McKinzie v. Double Tree Suites

• Court: District Court, District of Columbia
• Decided: June 19, 2012
• Docket: Civil Action No. 2012-0991
• Status: Published

Opinion

FILED UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA JUN 1 9 2012 Clerk, us o; t . Courts to.r the ;;~fr~c~ ~fnckr uptcy 1 o umb1a ) Melinda McKinzie, ) ) Plainti~f, ) ) v. ) Civil Action No. 12 0991 ) Double Tree Suites (WDC) eta!., ) ) Defendants. ) )

MEMORANDUM OPINION

This matter is before the Court on plaintiffs prose complaint and application to proceed

in forma pauperis. The Court will grant plaintiffs application and dismiss the complaint for lack

of subject matter jurisdiction.

The subject matter jurisdiction of the federal district courts is limited and is set forth

generally at 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1332. Under those statutes, federal jurisdiction is available

only when a "federal question" is presented or the parties are of diverse citizenship and the

amount in controversy exceeds $75,000. A party seeking relief in the district court must at least

plead facts that bring the suit within the court's jurisdiction. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a). Failure to

plead such facts warrants dismissal ofthe action. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(h)(3).

Plaintiff is a District of Columbia resident suing Double Tree Suites located in the

District, its purported parent company in Florida, and a list of other defendants located in the

District and Palm Beach, Florida. Plaintiff sues defendants for injuries she allegedly suffered as

a result of their "negligent, wrongful, false and malicious acts" on May 18, 2009, Compl.~ 2, and

she demands $1.5 million in damages. !d. ~ 1. The complaint presents neither a federal question I ~ ( -----~--------------------·-·---·-·----~··--·-·--------·

nor a basis for diversity jurisdiction because plaintiff and some of the defendants reside in the

District. See Bush v. Butler, 521 F. Supp. 2d 63, 71 (D.D.C. 2007) ("For jurisdiction to exist

under 28 U.S.C. § 1332, there must be complete diversity between the parties, which is to say

that the plaintiff may not be a citizen of the same state as any defendant.") (citations omitted). 1 A

separate Order of dismissal accompanies this Memorandum Opinion.

United States District Judge Date: June / ~12

1 Plaintiffs recourse may lie, if at all, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.