Treasure Island Former and Current Residents v. United States of America

Background

The plaintiffs filed an amended complaint naming thirteen defendants, including entities and individuals. The complaint alleged, in substance, that each defendant knew radiation levels on Treasure Island were significantly higher than the Navy had disclosed publicly and chose not to disclose that information to the plaintiffs.

One Treasure Island asked the court to dismiss the complaint based on a pre-filing order from a prior related proceeding. That order required two plaintiffs to obtain court permission before filing a new action against specified Catholic Charities-related parties. The court found that this case did not name those parties or their officers, agents, or employees, and that the indirect connections identified by One Treasure Island were too remote. The court also found that the earlier proceeding involved different allegations about immigration, while this case contained no allegations about immigrants or immigration.

Court’s Analysis

The court denied One Treasure Island’s request for dismissal based on the earlier pre-filing order. It also denied One Treasure Island’s request for a new pre-filing order because One Treasure Island had not shown good cause.

The court terminated the other three motions to dismiss as moot. It did so after reviewing the amended complaint and concluding that the complaint plainly needed to be amended. The court said the complaint did not explain where the alleged contamination was, how the defendants could have known information that the Navy had not publicly disclosed, when the defendants might have had a duty to disclose the information, the context of any such duty, or how the defendants failed to comply with it.

The court concluded that the allegations were too vague and perfunctory to give the defendants enough information to prepare a response. It held that the plaintiffs had not alleged enough facts to state a claim that was plausible on its face and that the court did not have to accept the conclusory allegations as true.

Disposition

The court denied One Treasure Island’s request to dismiss based on the earlier pre-filing order and denied its request for a new pre-filing order. The court terminated the other motions to dismiss as moot. It permitted the plaintiffs to file an amended complaint by September 9, 2020, directed them to clarify their allegations and state factual allegations against each defendant, and barred them from adding new claims or defendants without prior court approval. Judge James Donato also directed the defendants to meet and confer and, if they filed motions concerning the next amended complaint, to consolidate and streamline their briefing as much as possible.