Dwyer v. United Kingdom General Communications Headquarters

Background

Thomas F. Dwyer filed a complaint against the United Kingdom General Communications Headquarters (UKGCHQ) and Malcolm John Tombs. The opinion states that Dwyer invoked diversity jurisdiction, paid the fees to bring the action, and proceeded without a lawyer. He alleged that the defendants violated various amendments to the United States Constitution and federal criminal statutes based on alleged incidents of surveillance and terrorism dating back to 2000.

The complaint included allegations of wireless or cyber surveillance, interception of communications, false imprisonment through alleged human-computer technology, illegal search and seizure, property theft, assault, battery, terrorism, and telecommunications fraud. The court quoted these allegations from the complaint.

Court’s Analysis

The court explained that it may dismiss a fee-paid complaint if it is frivolous, lacks subject-matter jurisdiction, or fails to state a claim after notice and an opportunity to be heard. It also stated that it must read filings by people without lawyers liberally and interpret them to raise the strongest claims they suggest.

The court nevertheless found that Dwyer’s complaint was largely conclusory and provided no facts supporting his assertions. It said the complaint supplied no factual basis for evaluating the claims and no facts suggesting that the alleged actions were possible. The court classified the allegations as frivolous because they lacked a basis in law or fact.

Disposition

The court dismissed Dwyer’s complaint as frivolous. It denied permission to amend because it concluded that the irrational allegations could not be corrected through amendment. The court did not impose a new filing ban in this order. Instead, based on Dwyer’s prior history of filing frivolous lawsuits, it warned that further duplicative or frivolous litigation could result in an order barring future actions in that court without prior permission, even if he paid the filing fees.

The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and therefore denied fee-free status for an appeal. It directed the clerk to enter judgment.