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES; PATRICK ORY; ANDREW SAUL; KILOLO KIJAKAZI; TOM WHEELER; ROBERT GATES; DANIEL DEWSNUP; ERIC SHINSEKI; KATHLEEN SEBELIUS; DAVID SPIVEY; RICHARD P. GEIB; ERIC HOLDER; KARLA KERLIKOWSKE; JOSEPH P. RUSSONIELLO; SAN FRANCISCO VA MEDICAL CENTER; COLEEN L. WELCH; KENNETH SWASEY; TELLA WILLIAMS; ULRIKE WILLIMON; MARIA RAINWATER; JENNIFER VANDERMOLEN; DONALD E. KOENIG; PA ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE; CARRIE E. WILSON; SAINT CLAIR HOSPITAL, ET AL; THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA; OFFICE OF ATTORNEY GENERAL CA; JEFFREY R, VINCENT; XAVIER BECERRA; EDMUND BROWN, JR.; KAMALA HARRIS; BETTY T. YEE; CA BOARD OF EQUALIZATION; MARTINEZ VA HOSPITAL; ELIZABETH MARTINEZ MAHAN; MAE FRANCINE HOLMES; CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF INSURANCE; MEDICAID OF CALIFORNIA; MEDICAL BOARD OF CALIFORNIA; KAREN L. SMITH; KRISTINA D. LAWSON; OAKLAND VA REGIONAL OFFICE; SUPERIOR COURT OF COURT HUMBOLDT; JOHN L. BURRIS; CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY; KEN PIMLOTT; CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF VEHICLES; JEAN SHIOMOTO; MEDTRONIC SPRINT FIDELIS; LOCKRIDGE GRINDAL NUEN; DAVID S. WEILAND; EAST BAY CARDIOLOGY;PROTRANSPORT1; KINDRED MEDICAL HILL REHABILITATION; KINDRED REHABILITATION SAN LEANDRO; HARNETT CHOPRA;MAE FRANCINE HOLMES; VALE REHABILITATION; SHEILA CULLEN; DOCTORS HOSPITAL; CONTRA COSTA COUNTY CORONER; WILLIAM WALKER; RONALD M. SATO; OTIS ROUNDS; WILLIAM W. CHEN; ALTA BATES SUMMIT MEDICAL CENTER; CASA ADOBE SENIOR APARTMENTS; MARIA FUENTES; UNITED INSURANCE COMPANY; U.S. POST OFFICE-EUREKA; U.S. POST OFFICE-SAN PABLO; TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERA OFFICE; SCOT M. GRAYDON; KEN PAXTON; GREG ABBOTT; RICK PERRY; ERIN NEALY COX; TALETA TOWNSEND; ALLEGIANCE BEHAVIORAL HEALTH; CITY OF AMARILLO; CITY OF AMARILLO; AMARILLO POLICE DEPARTMENT; AMARILLO BUILDING DEPARTMENT; BRYAN SCOTT MCWILLIAMS; GWEN GONZALES; KIRKLAND COURT REHABILITATION; JOYCE COURSE; JACQUELINE S. COOPER; JOHN DZIK; KEVIN WRIGHT; GORDON K. WRIGHT; YOLANDA CALDWELL; TIMOTHY M. DORTCH; KIRKLAND COURT NURSING STAFF 2013-PRESENT; MICHAEL KAITCER; NORTHWEST TEXAS HEALTHCARE SYSTEM; MITZI S. MAYFIELD; KEVIN WRIGHT; BSA REHABILITATION; THOMAS E. CREEK MEDICAL CENTER; RODNEY GONZALEZ; CHAD LOGAN; LEONARD & LYDE; REDWOOD FAMILY PRACTICE; MARIA WINTERS; AMERICAN MODERN HOME INSURANCE; JOSEPH J. MINIOZA; SAMANTHA POWERS; ANDREW P. SCLAR; NATHANIEL LUCEY; ERIKSEN ARBUTHNOT; AMERICAN EXPRESS CORPORATION; THE MOORE GROUP; HARVEY MOORE; RAMIN MAHAVI; BOIES SCHILLER & FLEXNOR; EDMOND GARABEDIAN; SONYA DEVORAH PASKIL; PALMER LOMBARDI & DONOHUE; ROBERT L. BACHMAN; CHETNA VORA; BRETT DAVID WATSON; DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS; THE ARBORS REHABILITATION; JOSEPH MARK PARSONS; NANCY K. DELANEY; KEVIN WRIGHT; MOBILITY SOLUTIONS AMARILLO; J. SELMAN; JEFF GEARHART; NAVY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION; WELLS FARGO USA; STEVEN L. HOARD; KEVIN WRIGHT; TYRONE WRIGHT; MARGARET MARIE SCHNECK; LARRY "DOE"; JOHNATHAN HINDERS HINDERS; WELLS FARGO BANK-AMARILLO; EQUIFAX CORPORATION; RICHARD SMITH, CEO; MEPCO FINANCIAL; JAIME PAUL DREHER; KELLY LUIS POPE; AT&T CORPORATION; JOHN STANKEY; RANDALL STEPHENSON; AT&T EUREKA-CA; COAST CENTRAL CREDIT UNION; LARRY DERIDDER; AMELIA FAIRBANKS BURROUGHS; NANCY CRAIG; BRIAN OGDEN CRAIG; KIM S. ERIVN; THE EUREKA VETERANS CLINIC; PATRICIA FITZGERALD; PETRA KUHFAHL; MICHAEL MORRISON; THOMAS J. RYDZ; KUSUM STOKES; JANSSEN MALLOY; NEEDHAM MORRISON; CROWLEY & GRIEGO REINHOLTSEN; MITCHELL BRISSO DELANEY & VRIEZE; NANCY K. DELANEY; JOHN VRIEZE; CLERK OF BOARD OF SUPERVISORS; HUMBOLDT COUNTY ASSESSOR; HUMBOLDT COUNTY BUILDING PERMITS; HUMBOLDT COUNTY SHERIFFS; JOHN BARTHOMOLEW; SAINT JOSEPH HOSPITAL; SAINT JOSEPH REHABILITATION; THE ARBORS REHABILITATION-TEXAS; HUMBOLDT COUNTY WASTE MANAGEMENT; JILL DUFFY; MECHANICS BANK; PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC CORPORATION; WILLIAM D, JOHNSON CEO; JP MORGAN CHASE; ALTICE COMMUNICATIONS; DEXTER GOEI, CEO; SUDDENLINK COMMUNICATIONS-EUREKA CA; S. LEE MERRITT; RAY SCHNIBBEN; GIORGIO HERRERA; SUTTER DELTA HEALTHCARE; IRINA KOLOMEY; LONE TREE CONVALESCENT, ET AL; ALLSTATE INSURANCE CORPORATION; THOMAS WILSON, CEO; TIM STOREY-EUREKA CA; THE ARBORS

2 REHABILITATION; JOSEPH MARK PARSONS; CHARLES EDWARD MOSS; NW TEXAS HEALTHCARE SYSTEM, MITZI S. MAYFIELD; MICHAEL H. LOFTIN; KEVIN WRIGHT; THOMAS E. CREEK VA MEDICAL CENTER; RODNEY GONZALEZ; CHAD LOGAN; MOBILITY SOLUTIONS AMARILLO; DUSTY J. STOCKARD; J. SELMAN; SHARON B. DRAGER; IRINA KOLOMEY; ST. CLAIR HOSPITAL ____________________________________

On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (D.C. Civil Action No. 2:21-cv-01152) District Judge: Honorable J. Nicholas Ranjan ____________________________________

Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) July 7, 2022

Before: MCKEE, SHWARTZ, and MATEY, Circuit Judges

(Opinion filed: July 14, 2023) ___________

OPINION * ___________

PER CURIAM

Pro se appellant Linda Ann Wright appeals from the District Court’s order

dismissing her lawsuit with prejudice after screening it pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §

1915(e)(2)(B). We will affirm the judgment of the District Court.

Wright filed this action in August 2021 against the United States, the States of

California and Texas, certain federal agencies and officials, and a multitude of other

public officials and private individuals, seeking tens of millions of dollars in damages and

* This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent.

3 other relief. Wright’s complaint and amended complaints catalogued a vast inventory of

grievances, many unrelated to each other, from events during her and her deceased

parents’ lives. Much of her case echoed prior litigation she pursued against many of the

same defendants in California and Texas. 1 She claimed jurisdiction in the Western

District of Pennsylvania under diversity of citizenship and federal question jurisdiction

for alleged violations of the Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S.

Constitution; 18 U.S.C. §§ 153, 241, 242, 371, 1503, 1951; and 42 U.S.C. § 1985(2),(3).

See ECF Dkt. No. 17 at 3.

In December 2021, the District Court granted her motion to proceed in forma

pauperis. Before defendants were served with her most recent amended complaint, the

District Court screened the case under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B), which requires

dismissal of an in forma pauperis action that “fails to state a claim on which relief may be

granted,” “seeks monetary relief against a defendant who is immune,” or is frivolous. Id.

The District Court considered Wright’s latest complaint in the case under those criteria

and concluded that “dismissal with prejudice [was] appropriate, as Ms. Wright’s claims

suffer[ed] from a range of fatal deficiencies,” the most obvious being that the complaint

failed to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. D. Ct. Mem. Ord. at 2. The

1 See Wright v. United States, No. 3:14-cv-3008, 2015 WL 3902798, at *1 (N.D. Cal. Jun. 24, 2015); Wright v. United States, No. 2:15-cv-0214, 2016 WL 1070838, at *1 (N.D. Tex. Mar. 16, 2016). She recently sought, unsuccessfully, to reopen those cases. She has also filed Supreme Court actions which, she admits, concern some of the same grievances. In 2021, Wright filed another lawsuit in the Western District of Pennsylvania, but it was essentially identical to this one and she agreed to close it. See No. 2:21-cv-713.

4 District Court identified other obstacles, including that it lacked subject matter

jurisdiction over Veterans Affairs (VA) benefit claims, that she could not bring civil

claims to enforce the criminal code, and that res judicata and the applicable statute of

limitations barred her claims. Id. at 2-4. Wright filed this timely appeal. 2

We have jurisdiction over this appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We exercise

plenary review over the sua sponte dismissal of a complaint under § 1915(e). See Dooley

v. Wetzel, 957 F.3d 366, 373 (3d Cir. 2020). In order to avoid dismissal, a complaint

must meet the pleading requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a), and

“contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to state a claim to relief that is

plausible on its face.” Talley v. Wetzel, 15 F.4th 275, 286 n.7 (3d Cir. 2021) (cleaned

up). 3 We review a court’s dismissal with prejudice for an abuse of discretion. See

Grayson v. Mayview State Hosp., 293 F.3d 103, 108 (3d Cir. 2002).

We discern no error in the District Court’s dismissal of Wright’s complaint. First,

we agree that, despite Wright’s many efforts, the second amended complaint (ECF Dkt.

No. 17 plus attachments, and what are essentially duplicate filings at Nos. 23 and 24)

does not state a claim upon which relief may be granted, even affording it the most

2 To the extent that Wright includes new allegations in her appellate filings, we will not address them here because they are not properly before us. See Simko v. U.S. Steel Corp., 992 F.3d 198, 205 (3d Cir. 2021). 3 Under Rule 8, an allegation must plain enough “to give the adverse party fair notice of the claim asserted so as to enable him to answer and prepare for trial,” and it cannot place “an unjustified burden on the court and the part[ies] who must respond to it because they are forced to select the relevant material from a mass of verbiage.” Salahuddin v. Cuomo, 861 F.2d 40, 42 (2d Cir. 1988). 5 generous construction, see Dooley, 957 F.3d at 374. As the District Court noted, the

second amended complaint lacks factual allegations with respect to many named

defendants. D. Ct. Mem. Ord. at 2. The balance of defendants has been left to guess the

specific factual nature and the legal basis of her claims against them, such that they are

unable to properly answer or prepare for trial. See Salahuddin, 861 F.2d at 42.

Generally, Wright alleges that she has been the victim of botched medical treatments

going back decades, that she and her deceased parents were denied medical and

appropriate respite care, that the Department of Veterans Affairs denied benefits owed to

her, and that various entities wrongfully took possession of her property. See ECF Dkt.

Nos. 17 at 4, 17-3 at 1-12. But to proceed, her complaint must do more than broadly

describe interactions with a disparate group of entities over a twenty-plus year period

without identifying actions by specific defendants that support a facially plausible claim

for legal relief. See Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). At a minimum, she has

not alleged facts sufficient “to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Bell

Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007) (citing 5 C. Wright & A. Miller,

Federal Practice and Procedure § 1216, pp. 235-236 (3d ed. 2004), for the proposition

that the complaint must provide more than facts that “merely create[] a suspicion of a

legally cognizable right of action”).

We further note that Wright’s named causes of action are largely not viable as

presented in her complaint. Wright’s attempts to raise civil claims to enforce sections

153, 241, 242, 371, 1503, and 1951 of the Federal Criminal Code fail because the statutes

she cited do not create a private cause of action. See Leeke v. Timmerman, 454 U.S. 83,

6 85-86 (1981) (explaining that a private party has no right to compel the enforcement of

criminal laws). Wright’s claims seeking relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1985 and alleging

tortious action must comply with the applicable state statute of limitations for personal

injury claims; the claims alleged in Pennsylvania before August 30, 2018, are barred

under the two-year statute for personal injury claims. See 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 5524;

Bougher v. Univ. of Pittsburgh, 882 F.2d 74, 79 (3d Cir. 1989); Schmidt v. Skolas, 770

F.3d 241, 249 (3d Cir. 2014) (complaint is subject to dismissal for failure to state a claim

on statute of limitations grounds when that defense is apparent on the face of the

complaint). 4

Finally, the District Court did not abuse its discretion by dismissing Wright’s

action with prejudice because we agree that it would be futile to allow her to file yet

another amended complaint. See Fletcher-Harlee Corp. v. Pote Concrete Contractors,

Inc., 482 F.3d 247, 251 (3d Cir. 2007) (noting that a district court must offer amendment

when dismissing for failure to state a claim “unless doing so would be inequitable or

futile”). Wright has been afforded ample opportunities to make her case. After at least

4 As the District Court decided, Wright’s lawsuit faced a variety of other problems, too. For example, a substantial part of Wright’s allegations is barred under res judicata principles in light of her prior litigation in federal courts in California and Texas, see D. Ct. Mem. Ord. at 2. On appeal, she tacitly conceded this point because she did not deny repeating those claims in this lawsuit but instead argued that the prior cases were not litigated before fair tribunals. See Notice of Appeal at 10; Appellant’s Informal Brief (C.A. Dkt. No. 15) at 9. Also, insofar as her action concerned disputes over VA benefits, the District Court lacked subject matter jurisdiction, see ECF Dkt. No. 17-3 at 6-7. See 38 U.S.C. § 511. Of course, Wright also cannot overcome the substantial bar to her claims that the sovereign immunity doctrine presents in light of the many federal and state defendants named in her action. See D.J.S.-W by Stewart v. United States, 962 F.3d 745, 749 (3d Cir. 2020); Kimmel v. Florida Bd. of Regents, 528 U.S. 62, 72-73 (2000). 7 three attempts, her complaint still suffers from multiple flaws which are fatal to her

lawsuit.

For these reasons, we will affirm the judgment of the District Court. Wright’s

outstanding motions are denied.