Nellom v. Delaware County Domestic Relations Section

145 F. Supp. 3d 470, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 155690, 2015 WL 7273467
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 18, 2015
DocketCIVIL ACTION No. 15-1229
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 145 F. Supp. 3d 470 (Nellom v. Delaware County Domestic Relations Section) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nellom v. Delaware County Domestic Relations Section, 145 F. Supp. 3d 470, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 155690, 2015 WL 7273467 (E.D. Pa. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

EDUARDO C. ROBRENO, DISTRICT JUDGE.

Plaintiff Frank Nellom, proceeding pro se, brings this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as compensatory damages, against a series of Defendants, all of whom are employees of the Delaware County Domestic Relations Section. After a hearing with the parties and for the reasons that follow, the Court will dismiss Plaintiffs Second Amended Complaint in its entirety, without leave to amend.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff filed his original complaint in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas against Defendant Delaware County Domestic Relations Section (“DRS”), alleging that he was falsely arrested and malicious[475]*475ly prosecuted in connection with divorce and child support proceedings in Delaware County. See generally ECF No. 1, Ex. A. Plaintiff originally sought “just compensation for Emotional Distress suffered from over two years of malicious prosecution, arrests, and imprisonments for 31 days,” requesting up to $3,620,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Id. at ¶ 8. DRS removed the case to this Court on March 11, 2015. ECF No. 1.

After DRS filed a motion to dismiss Plaintiffs Complaint, ECF No. 3, Magistrate Judge Thomas J. Rueter entered a Report and Recommendation (“R. & R.”) recommending that- the Court dismiss Plaintiffs Complaint on grounds including, but not limited to, Eleventh Amendment immunity. See R. & R. 2-7, ECF No. 11. The Court adopted the R. & R., granting DRS’s motion to dismiss and giving Plaintiff leave to file an amended complaint. ECF No. 16.

On June 8, 2015, Plaintiff filed his First Amended Complaint, essentially restating identical claims against the DRS employees. ECF No. 17. He specifically claimed that Defendants created a “false debt” against him, “retaliated against him by abuse of process,” and “proceeded] against [him] in absence of a complaint.” Id. at ¶¶ 2, 11-12. The main difference in the First Amended Complaint, as compared with Plaintiffs original complaint, was that Plaintiff named employees “in their individual capacity.”1 Id. at ¶ 9.

The DRS employees (as well as DRS itself, although only the employees are named in the caption of the First Amended Complaint) (collectively, “Defendants”) filed a motion to dismiss Plaintiffs First Amended Complaint, essentially arguing that even when viewed favorably as a pro se filing, it falls short of the pleading requirements set forth in Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009), and Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2004). ECF No. 27. Defendants argued that the First Amended Complaint did not contain specific allegations of “willful misconduct” on the part of the DRS employees, and accordingly, the First Amended Complaint should be dismissed.

On July 29, 2015, the Court granted Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss and dismissed . Plaintiffs First Amended Complaint without prejudice.2 ECF No. 33. The Court stated in a footnote to the Order that “Plaintiff will be granted one final opportunity to file an amended complaint by Tuesday, August 18, 2015.” Id. at n.l.

On August 17, 2015, Plaintiff filed his Second Amended Complaint.3 ECF No. 35. Plaintiff again restated his claims against the DRS employees, but this time, Plaintiff added fifteen new individual defendants.4 [476]*476Plaintiff also now avers Defendants’ “[fjraud upon the Court,” which he claims is “evident from the fact [that] thousands of dollars in False Debt w[as] created without a Complaint to corrupt honorable state court judges by rendering [sic] judgment in [Defendants’] favor.” Id. at ¶ 1.

' As to relief sought, Plaintiff seeks an “[[Injunction against Defendants proceeding further against him in this case of false debt derived from Fraud Upon The Court without complaint is warranted.” Id. at ¶ 55(a). He also seeks thé following: compensatory damages between $2,880,000.00 and $5,760,000.00; attorney fees (although he represents himself) and court costs; and such other relief as justice requires. Id. at ¶ 55(b)-(d).

On August 28, 2015, Defendants- filed a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction and failure to state a claim. ECF No. 36. Plaintiff has failed to respond to Defendants’ motion to dismiss his Second Amended Complaint. Instead, on September 14, 2015, Plaintiff filed a Motion for Summary Judgment. ECF No. 37. In his motion, Plaintiff misunderstands the standard for summary judgment and seems to argue that because there is a “material fact” that his motion should prevail. Id. at ¶¶ 5-6. He states that there is “the material fact that ’no legal Complaint existfs] of record.’” Id. at ¶ 6. On September 25, 2015, Defendants denied all allegations in Plaintiffs motion for summary judgment, mostly qualified with the statement that the allegations are denied “[t]o the extent these allegations are comprehénsible.” ECF No. 38.

On November 10, 2015, the Court held a hearing and afforded Plaintiff the opportunity to respond to the Defendant’s motion to dismiss the amended .complaint.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

In deciding a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1), the court- will consider “whether the allegations on the face of the complaint, taken as true, allege facts sufficient to invoke the jurisdiction of the district court.” Taliaferro v. Darby Twp. Zoning Bd., 458 F.3d 181, 188 (3d Cir.2006) (internal quotations omitted). The court may also take into account “documents referenced [in the complaint] and attached thereto, [and construe all allegations] in the light most favorable to the plaintiff.” Gould Elecs. Inc. v. United States, 220 F.3d 169, 176 (3d Cir.2000).

A party may .also move to dismiss a complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). When considering such a motion, a court must “accept as true all allegations in the complaint and all reasonable inferences that can be drawn therefrom, and view them in the light most favorable to the non-moving party.” DeBenedictis v. Merrill Lynch & Co., 492 F.3d 209, 215 (3d Cir.2007). To withstand a motion to dismiss, the complaint’s “[fjactual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955. This “requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Id. Although a plaintiff is entitled to all reasonable inferences from the facts alleged, a plaintiffs legal conclusions are -not entitled to deference and the Court is “not bound to accept as true a legal conclusion couched as a factual allegation.” Papasan v. Allain, 478 U.S. 265, 286, 106 S.Ct.

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145 F. Supp. 3d 470, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 155690, 2015 WL 7273467, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nellom-v-delaware-county-domestic-relations-section-paed-2015.