REAVES v. FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
Filing
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MEMORANDUM AND OPINION. Signed by Judge Carl J. Nichols on 10/22/2024. (zmtm) Modified on 10/23/2024 as to the filing date(zmtm).
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
IESHA REAVES,
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Plaintiff,
v.
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION,
Defendant.
Civil Action No. 24-2704 (UNA)
MEMORANDUM OPINION
This matter is before the Court on review of plaintiff’s application to proceed in forma
pauperis (ECF No. 2), motion to expedite (ECF No. 3), motion for preliminary injunction (ECF
No. 5) and pro se complaint (ECF No. 1). The Court GRANTS the application, DENIES the
motions, and for the reasons discussed below, DISMISSES the complaint and this civil action
without prejudice.
Plaintiff alleges that, as far back as 2017, unidentified individuals or, perhaps,
government agencies, have forced her to ‘“participate’ against [her] will,” Compl. at 4, in
activities she does not describe. She further alleges “being told [she] needed to be exploited for
the benefit of white people,” id., because her skin color, age and gender, see id. Plaintiff
demands that “all involved . . . be held accountable,” id., noting that no one can “force[ her] to be
in a ‘relationship’ with anyone, especially older men of any race/culture.” Id.
“A complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to
relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell
Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). A complaint that lacks “an arguable basis
either in law or in fact” is frivolous, Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 325 (1989), and the Court
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cannot exercise subject matter jurisdiction over a frivolous complaint, Hagans v. Lavine, 415
U.S. 528, 536-37 (1974) (“Over the years, this Court has repeatedly held that the federal courts
are without power to entertain claims otherwise within their jurisdiction if they are ‘so attenuated
and unsubstantial as to be absolutely devoid of merit.’”) (quoting Newburyport Water Co. v.
Newburyport, 193 U.S. 561, 579 (1904)); Tooley v. Napolitano, 586 F.3d 1006, 1010 (D.C. Cir.
2009) (examining cases dismissed “for patent insubstantiality,” including where plaintiff
allegedly “was subjected to a campaign of surveillance and harassment deriving from uncertain
origins.”). Consequently, a Court is obligated to dismiss a complaint as frivolous “when the
facts alleged rise to the level of the irrational or the wholly incredible,” Denton v. Hernandez,
504 U.S. 25, 33 (1992), or “postulat[e] events and circumstances of a wholly fanciful kind,”
Crisafi v. Holland, 655 F.2d 1305, 1307-08 (D.C. Cir. 1981). The instant complaint satisfies this
standard and, therefore, it will be dismissed without prejudice.
A separate order will issue.
DATE: October 22, 2024
CARL J. NICHOLS
United States District Judge
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