Ortiz-Sanchez v. Oronoz

District Court, D. Puerto Rico·Decided July 1, 2025·No. 3:25-cv-01118·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO

MARITZA ORTIZ-SANCHEZ, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) No. 3:25-cv-01118-JAW ) MAITE ORONOZ, et al., ) ) Defendants. )

ORDER OF DISMISSAL AFTER INITIAL REVIEW The court dismisses a complaint against a federal district court judge, a state supreme court justice, and an attorney after initial review, concluding the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. I. BACKGROUND On February 21, 2025, Maritza Ortiz-Sanchez, a resident of New York, filed a civil action in the District Court for the District of Puerto Rico against Supreme Court of Puerto Rico Chief Justice Maite D. Oronoz-Rodríguez, United States District Judge for the District of Puerto Rico Gina Méndez-Miró, and Ana Lopez-Prieto, an attorney in Puerto Rico (collectively, the Defendants), alleging violations of 42 USC §§ 1983, 1985, and 1988. Compl. (ECF No. 2). The case was reassigned to this Judge on June 9, 2025. Order Reassigning Case (ECF No. 6).1

1 On April 28, 2025, Ms. Ortiz filed an identical civil complaint, alleging the same violations against the same defendants, on Docket Number 3:25-cv-01272-JAW in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. No. 3:25-cv-01272-JAW, Compl. (ECF No. 1). On May 1, 2025, Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain transferred the action to this District pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1406. No. 3:25-cv-01272-JAW, Transfer Order at 1-2 (ECF No. 8); No. 3:25- cv-01272-JAW, Order (ECF No. 10); No. 3:25-cv-01272-JAW, Order Reassigning Case (ECF No. 14). Ms. Ortiz filed a motion to proceed in forma pauperis on February 24, 2025. Mot. to Proceed in Forma Pauperis (ECF No. 4); see also Aff. in Support of Mot. to Proceed (ECF No. 1). On June 18, 2025, the Court granted Ms. Ortiz’s request to

proceed without the prepayment of fees. Order (ECF No. 8). Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2), the statute that governs matters filed without the prepayment of fees, courts are authorized to conduct a preliminary review of a complaint when a plaintiff proceeds in forma pauperis. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2). After conducting such a review of Ms. Ortiz’s complaint, the Court concludes her case warrants dismissal.

II. THE ALLEGATIONS IN MARITZA ORTIZ-SANCHEZ’S COMPLAINT Ms. Ortiz brings her complaint “not as an attorney, but as a harmed grandmother, on her own behalf and in self-defense of her fundamental rights.” Compl. at 1. She says she “seeks to redress and prevent further egregious violations of [her] civil rights” protected by the federal Constitution and the laws of the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, particularly the rights to: (1) “work on her chosen profession, free of reprisal,” (2) “not . . . be deprived of her liberty and proprietary

interests without due process,” (3) the right to equal protection under the law, and

Observing that Ms. Ortiz filed two identical suits, both pending in the District of Puerto Rico, and that the Plaintiff does not have the right to proceed in the same court with two identical lawsuits against the same defendants seeking the same relief, on June 10, 2025, the Court issued an order to the Plaintiff to respond within one week, informing the Court on which docket, Docket Number 3:25- cv-01118-JAW or Docket Number 3:25-cv-01272-JAW, she would like to proceed. Order to Respond at 1-3 (ECF No. 7). The Court informed Ms. Ortiz that if she did not respond within this timeframe, the Court would dismiss Docket Number 3:25-cv-01272-JAW without prejudice and will proceed with Docket Number 3:25-cv-01118-JAW as the operative lawsuit, which Ms. Ortiz filed first in the District of Puerto Rico. Id. at 2. Ms. Ortiz did not timely respond and, thus, on July 1, 2025, the Court entered an order of dismissal as to Docket Number 3:25-cv-01272-JAW. No. 3:25-cv-01272-JAW, Order of Dismissal (ECF No. 17). (4) the right to not be deprived of her property without just compensation. Id. at 1-2. She clarifies that her last allegation is in reference to “the illegal, arbitrary and unequal implementation of Puerto Rico’s unconstitutional Code of Professional

Ethics, Title 4AP,” which she says was “selectively imposed . . . to one sole member, of a historically persecuted group of female lawyers” and “the illegal, arbitrary and unequal implementation of Puerto Rico’s unconstitutional Rule 9(ñ), of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court,” which she similarly claims was “selectively imposed” against her, thereby constituting sex-based discrimination. Id. at 2-3. Furthermore, the Plaintiff alleges the Defendants “either directly or vicariously defamed, mocked,

pressured, blackmailed (and are still blackmailing) the plaintiff into forfeiting each one of her constitutional protections . . . as part of a predetermined scheme to leave defendant without her ability to practice her chosen profession.” Id. at 3-4. Explaining the factual basis for her lawsuit, Ms. Ortiz reports that, until March 1, 2024, she worked for Chief Justice Oronoz, and, in the course of her employment, “Defendant Oronoz, as the classic agent provocateur that she is . . . f[e]ll way beyond what is normally seen from a reasonable employer or a supervisory

board.” Id. at 4. She claims “[t]he defendants’ criminal conduct is the direct cause of a decades-long repertoire of irreparable damage,” in that the Defendants “broke their oath to the ethical canons of their own professions, and wrongfully planned to act in concert and in common agreement, to break federal and state laws, prohibiting the fabrication of essentially false documents, prohibiting all modalities of witness tampering, within a predetermined scheme to forfeit plaintiff’s fundamental right to work, in her chosen profession.” Id. at 4-5. The Plaintiff says further that the Defendants “induced, or vicariously provoked, no less than ten (10) consecutive illegal searches, of the plaintiff’s body and private life.” Id. at 6. The Defendants’

“predetermined goal” in pursuing this conduct, she avers, was “to forfeit our right to work in our chosen profession and our right to raise our minor child A.B.O.” Id. at 7. Ms. Ortiz contends these factual allegations amount to constitutional violations of the First, Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and she seeks redress pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983, 1985, and 1988. Id. at 5-6. She argues that “[a]t all times material to this action, defendants

are acting under the disguise or color of state law.” Id. at 8. The Plaintiff alleges injuries in the form of lost wages, “underemployment,” intentional infliction of emotional distress, pain and suffering, “public and daily discredit and humiliation,” and permanent “damages to her dignity, social esteem, etc.” Id. at 7. Turning to her specific grievances against each Defendant, Ms. Ortiz clarifies that she is seeking relief against Chief Justice Oronoz in both her official and personal capacities, and against Judge Méndez on the ground that she is married to Chief

Justice Oronoz. Id. at 9. As to Attorney Lopez, the Plaintiff reports only that she “seems to work from home” as an attorney. Id. at 9-10. “At all times relevant to this complaint,” Ms.

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