Lewis v. Google Inc.

Background

Anthony Ceaser Lewis, a prisoner at the San Mateo County Jail, filed a complaint without a lawyer under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a civil-rights statute. He alleged that Google and Facebook violated his constitutional rights by publishing his confidential information on the internet and through other wrongdoing.

The opinion states that Lewis had raised the same allegations against Google and its employees in an earlier prisoner complaint. That earlier complaint was dismissed on August 8, 2019, for failure to state a claim. Lewis later added Facebook as a defendant in this action.

Court’s Reasoning

The court explained that a prisoner complaint repeating claims that are pending or were previously litigated may be treated as abusive and dismissed under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A, the statute requiring courts to screen prisoner complaints. Because Lewis had already raised and litigated the same allegations and claims in the earlier case, the court deemed this complaint duplicative and abusive. The addition of Facebook as a defendant did not change that conclusion.

The court separately stated that, to the extent the complaint included new allegations, those allegations were frivolous and failed to state a claim under § 1915A(b). The court relied on the principle that § 1983 does not provide an enforceable claim for constitutional violations by private entities or individuals such as Google and Facebook.

Disposition

The complaint was dismissed as duplicative, frivolous, and for failure to state a claim under § 1915A(b). Lewis’s request to proceed in forma pauperis, meaning to proceed without prepaying the filing fee, was denied because the complaint was clearly frivolous and without merit. Judge Charles R. Breyer issued the order.