Nguyen v. United States

Background

Trang Nguyen, a federal prisoner proceeding without an attorney, filed a civil complaint against the United States of America. The court granted her permission to proceed without paying the filing fee in a separate order.

Screening standard

The court explained that federal law requires preliminary screening of prisoner cases seeking relief from a government entity or government officer or employee. Under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915A and 1915(e), the court must dismiss a complaint if it is frivolous, malicious, fails to state a claim for relief, or seeks money from a defendant who is immune from that relief. The court also noted that pleadings filed by people without lawyers must be read liberally.

Duplicative complaint

The complaint was a five-page typed document attached to a form complaint. The day before filing this case, Nguyen filed another civil case in the same court. That earlier complaint also contained a five-page typed document attached to a form complaint, and the two typed complaints were identical photocopies. The court said the only meaningful difference was that the earlier case named two individuals in addition to the United States of America.

The court relied on the rule that a fee-waived complaint that merely repeats pending or previously litigated claims may be treated as malicious and dismissed during screening. It found that this complaint repeated the same factual allegations and claims as Nguyen’s earlier related case.

Ruling

The court dismissed the case as malicious under Sections 1915A and 1915(e). The dismissal was without prejudice, but the court did not grant leave to amend. The clerk was directed to enter judgment and close the file.