Rutledge v. United States

72 Fed. Cl. 396, 2006 U.S. Claims LEXIS 241, 2006 WL 2424733
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedAugust 22, 2006
DocketNo. 06-555C
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 72 Fed. Cl. 396 (Rutledge v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rutledge v. United States, 72 Fed. Cl. 396, 2006 U.S. Claims LEXIS 241, 2006 WL 2424733 (uscfc 2006).

Opinion

[397]*397ORDER

HORN, Judge.

Before the court is plaintiff’s pro se complaint titled “Ex Parte Claim and Petition For Redress of Grievance Pursuant to the First Article in Amendment to the Constitution for the united States of America and 28 U.S.C.S. § 2675.” (emphasis and errors in original). More than simply confusing, the plaintiffs rambling submission is near impossible to follow, rife with misconstrued and misused legal jargon, and filled with illogical sentences and puzzling exhibits. From what logic the court may gather from the plaintiffs complaint, the court construes the plaintiffs claims to arise from alleged tort actions and alleged violations of his constitutional rights in relation to his 1998 incarceration by the State of Minnesota for criminal convictions of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, third-degree assault, and terroristic threats, in violation of Minn.Stat. §§ 609.342, subd. l(e)(i); 609.223, subd. 1; and 609.713, subd. 1 (1996).

The plaintiffs sentences for the third-degree assault and terroristic threats convictions were vacated by the Minnesota Court of Appeals in 1999. See Minnesota v. Rutledge, No. C5-98-904, 1999 WL 185202, at *2 (Minn.Ct.App. April 6, 1999). The plaintiff then twice petitioned for post-conviction relief of his first-degree criminal sexual conduct conviction. The Minnesota Court of Appeals denied the plaintiffs petitions. See Rutledge v. Minnesota, No. A04-139, 2004 WL 1662541 (Minn.Ct.App. July 27, 2004), review denied (Oct. 27, 2004); Rutledge v. Minnesota, No. C0-02-167, 2002 WL 1837952 (Minn. Ct.App. Aug 13, 2002).

In his complaint in this court, the plaintiff claims that he is a “Third Party Claimant/Intervenor in regards to the Defendant on State of Minnesota Inc’s papers; a secured party to defendant; a private man upon the soil of Minnesota state; a Minnesota state national, foreign to State of Minnesota Inc.” (emphasis and errors in original). Plaintiff alleges that “Jurisdiction is hereby invoked under 28 U.S.C.S. § 2675 and the Constitution for the united States of America.” (emphasis and errors in original). The plaintiffs complaint further alleges that: “Agents, Actors, Employees of State of Minnesota Inc., ... violated numerous Constitutional Rights of Donald Carlos Rutledge in their theft of private property (piracy), i.e. DONALD [398]*398CARLOS RUTLEDGE, and any and all variations of said name, hence the involuntary servitude of Claimant/Intervenor.” The plaintiffs complaint continues to state that:

all parties have admitted complicity in this action against Claimant/Intervenor by failing to reply to and answer Petition For Redress of Grievance(s) provided to State of Minnesota Inc.... State of Minnesota Inc. has agreed with Claimant/Intervenor that State of Minnesota should award Claimant/Intervenor the sum certain amount noted on the latest Invoice(s) by their failure to respond to Claimant/Intervenor’s Tort Claim to Risk Management Office of State of Minnesota [non-reply]; also provided to Division of Tort Branch in Washington D.C. to which their replies are included, (bracketed language in original).

In his complaint, the plaintiff includes as exhibits various documents, invoices and other writings plaintiff has mailed in relation to his incarceration. Specifically included in the plaintiffs exhibits is a Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) filing submitted to the State of Minnesota Secretary of State, in which the plaintiff claims that his own name, Donald Carlos Rutledge, is a trademark and personal property belonging to the plaintiff.

Also included in the plaintiffs exhibits is a “Notice of Tort Claim,” dated July 22, 1997, filed by the plaintiff with the State of Minnesota, Department of Administration, Risk Management Division. In his “Notice of Tort Claim” the plaintiff seeks $4,744,732,081.40 in damages for:

violation of civil rights under the Constitution of the United States for the united States of America (1787 and as amended 1791), Amendments I, IV, and VII pursuant to 42 USC, Sections 1983 and 1988, and claims for the violation of rights under the Minnesota Constitution (1857), plus claims for false arrest, false imprisonment, assault, battery, harassment, detriment of character, theft of property, but not limited to such, etc., as mentioned above, (errors in original).

On March 10, 2006, the Minnesota Department of Corrections responded to the plaintiffs tort claim and stated that because the Department of Correction “was unable to establish that any department employee violated a duty or acted negligently, the DOC declines to offer any payment on this claim.”

On September 1, 2005, the plaintiff filed a claim with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) claiming that numerous employees of the State of Minnesota “have violated Claimant’s unalienable Constitutional (both State and Federal) Rights from the beginning and have steadfastly refused to release Claimant from his involuntary servitude.” On March 6, 2006, the plaintiff wrote a letter to the Administrative Office of the United States Courts titled “Notice of Faulb-Failure to Reply,” alleging that it failed to respond to the plaintiffs September 1, 2005 tort claim and that any continued failure to reply “would constitute by law your admittance to all claims expressed in Notice of Tort Claim____” On March 2, 2006, the Administrative Office of the Courts responded to the plaintiffs tort claim stating that “your claim arises from actions taken entirely by state and local law enforcement and court officials in the course of your arrest and subsequent judicial proceedings. It is this agency’s conclusion that,' because none of the alleged tortfeasors is a federal official, much less an official of the federal judiciary, it is clear that the federal government is not liable for your claim.”

On April 20, 2006, the DOJ responded to the plaintiffs complaint stating that the DOJ “cannot determine the Federal involvement in this matter.” The DOJ then instructed the plaintiff that if he wished to file a claim under the FTCA, the claim must “conform in all respects with Title 28, United States Code §§ 2671-2675 and the regulations in Title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 14----” The plaintiff filed his complaint in this court on July 31, 2006.

DISCUSSION

The court recognizes that the plaintiff is proceeding pro se. Normally, pro se plaintiffs are entitled to liberal construction of their pleadings. See Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520-21, 92 S.Ct. 594, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972) (requiring that allegations con[399]*399tained in a pro se complaint be held to “less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers”), reh’g denied, 405 U.S. 948, 92 S.Ct. 963, 30 L.Ed.2d 819 (1972); see also Hughes v. Rowe, 449 U.S. 5, 9-10, 101 S.Ct. 173, 66 L.Ed.2d 163 (1980); Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 106, 97 S.Ct. 285, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976), reh’g denied, 429 U.S. 1066, 97 S.Ct. 798, 50 L.Ed.2d 785 (1977). The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has similarly stated that “the pleadings of pro se

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Bluebook (online)
72 Fed. Cl. 396, 2006 U.S. Claims LEXIS 241, 2006 WL 2424733, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rutledge-v-united-states-uscfc-2006.