(PS) Iegorova v. Feygan

District Court, E.D. California·Decided October 7, 2019·No. 2:19-cv-01512·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 LIUDMYLA IEGOROVA, No. 2:19-cv-1512-MCE-KJN PS 12 Plaintiff, FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS TO DISMISS WITH PREJUDICE AND 13 v. TO DECLARE PLAINTIFF A VEXATIOUS LITIGANT 14 DANIIL FEYGAN, 15 Defendant. 16 17 Plaintiff Liudmyla Iegorova, proceeding without counsel, commenced this action and 18 requested leave to proceed in forma pauperis. (ECF Nos. 1, 2.) After the Court reviewed its 19 records, the undersigned ordered Plaintiff to show cause why she should not be declared a 20 vexatious litigant. The Court informed Plaintiff of the potential consequences of such a 21 designation, and set a briefing and hearing schedule for Plaintiff to respond. 22 The Court has reviewed Plaintiff’s complaint, and finds it fails for lack of subject matter 23 jurisdiction. Thus, the undersigned recommends this action be dismissed with prejudice. Further, 24 the undersigned finds Plaintiff to be a repeat, serial litigant whose actions have made it clear that 25 she will only continue to abuse the judicial process and inundate courts in this district with 26 frivolous complaints that do nothing but strain the court’s limited resources. Therefore, the 27 undersigned recommends Plaintiff be deemed a vexatious litigant, and recommends a pre–filing 28 order be instituted against her. 1 Background1 2 On August 7, 2019, Plaintiff filed this action against Daniil Feygan, a social worker at 3 Sacramento In–Home Support Services. (ECF No. 1.) Therein, she alleges Feygan committed 4 crimes against her health, life, and personal property under 18 U.S.C. § 241. According to 5 Plaintiff, Sacramento County “stole documents for [a] hearing in July 2015 and stop[ped] services 6 on July 25.” (ECF No. 1.) She demanded ninety–nine trillion dollars in damages. (Id.) Plaintiff 7 requested leave to proceed in forma pauperis. (ECF No. 2.) 8 Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915, the Court screened Plaintiff’s complaint. A review of the 9 Court’s docket reveals that since 2014, Plaintiff has filed over 50 cases in this district wherein she 10 proceeds pro se and requests a waiver of the filing fees. As described in more detail below, only 11 one of Plaintiff’s cases has progressed past the court’s screening process, and a majority of these 12 actions have been dismissed as frivolous, unintelligible, fanciful, or delusional. Further, in a 13 many of those cases, it appears Plaintiff has been using an address that is not her own, causing the 14 court’s notices to flood the mail of the actual residents. (See, e.g., 2:19–cv–1512–MCE–KJN, 15 Docket Entries on 9/4/19 and 9/23/19, “Mail Returned as Undeliverable.”) One of these residents 16 has previously complained to the court about Plaintiff’s “fraudulent use of the address.” (See 17 2:19–cv–167–JAM–DB, ECF No. 3, a Letter from the Director of the Community Center alleging 18 Plaintiff’s fraudulent use of the address.) 19 On August 26, 2019, the Court issued an order to show cause why Plaintiff should not be 20 declared a vexatious litigant. (ECF No. 3.) The Court allowed for Plaintiff to respond in writing 21 by September 12, 2019, and set a hearing on the matter for October 3. (Id.) On August 28, 2019, 22 the court served the order to show cause on Plaintiff. (See Docket Entry on 8/28/19.) Plaintiff 23 did not respond in writing to the Court’s order, nor did she appear at the October 3 hearing. 24 /// 25

1 These facts are based on information contained in the Complaint, and on documents contained 26 in the Court’s docket that are part of the public record––of which the undersigned takes judicial 27 notice. See Fed. R. Evid. 201; Mir v. Little Co. of Mary Hosp., 844 F. 2d 646, 649 (9th Cir. 1988) (“In addition to the complaint, it is proper for the district court to take judicial notice of 28 matters of public record outside the pleadings and consider them for purposes of [dismissal].”) 1 I. Plaintiff’s instant claims fail under the substantiality doctrine. 2 A federal court has an independent duty to assess whether federal subject matter 3 jurisdiction exists, whether or not the parties raise the issue. See United Investors Life Ins. Co. v. 4 Waddell & Reed Inc., 360 F.3d 960, 967 (9th Cir. 2004); accord Rains v. Criterion Sys., Inc., 80 5 F.3d 339, 342 (9th Cir. 1996). The court must sua sponte dismiss the case if, at any time, it 6 determines that it lacks subject matter jurisdiction. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(h)(3). 7 “Under the substantiality doctrine, the district court lacks subject matter jurisdiction when 8 the question presented is too insubstantial to consider.” Cook v. Peter Kiewit Sons Co., 775 F.2d 9 1030, 1035 (9th Cir. 1985) (citing Hagans v. Lavine, 415 U.S. 528, 536-39 (1974)). “The claim 10 must be ‘so insubstantial, implausible, foreclosed by prior decisions of this Court or otherwise 11 completely devoid of merit as not to involve a federal controversy within the jurisdiction of the 12 District Court, whatever may be the ultimate resolution of the federal issues on the merits.’” Id. 13 (quoting Oneida Indian Nation v. County of Oneida, 414 U.S. 661, 666 (1974)); see also Apple v. 14 Glenn, 183 F.3d 477, 479 (6th Cir. 1999) (“a district court may, at any time, sua sponte dismiss a 15 complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of 16 Civil Procedure when the allegations of a complaint are totally implausible, attenuated, 17 unsubstantial, frivolous, devoid of merit, or no longer open to discussion.”). 18 Here, Plaintiff’s complaint alleges that Defendant Daniil Feygan, a social worker at 19 Sacramento In–Home Support Services, committed crimes against Plaintiff’s health, life, and 20 personal property under 18 U.S.C. § 241. According to plaintiff, Sacramento County “stole 21 documents for hearing in July 2015 and stop[ped] services on July 25.” (ECF No. 1.) Plaintiff 22 demands ninety-nine trillion dollars in damages. (Id.) 23 As an initial matter, Plaintiff, as a private citizen, has no standing to prosecute any alleged 24 crimes. Moreover, even if Plaintiff’s claims could be construed as civil claims, the Court finds 25 that Plaintiff’s allegations are implausible, frivolous, devoid of merit, and unsubstantial. 26 Therefore, the Court concludes that this action should be dismissed for lack of subject matter 27 jurisdiction pursuant to the substantiality doctrine. Cook, 775 F.2d at 1035. 28 /// 1 Although the court ordinarily liberally grants leave to amend, especially to pro se litigants, 2 the nature of Plaintiff’s complaint here strongly suggests that granting leave to amend would be 3 futile. See Cahill v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 80 F.3d 336, 339 (9th Cir. 1996).

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