Calvino v. Bronx Work Clains
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-00147
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Calvino v. Bronx Work Clains, Judge McMahon dismissed the frivolous lawsuit and denied fee-free appeal status.
Ernest Calvino, Jr., whose action was dismissed as frivolous; the defendants named as Bronx Work Clains and Informants or Mensager were not required to litigate the case further.
What happened
In Calvino v. Bronx Work Clains, Ernest Calvino, Jr., representing himself, described alleged threats, harassment, and extortion involving a person and sought money, respect, and justice.
The court said the allegations were irrational and did not identify a legal theory supporting a claim. It also concluded that changing the complaint would not fix its defects, so it did not allow amendment.
Judge McMahon dismissed the action as frivolous under the federal filing-fee statute, certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith, and denied fee-free status for an appeal.
The detailed version
- Calvino v. Bronx Work Clains · No. 1:20-cv-00147
- Colleen McMahon
- Jan. 17, 2020
Background
Ernest Calvino, Jr., brought the action without a lawyer. The opinion states that he did not specify whether federal-question or diversity jurisdiction supported the case. The court had previously allowed him to proceed without prepaying filing fees.
Calvino identified the alleged basis of his claims as “harassment, indirect[t] threat, threat, indirect[t] [e]xtortion.” He alleged that a person indirectly asked for something in an intimidating way, threatened to kill him if he did not sue a specific person, and later walked toward the civil court near Yankee Stadium. He identified his injuries as stress and loss of respect and requested “money, respect, justices.”
Court’s analysis
The court explained that it must dismiss a complaint filed without prepaying fees if it is frivolous, malicious, fails to state a claim, or seeks money from a legally immune defendant. It also must dismiss when it lacks authority to hear the case. The court said it must read filings from people without lawyers generously and interpret them to present the strongest claims reasonably suggested by the allegations.
The court concluded that, even under that generous standard, Calvino’s claims were irrational and had no legal theory supporting them. It therefore found the action frivolous. The court also concluded that the defects could not be fixed by changing the complaint, so it declined to grant permission to amend.
Disposition
Judge Colleen McMahon dismissed the action as frivolous under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(i). The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Calvino permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The opinion also states that Calvino had filed other frivolous actions and had previously been warned that further such litigation could lead to restrictions on filing future civil actions without the court’s permission.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.