Opinion
No. 4:09CV543 DDN.
April 15, 2009
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
This matter is before the Court upon the motion of plaintiff for leave to commence this action without prepayment of the filing fee pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915. Upon consideration of the financial information provided with the motion, the Court finds that plaintiff is financially unable to pay any portion of the filing fee. As a result, plaintiff will be granted leave to proceed in forma pauperis pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915. Additionally, the Court has reviewed the complaint and will dismiss it pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B).
28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B), the Court may dismiss a complaint filed in forma pauperis if the action is frivolous, malicious, fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, or seeks monetary relief against a defendant who is immune from such relief. An action is frivolous if "it lacks an arguable basis in either law or in fact." Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 328 (1989). An action fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted if does not plead "enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face." Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 127 S. Ct. 1955, 1974 (2007).
In reviewing a pro se complaint under § 1915(e)(2)(B), the Court must give the complaint the benefit of a liberal construction. Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520 (1972). The Court must also weigh all factual allegations in favor of the plaintiff, unless the facts alleged are clearly baseless. Denton v. Hernandez, 504 U.S. 25, 32-33 (1992); Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236 (1974).
The Complaint
Plaintiff has filed several pages of hand-written materials that contain an assortment of incoherent and incomprehensible allegations against BJC Behavioral Health and persons who plaintiff has not properly identified, but who appear to be employees of BJC Behavioral Health: Sashia Malik, Martha Roedes, Cathy Urtos, and Dora Ann Scott.
Having carefully reviewed the complaint, the Court is unable to determine with any degree of certainty what claims plaintiff is attempting to assert in the instant action. The pleadings are replete with unconnected facts and legalese, ambiguously referring to multiple, unrelated occurrences.
The Court is mindful that the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require litigants to formulate their pleadings in an organized and comprehensible manner. Even pro se litigants are obligated to plead specific facts and proper jurisdiction and must abide by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; however, plaintiff has failed to do so in this case. See U.S. v. Wilkes, 20 F.3d 651, 653 (5th Cir. 1994); Boswell v. Honorable Governor of Texas, 138 F.Supp.2d 782, 785 (N.D. Texas 2000); Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a)(2) (complaint should contain "short and plaint statement" of claims); Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(e)(2) (each claim shall be "simple, concise, and direct"); Fed.R.Civ.P. 10(b) (parties are to separate their claims within their pleadings "the contents of which shall be limited as far as practicable to a single set of circumstances"). Thus, although plaintiff is proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis, the Court will not instruct him to file an amended amended complaint. Plaintiff's claims are legally frivolous and/or fail to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, and dismissal without prejudice is warranted based on his failure to provide an intelligible complaint in compliance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Cf. Boswell, 138 F.Supp.2d at 785-86 (dismissing pro se plaintiff's pleadings; Court could not determine nature of claims without resorting to improper speculation).
Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiff's motion to proceed in forma pauperis [Doc. #2] is GRANTED. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Clerk shall not issue process or cause process to issue upon the complaint because the complaint is legally frivolous or fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, or both.
An appropriate Order of Dismissal shall accompany this Memorandum and Order.