Rodriguez-Morales v. Joseph

Background

The plaintiff, who was proceeding without a lawyer, filed 37 actions. The complaints involved overlapping, related, or duplicative claims and named many of the same defendants. One action had been transferred from the Eastern District of New York and named several Federal Bureau of Investigation agents. The plaintiff then filed 36 additional actions involving officers employed by the New York City Police Department.

The complaints alleged identity fraud, entrapment, harassment, a cover-up of sexual exploitation, identity theft, falsified charges, and other related conduct. The alleged events occurred in New York and Atlanta and dated from 1990 through the present. The opinion states that the plaintiff sought disability benefits and compensation from the New York City Police Department, among other relief.

Consolidation

Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 42, a court may combine civil actions that involve common questions of law or fact. The court determined that the 37 actions involved the same or similar factual patterns and named many of the same defendants. It therefore directed the Clerk of Court to assign all 37 actions to Judge Swain’s docket and consolidate them under docket number 24-cv-9767. Future filings, including any amended complaint, were to be filed only in that action.

Dismissal for Failure to State a Claim

The court explained that complaints filed by plaintiffs who proceed without paying filing fees must be dismissed if they are frivolous, malicious, fail to state a claim for relief, or seek money from an immune defendant. The court also must dismiss a complaint when it lacks subject-matter jurisdiction.

Applying the requirement that a complaint contain enough factual detail to make a claim plausible, the court found that the consolidated action did not provide sufficient facts. In particular, the plaintiff used conclusory statements and did not allege facts showing that the named defendants were personally involved in violating his rights. The court therefore dismissed each complaint in the consolidated action for failure to state a claim under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii).

Leave to Amend and Disposition

Because the plaintiff might be able to allege additional facts supporting a claim against the City of New York and/or one or more New York City police officers, the court granted 30 days’ leave to file one amended complaint. Any amended complaint had to include all defendants. If the plaintiff did not amend within the permitted time, the court stated that it would direct the Clerk to enter judgment.

Judge Swain directed the Clerk to terminate all defendants in the 37 actions and close every action except docket number 24-cv-9767. The court granted the plaintiff’s request to proceed without paying filing fees in that action, but certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees. The court ordered docket number 24-cv-9767 to remain open until a civil judgment was entered.