Komatsu v. United States of America

Background

Towaki Komatsu, proceeding in forma pauperis—that is, without paying the filing fee—brought more than two dozen claims against numerous defendants in their individual and official capacities. The opinion addresses claims against nine defendants: Judges Colleen McMahon and Lorna Schofield, Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein, Assistant United States Attorney Sarah Mortazavi, Roseanne Dempsey, Jennifer Behrens, Johnathan Hall, Duke University, and Google, Inc.

Reasons for dismissal

The court applied 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2), which requires dismissal of an in-forma-pauperis action at any time if it is frivolous or malicious, fails to state a claim for relief, or seeks money from a defendant who is immune from that relief.

The court held that the claims against Judge Schofield and Magistrate Judge Gorenstein were barred by absolute judicial immunity because they arose from adjudicative actions taken while presiding over another civil action brought by Komatsu. The claims against Assistant United States Attorney Mortazavi were barred by absolute prosecutorial immunity because they arose from her role as a government advocate in a criminal case against Komatsu.

The court said that, regardless of whether judicial immunity applied to the claims against Judge Colleen McMahon and Roseanne Dempsey, those claims were plainly frivolous. The allegations concerned Judge McMahon’s response to Komatsu’s complaints about court security officers and Dempsey’s refusal to provide court records for about 45 minutes while waiting for a security officer to be present. The court found no arguable legal basis for relief on those allegations.

The court also found the claims against Behrens, Hall, Duke University, and Google, Inc. frivolous. Komatsu alleged that Behrens and Hall, who worked for the Duke Law Journal, published an article describing as fact allegations made by the government in his criminal case. He alleged that Google Scholar linked to copies of the article but did not display the later dismissal of his criminal case. The court concluded that the article described a matter of public record, that Google did not act unlawfully by linking to it, and that Google had no obligation to display other publicly available information that Komatsu considered favorable.

Disposition

The court dismissed with prejudice all claims against Judge Colleen McMahon, Judge Lorna Schofield, Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein, Assistant United States Attorney Sarah Mortazavi, Roseanne Dempsey, Jennifer Behrens, Johnathan Hall, Duke University, and Google, Inc. The opinion does not state that the claims against the remaining named defendants were resolved. The clerk was directed to mail the order to Komatsu, and the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York was invited to accept service for any remaining defendants.