Torres v. U.S. Department of Justice

Background

Wilfredo Torres brought the action without a lawyer. He alleged that, in his pending case under docket number 19-CV-6332 (ER), the Clerk of Court failed to mail him an order addressing defendants’ motion for a stay. He further alleged that defense counsel fabricated an order, forged Judge Ramos’s signature, and replaced the legitimate order on the docket. Torres characterized the alleged conduct as criminal and connected it to allegations involving a “Deep State-CIA-FBI-COINTELPRO’s domestic assassinations program.”

Reason for Dismissal

The court noted that Torres had already raised the same issue in the pending case, including in filings identified as docket entries 216 and 220. Because this complaint duplicated issues already being litigated before Judge Ramos, the court concluded that no useful purpose would be served by allowing a separate lawsuit to proceed. The court dismissed the complaint without prejudice to resolution of those issues in the pending case. The court also stated that the Justice Department’s status as a defendant in this action, even though it was not a party to the pending case, did not justify proceeding with this duplicate action.

Additional Ruling

The court repeated an earlier warning that continued filing of nonmeritorious actions could lead to limits on Torres’s ability to proceed without paying filing fees in new cases. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3), the court certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying filing fees. Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order.

Disposition

The complaint was dismissed without prejudice as duplicative of the pending case under docket number 19-CV-6332 (ER). Appeal-related permission to proceed without paying filing fees was denied.