(PS) Swartz v. Alsup

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedJanuary 13, 2025
Docket2:24-cv-02112
StatusUnknown

This text of (PS) Swartz v. Alsup ((PS) Swartz v. Alsup) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
(PS) Swartz v. Alsup, (E.D. Cal. 2025).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 JESSE F. SWARTZ, Case No. 2:24-cv-02112-DC-CSK PS 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER AND FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 14 WILLIAM ALSUP, et al., (ECF Nos. 1, 2, 8, 15, 16) 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff Jesse F. Swartz is representing himself in this action against Defendants 18 William Alsup, James Thomson, and Marissa Harris.1 Plaintiff seeks leave to proceed in 19 forma pauperis (“IFP”) pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915. Plaintiff’s application in support of 20 the IFP request makes the required financial showing. Accordingly, the Court grants 21 Plaintiff’s IFP request. 22 I. SCREENING REQUIREMENT 23 A determination that a plaintiff qualifies financially for IFP status does not 24 complete the inquiry required by the statute. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e), the court 25 must screen every IFP proceeding, and must order dismissal of the case if it is “frivolous 26 or malicious,” “fails to state a claim on which relief may be granted,” or “seeks monetary 27 1 This matter proceeds before the undersigned pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636, Fed. R. 28 Civ. P. 72, and Local Rule 302(c)(21). 1 relief against a defendant who is immune from such relief.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B); 2 Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1126-27 (9th Cir. 2000) (en banc). A claim is legally 3 frivolous when it lacks an arguable basis either in law or in fact. Neitzke v. Williams, 490 4 U.S. 319, 325 (1989). In reviewing a complaint under this standard, the court accepts as 5 true the factual allegations contained in the complaint, unless they are clearly baseless 6 or fanciful, and construes those allegations in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. See 7 id. at 326-27; Von Saher v. Norton Simon Museum of Art at Pasadena, 592 F.3d 954, 8 960 (9th Cir. 2010). 9 Pleadings by self-represented litigants are liberally construed. Hebbe v. Pliler, 627 10 F.3d 338, 342 & n.7 (9th Cir. 2010) (liberal construction appropriate even post–Ashcroft 11 v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009)). However, the court need not accept as true 12 conclusory allegations, unreasonable inferences, or unwarranted deductions of fact. See 13 Western Mining Council v. Watt, 643 F.2d 618, 624 (9th Cir. 1981); Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 14 678-79. A formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action does not suffice to 15 state a claim. Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555-57 (2007); Iqbal, 556 16 U.S. at 678. 17 To state a claim on which relief may be granted, the plaintiff must allege enough 18 facts “to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570. “A 19 claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court 20 to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” 21 Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. A pro se litigant is entitled to notice of the deficiencies in the 22 complaint and an opportunity to amend unless the complaint’s deficiencies could not be 23 cured by amendment. See Lopez, 203 F.3d at 1130-31; Cahill v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 80 24 F.3d 336, 339 (9th Cir. 1996). 25 II. THE COMPLAINT 26 Plaintiff initiated this action by filing a Complaint entitled “Petition for Declaratory 27 Remedy.” Compl. (ECF No. 1). Plaintiff’s Complaint seeks declaratory relief to concur 28 with his conclusion that “errors and omissions” that occurred when he was “arrested, 1 charged, indicted and found guilty of violating 18 U.S.C. § 111” constitute corruption. Id. 2 at 2-3. Plaintiff states he filed his Complaint in the Eastern District of California because 3 the Northern District of California found him to be a vexatious litigant. Id. at 2. Plaintiff 4 lists some “high probability conclusions,” including: “via hi speech patterns and 5 decisions, William Alsup and his sycophants are members of ‘the mob’ and/or are 6 felons”; “William Alsup and other named parties are part of the catholic church and, 7 pursuant to their errant actions and inactions, are part of ‘the mob’”; “William Alsup and 8 parties involved in the matter within are foreign agents (i.e., Russian FSB)”; and “William 9 Alsup and parties named within are Democratic Party members and, via their errant acts, 10 have effectuated an unlawful mob.” Id. at 3. Plaintiff’s Complaint is three pages long, but 11 he includes over 60 pages of exhibits, which include documents he filed in other cases in 12 the Northern District of California, the San Francisco County Superior Court, and the 13 Ninth Circuit. Plaintiff seeks “a finding that the events partially outlined in [his Complaint], 14 including exhibits, constitute corruption.” Id. 15 These exhibits include: charts Plaintiff created that include events supporting 16 corruption (id. at 7-8); a document filed in the Northern District of California titled 17 “Objections to Pre-Trial Services Report (Doc 13) & Defendant’s Request To Strike 18 Same” (id. at 10-13); a document filed in the Northern District titled in part “Notice of 19 Motion & Defendant’s 2nd Motion for Judicial Qualification” (id. at 15-21); a document 20 filed in the San Francisco County Superior Court titled “Supplemental Brief in Support of 21 Complaint: Evidence of Attorney Misconduct in Support of Bar Disciplinary Action & 22 Injunctive Remedy Request” (id. at 23-37); a document filed in the Northern District titled 23 “Notice of and Defendant’s Brief on Proposed Sentencing” (id. at 39-46); and a 24 document filed in the Ninth Circuit titled “Defendant’s Assessment: Probation 25 Department Sentencing Report Errors & Speculative Conclusions as to Reasons 26 Therefore” (id. at 48-64). 27 III. DISCUSSION 28 Plaintiff’s initial pleading is entitled “Petition for Declaratory Remedy.” Compl. 1 Plaintiff’s pleading makes clear that he is only seeking declaratory relief “concurring with 2 the conclusion he has drawn.” Id. at 2. He seeks “a finding that the events partially 3 outlined in this filling, including exhibits, constitute corruption.” Id. at 3. The Declaratory 4 Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2201 et seq, “create[s] additional remedies in the form of 5 declaratory judgment relief for federal litigants, but do[es] not in and of [itself] confer 6 subject matter jurisdiction on the courts.” Luttrell v. United States, 644 F.2d 1274, 1275 7 (9th Cir. 1980). “Therefore, a district court presented with a request for declaratory relief 8 must ‘inquire whether there is an actual case or controversy within its jurisdiction.’” Lucas 9 v. Director of Dept. of Corrections, 2015 WL 1014037, at *1 (E.D. Cal. Mar. 6, 2015) 10 (quoting Principal Life Ins. Co. v. Robinson, 394 F.3d 665, 669 (9th Cir. 2005)).

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Bluebook (online)
(PS) Swartz v. Alsup, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ps-swartz-v-alsup-caed-2025.