Winter v. Fay

Background

Pamela J. Winter filed the action without a lawyer against Richard Fay, Ashley M Pascuzzi, Anthony Rooney, Mohamed Njoua, Judge Thomas Quinones, Timothy Idoni, G. Jeffrey Records, Jr., Scott Smith, Todd Dobson, Ken Clark, Lauren Eger, Madison Graspo, and Susan Richardson. The court had granted Winter permission to proceed without paying filing fees in advance, which required screening of the complaint under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B).

Winter’s claims arose from what she described as a fraudulent mortgage foreclosure involving property in Jefferson Valley. She alleged that she had not signed mortgage documents, had not received foreclosure documents, and did not have a mortgage. She sought $660,000 in damages. She cited several federal banking statutes, invoked federal-question and diversity jurisdiction, and requested emergency injunctive relief.

Winter later filed another complaint arising from the same events. The court treated the original and supplemental complaints together as the operative pleading and closed the separate action without prejudice. The court also noted that Winter had included her full Social Security number in a filing and directed that electronic access to the complaint be limited. It instructed her to redact such information from future filings.

Federal claims

The court dismissed Winter’s federal claims for failure to state a claim. The statutes she cited apply only to foreclosures involving the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. Because the pleadings contained no facts indicating that the department was involved in the foreclosure, the court concluded that the cited statutes did not support Winter’s claims.

State-law claims and jurisdiction

The court construed the pleadings as possibly asserting state-law fraud claims. It dismissed those claims for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. For diversity jurisdiction, a plaintiff must allege that the parties are citizens of different states and that the amount in dispute exceeds $75,000. Winter alleged that she and several defendants resided in New York, so the pleadings did not establish complete diversity.

The court granted Winter 30 days to file an amended complaint concerning the state-law claims. It stated that she might be able to allege diversity jurisdiction by dropping nondiverse parties whose presence was not necessary and that any amended complaint must explain who the defendants are and what each allegedly did or failed to do.

Request for preliminary relief

Winter requested an order to show cause seeking preliminary injunctive relief. The court denied that request without prejudice because the pleadings did not establish either a likelihood of success on the merits or sufficiently serious questions for litigation combined with a sharply favorable balance of hardships.

The court also cautioned that federal district courts are generally barred from reviewing final state-court orders and judgments. It stated that the proper method for challenging a final state-court order or judgment is an appeal to the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department.

Disposition

The court treated both pleadings as the operative complaint, dismissed the federal claims for failure to state a claim, and dismissed the state-law claims for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. It granted leave to amend the state-law claims within 30 days. Judge Laura Taylor Swain denied the application for an order to show cause without prejudice, certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith, denied fee-free appeal status, and directed the Clerk of Court to keep the matter open until a civil judgment is entered.