Calderon v. International Monetary Fund
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-07807
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Calderon v. International Monetary Fund, Judge Swain dismissed Calderon’s pro se complaint as frivolous and denied appeal-related fee assistance.
Ana Calderon’s case was dismissed, and she was denied permission to amend the complaint and permission to proceed without paying fees on appeal; the International Monetary Fund was the defendant.
What happened
In Calderon v. International Monetary Fund, Ana Calderon sued the International Monetary Fund and sought $1.5 million for each alleged occurrence. She claimed that IMF employees opened bank accounts in her name without permission, hacked her communications and television, harassed her, and damaged her reputation.
The court reviewed the complaint under the rules for cases filed without paying fees. It found that the allegations were largely conclusory and lacked a basis in law or fact. The court dismissed the complaint as frivolous and said that changing the complaint would not fix its problems, so it denied permission to amend.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered judgment entered in the case. She also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee assistance for an appeal.
The detailed version
- Calderon v. International Monetary Fund · No. 1:22-cv-07807
- Laura Swain
- Sept. 26, 2022
Background
Ana Calderon filed this action against the International Monetary Fund (IMF), invoking federal-question jurisdiction. She proceeded without a lawyer and had been granted permission to proceed without paying filing fees. The complaint identified the claims as “Fraud, False Claims, Banks and Banking, Other Fraud.” Calderon alleged that IMF employees fraudulently opened bank accounts in her name in Europe and Africa without her permission, hacked her WhatsApp, Yahoo emails, and television, repeatedly bothered her and sent her text messages, and harmed her reputation. She sought “1.5 m per occurren [sic]” in monetary damages.
Court’s analysis
The court explained that it had to dismiss a complaint filed without paying fees if the complaint was frivolous, failed to state a claim, sought money from an immune defendant, or otherwise did not come within the court’s subject-matter jurisdiction. A claim is frivolous when it lacks an arguable basis in law or fact. Although courts must read complaints filed by people without lawyers generously, the court found Calderon’s allegations largely conclusory. It specifically found that she provided no facts supporting her assertions that the IMF hacked her emails and television or constantly harassed and texted her. The court classified those allegations as frivolous.
Disposition
The court dismissed the complaint as frivolous under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(i). It denied leave to amend, concluding that the allegations about bank accounts and harassment could not be corrected by amending the complaint. Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk of Court to enter judgment. She also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without paying fees for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.