Mallgren v. United Healthcare

• Court: District Court, District of Columbia
• Decided: June 1, 2026
• Docket: Civil Action No. 2026-1481
• Status: Published

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

ANTHONY BRIAN MALLGREN, ) ) Plaintiff, ) v. ) Civil Action No. 26-1481 (UNA) ) ) UNITED HEALTHCARE, et al., ) ) Defendants. )

MEMORANDUM OPINION This matter is before the Court on the plaintiff’s application to proceed in forma pauperis,

ECF No. 2, and pro se complaint, ECF No. 1. The Court grants the application and dismisses the

complaint without prejudice.

“A complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to

relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl.

Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). A complaint that lacks “an arguable basis either in

law or in fact” is frivolous, Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 325 (1989), and the Court cannot

exercise subject matter jurisdiction over a frivolous complaint, Hagans v. Lavine, 415 U.S. 528,

536-37 (1974) (“Over the years, this Court has repeatedly held that the federal courts are without

power to entertain claims otherwise within their jurisdiction if they are ‘so attenuated and

unsubstantial as to be absolutely devoid of merit.’”) (quoting Newburyport Water Co. v.

Newburyport, 193 U.S. 561, 579 (1904)); Tooley v. Napolitano, 586 F.3d 1006, 1010 (D.C. Cir.

2009). Consequently, the Court is obligated to dismiss a complaint as frivolous when, as here,

“the facts alleged rise to the level of the irrational or the wholly incredible,” Denton v. Hernandez,

504 U.S. 25, 33 (1992), or “postulat[e] events and circumstances of a wholly fanciful kind,” Crisafi

v. Holland, 655 F.2d 1305, 1307-08 (D.C. Cir. 1981).

1 “Immediate disbandment of the United States healthcare system,” Compl. ¶ 11, and

“[c]essation of all medical licensing,” id. ¶ 12, is not warranted based on plaintiff’s encounter with

staff at the health club to which defendant referred him. The complaint’s few factual allegations

are unintelligible, and to the extent they can be understood, the Court deems them irrational and

incredible. And the Court cannot exercise jurisdiction of a frivolous complaint. An Order will be

issued separately.

DATE: June 1, 2026 /s/ CHRISTOPHER R. COOPER United States District Judge

DATE: June 1, 2026 /s/ CHRISTOPHER R. COOPER United States District Judge