Razzoli v. US Attorney
- Laura Swain
- 1:21-cv-04138
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 17
In Razzoli v. US Attorney, Judge Swain found the complaint deficient, denied pending motions, and allowed amendment within 60 days.
Kevin Razzoli’s complaint was found deficient at the screening stage, but he received 60 days to amend. His pending motions were denied without prejudice, and claims concerning the June 2016 Hunts Point Market arrest were dismissed without prejudice to pursuing them in his pending related action.
What happened
In Razzoli v. US Attorney, Kevin Razzoli, representing himself, sued numerous federal, state, local, and private defendants. He invoked the Freedom of Information Act, federal criminal laws, and constitutional protections, alleging that defendants maintained false information about him and used it to affect his employment, arrests, and court proceedings.
The court found that Razzoli could not use federal criminal statutes to start a criminal prosecution. It also found that his Freedom of Information Act allegations did not identify records clearly enough, did not show that he completed the required agency appeals, and included defendants that the law does not cover. His constitutional allegations lacked enough facts identifying what each defendant did. Claims based on a 2016 arrest were dismissed without prejudice to pursuing them in his already pending case.
The court denied Razzoli’s pending motions without prejudice and granted him 60 days to file an amended complaint with more facts. Judge Laura Taylor Swain warned that failure to amend on time, without good cause, would result in dismissal for failure to state a claim.
The detailed version
- Razzoli v. US Attorney · No. 1:21-cv-04138
- Laura Swain
- July 26, 2021
Background
Kevin Razzoli, proceeding without a lawyer, filed an action against numerous defendants. The complaint invoked the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), federal criminal statutes concerning civil-rights violations and false statements, and the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments. Razzoli alleged that defendants maintained false or misleading information about him, refused to let him review or correct files, and used that information in connection with employment, arrests, and court proceedings.
The court had previously allowed Razzoli to proceed without paying the filing fee. Because he was not a prisoner when he filed this case, the court concluded that the Prison Litigation Reform Act’s three-strikes restriction did not prevent him from proceeding without prepayment of fees.
Court’s analysis
The court screened the complaint under the statute governing lawsuits filed without prepayment of fees. That statute requires dismissal of claims that are frivolous, malicious, fail to state a claim, seek money from an immune defendant, or fall outside the court’s jurisdiction. The court also explained that self-represented complaints are read liberally but must still provide a short and plain statement of facts showing entitlement to relief.
Federal criminal statutes
The court dismissed Razzoli’s claims to the extent they relied on federal criminal statutes. A private person cannot bring a federal criminal prosecution against another person in a civil lawsuit, and decisions about whether to prosecute belong to prosecutors.
Freedom of Information Act
The court said that FOIA allows lawsuits against federal agencies for improperly withholding agency records. Many defendants named by Razzoli were state or local agencies or private entities not subject to FOIA. The court also found that his description of the requested documents was extremely broad and vague and that he did not allege that he completed the required administrative appeal process. The court therefore concluded that he failed to state a FOIA claim. It additionally noted that, because Razzoli resides in Staten Island, it was unclear whether the Southern District of New York would have jurisdiction over any FOIA claim even if the administrative requirements had been completed.
Constitutional claims and Rule 8
The court found that the complaint consisted largely of legal conclusions rather than specific facts. Razzoli did not explain what happened, identify each person personally involved, or provide enough detail about how his rights were violated. The court therefore concluded that his constitutional claims failed to state a claim under Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which requires enough factual detail to make a claim plausible.
2016 arrest claims
The court understood Razzoli’s allegations to include claims arising from his June 2016 arrest at Hunts Point Terminal Market. Because he already had a pending civil-rights action involving that arrest, the court dismissed those claims without prejudice to pursuing them in that pending action.
Pending motions
Razzoli had filed submissions seeking admissions, stipulations, and discovery. Because the complaint failed to state a claim, the court denied those motions without prejudice to refiling them.
Leave to amend and disposition
The court granted Razzoli leave to file an amended complaint within 60 days. The amended complaint had to replace, rather than supplement, the original complaint and had to provide facts identifying who violated his rights, what each defendant did or failed to do, when and where the events occurred, the injuries claimed, and the relief sought. The court stated that Razzoli might be able to allege additional facts supporting a FOIA claim against federal agencies or a constitutional claim.
The court denied Razzoli’s motions without prejudice and granted leave to amend. It directed that no summons issue at that time and stated that, if Razzoli failed to amend within the allowed period without showing good cause, the complaint would be dismissed for failure to state a claim. The court also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying appeal fees.
Read the full 17-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.