Nguyen v. Pelosi
- Nathanael Cousins
- 5:20-cv-08755
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Nguyen v. Pelosi, Judge Koh denied reconsideration of fee-waiver status and dismissed the complaints as frivolous, allowing 30 days to amend.
Mai-Trang Thi Nguyen was affected because the court denied her request to proceed without paying fees and dismissed her complaints, while allowing 30 days to amend and requiring a new fee-waiver request or payment. Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell were the named defendants.
What happened
In Mai-Trang Thi Nguyen v. Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell, the court had previously denied Nguyen’s request to proceed without paying filing fees, finding that she had not shown poverty and that her complaint was frivolous. Nguyen asked the court to reconsider and filed an amended complaint.
The amended complaint added statements offering to drop the lawsuit if mental-illness expenses were addressed or if Pelosi and McConnell removed the second impeachment of President Trump. The court found that the amended complaint remained frivolous.
Judge Lucy Koh denied the request for reconsideration and dismissed the original and amended complaints. The court allowed Nguyen 30 days to file a non-frivolous second amended complaint and required her within that period either to file a new fee-waiver request with a financial affidavit or pay outstanding fees, costs, or security.
The detailed version
- Nguyen v. Pelosi · No. 5:20-cv-08755
- Nathanael Cousins
- Mar. 4, 2021
Background
Mai-Trang Thi Nguyen sued Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell. On January 11, 2021, the court denied Nguyen’s application to proceed in forma pauperis, meaning to proceed without paying required court fees. The court found that Nguyen had not shown poverty and described her complaint as frivolous. Nguyen then moved for reconsideration and filed an amended complaint.
Court’s Analysis
The court stated that the amended complaint made essentially two changes. It said that mental-illness expenses were very expensive and indicated a willingness to drop the lawsuit. It also said Nguyen would drop the lawsuit if Pelosi and McConnell removed the second impeachment of President Trump. The court concluded that the amended complaint was still frivolous.
Ruling
The court denied the motion to reconsider the application to proceed without paying fees. It also dismissed the original and amended complaints. The court permitted Nguyen to file a non-frivolous second amended complaint within 30 days of the order. The court stated that failure to do so would result in dismissal of the case with prejudice. Within the same 30-day period, Nguyen was required either to file a new fee-waiver motion with a financial affidavit or to pay any outstanding fees, costs, or security. The court continued the case-management conference from March 10, 2021, to April 21, 2021, and required a case-management statement by April 14, 2021, if the case had not been dismissed.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.