Scott v. Unknown Party

CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedSeptember 26, 2024
Docket2:24-cv-02428
StatusUnknown

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

Bluebook
Scott v. Unknown Party, (D. Ariz. 2024).

Opinion

1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

9 Gene Scott, II, No. CV-24-02428-PHX-GMS

10 Plaintiff, ORDER

11 v.

12 Unknown Party,

13 Defendant. 14 15 16 Pending before the Court is Plaintiff’s Application to Proceed in District Court 17 without Prepaying Fees or Costs (Doc. 2) and a Motion Requesting Summary Judgment 18 (Doc. 5). The same document contains a Motion to Reconsider in an unrelated and 19 unidentified action. The Court will grant the Application to Proceed in District Court 20 without Prepaying Fees or Costs (Doc. 2) and screen Plaintiff’s Complaint pursuant to 28 21 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2). Pursuant to that screening, Plaintiff’s Complaint (Doc. 1) is dismissed 22 as frivolous without leave to amend. The Court thus denies as moot Mr. Scott’s Motion 23 Requesting Summary Judgment (Doc. 5). Further Plaintiff Gene Scott II, signing the 24 Complaint as Gene Edward Scott II, has abused the legal process egregiously and often, 25 and does so again by the filing of this Complaint. This Order not only dismisses this action 26 with prejudice but, orders Plaintiff to show cause why the Court should not impose an 27 abusive-litigant injunction to curb Plaintiff’s accelerating practice of filing wholly 28 meritless suits within the Federal Courts. 1 BACKGROUND 2 In the present complaint, Plaintiff asserts a claim against an unknown Defendant or 3 Defendants. His claim seeks “For wherever to Legalize Plaintiff’s Liquor Consumptions 4 and Sales,” apparently a § 1983 claim which he identifies under Amendments I, VIII and 5 XIV of the U.S. Constitution and 28 U.S.C. § 1581(a) (which defines the exclusive 6 jurisdiction of the Court of International Trade). He apparently seeks some form of general 7 declaratory authorization to both sell and consume liquor regardless of the setting. His 8 only other allegation in the Complaint states that he “has … legal Certifications for both 9 Dual Diagnosis and Meta Service as Counselor,” and further states that “Plaintiff during 10 now and ongoing and … is age: 57 years.” 11 Since 2003 Plaintiff has filed at least 108 cases with this Court. His rate of filing 12 has increased exponentially in the last three years, during which Plaintiff has filed 13 approximately 80 cases. All of Plaintiff’s claims have been dismissed on the various bases 14 as set forth in appendix A to this order. 15 This Court has for over a year repeatedly warned Plaintiff about the likely 16 consequences of continuing his pattern of filing meritless lawsuits. Scott v. Veteran’s 17 Admin., 2:23-cv-1151-DWL (July 19, 2023) (Doc. 12) at 3-4. Scott v. Unknown Party, 18 2:24-cv-1343-DWL (Doc. 6) (June 21, 2024); Scott v. Unknown Party, 2:24-cv-2000-MTL 19 (Doc. 5) (August 13, 2024); Scott v. Unknown Party, 2:24-cv-01221-SMM (Doc. 6) August 20 21, 2024; Scott v. U.S. Dep’t of Veteran’s Affairs, 24-cv-2074-SMM (Doc. 6) (Aug. 29, 21 2024). His filing of frivolous lawsuits has nevertheless accelerated. Further, although a 22 resident of this state, Plaintiff has filed a sufficient number of meritless complaints (at least 23 six) in the Eastern District of Arkansas that he has lost his ability to file in forma pauperis 24 complaints there. Scott v. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 2024 WL 1069723 at *1, 4:24-cv- 25 00049-BRW (E.D. Ark. January 24, 2024) (holding that “the Clerk of the Court is directed 26 to no longer accept complaints from Plaintiff unless he pays the filing fee. Previous 27 warnings have been ignored and this is the only way to prevent Plaintiff from wasting the 28 Court’s resources.”) 1 DISCUSSION 2 I. Dismissal of the Instant Complaint 3 While much of § 1915 outlines how prisoners can file proceedings in forma 4 pauperis, section 1915(e) applies to all in forma pauperis proceedings not just those filed 5 by prisoners. Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1127 (9th Cir. 2000) (holding that “although 6 the PLRA was intended to cut down on the volume of prisoner lawsuits . . . section 1915(e) 7 applies to all in forma pauperis complaints, not just those filed by prisoners.”) [S]ection 8 1915(e) not only permits but requires a district court to dismiss an in forma pauperis 9 complaint that either fails to state a claim or is frivolous or malicious. 28 U.S.C. 10 § 1915(e)(2). To state a claim, a complaint must contain “more than labels and 11 conclusions” or a “formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action[;]” it must 12 contain factual allegations sufficient to “raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” 13 Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007). “A claim has facial plausibility 14 when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable 15 inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id. If the Court 16 determines that a pleading could be cured by the allegation of other facts, a pro se litigant 17 is entitled to an opportunity to amend a complaint before the dismissal of the action. See 18 Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1127-1129 (9th Cir. 2000) (en banc). 19 “[A] complaint, containing as it does both factual allegations and legal conclusions, 20 is frivolous where it lacks an arguable basis either in law or in fact.” Nietzke v. Williams, 21 490 U.S. 319, 325 (1989). “[A] finding of factual frivolousness is appropriate when the 22 facts alleged rise to the level of the irrational or wholly incredible, whether or not there are 23 judicially recognized facts available to contradict them.” Denton v. Hernandez, 504 U.S. 24 25, 33 (1992). 25 Plaintiff’s Complaint is completely unintelligible and falls far short of plausibility. 26 It does not even include a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action. Because 27 the Plaintiff’s claim lacks any arguable basis either in law or in fact, it is also frivolous. As 28 such it is dismissed. Because the complaint is unintelligible and frivolous, it cannot be 1 saved under any of the grounds asserted by Claimant, and dismissal with prejudice would 2 have no preclusive effect on any future meritorious suit as no Defendant is named. The 3 dismissal is, thus, without leave to amend. 4 II. The Order to Show Cause 5 28 U.S.C. § 1915 allows district courts to waive filing fees for those unable to pay 6 them to “promote the interests of justice.” In re Sindram, 498 U.S. 177, 179 (1991). As 7 this Court observed in Maisano v. CO III Clark, 4:14-cv-00001-RCC (Doc. 2) at 2 (January 8 29, 2014) “the vast majority of those seeking to proceed in forma pauperis in this District 9 are permitted to do so.” But as the Maisano court also noted, “a few who do so ‘seize on 10 the court’s openness and pervert it for purposes that have little to do with obtaining 11 justice.’” Id. quoting Jones v. Warden of the Statesville Corr. Ctr., 918 F. Supp. 1142, 12 1152 (N.D. Ill. 1995). 13 III. Need for an Abusive-Litigant Injunction 14 Plaintiff first filed a case with this Court in 1996, but then did not file any further 15 cases until 2003.

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Related

Neitzke v. Williams
490 U.S. 319 (Supreme Court, 1989)
In Re Sindram
498 U.S. 177 (Supreme Court, 1991)
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly
550 U.S. 544 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Jones v. Warden of the Stateville Correctional Center
918 F. Supp. 1142 (N.D. Illinois, 1995)
Cello-Whitney v. Hoover
769 F. Supp. 1155 (W.D. Washington, 1991)
Lopez v. Smith
203 F.3d 1122 (Ninth Circuit, 2000)
Visser v. Supreme Court of California
919 F.2d 113 (Ninth Circuit, 1990)

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Scott v. Unknown Party, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scott-v-unknown-party-azd-2024.