Alvarez v. Louisville Metro Housing Authority et al
Filing
5
MEMORANDUM OPINION by Judge Charles R. Simpson, III on 8/9/2011; for the reasons set forth, the court will enter a separate order of dismissal.cc:plaintiff pro se (TLB)
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY
AT LOUISVILLE
DOUGLAS J. ALVAREZ
PLAINTIFF
v.
CIVIL ACTION NO. 3:11CV-372-S
LOUISVILLE METRO HOUSING AUTHORITY et al.
DEFENDANTS
MEMORANDUM OPINION
The pro se plaintiff, Douglas J. Alvarez, filed this action against the Louisville Metro
Housing Authority, Tim Barry, and Juan Hunter. He handwrote his complaint on the Court’s
approved general-complaint form. For the reasons set forth below, the Court will dismiss this
action pursuant to FED. R. CIV. P. 12(h)(3) for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.
In the section of the form complaint asking for the “ground for filing this case in Federal
Court” Alvarez states: “On June 20, 2011, I discovered someone that have access to my apartment
stole 1000 dollars from it. To [sic] kind of people have access with master key and can search
when you leave the building.” In the statement-of-claim section of the form, Plaintiff details the
facts of his case as follows:
I Douglas J. Alvarez, want to describe what happens in my apartment on 6-20-2011.
I live in LMHA Catherine Court Building Ap. 901 located on St. Catherine and
Fourth Street. In the morning of 6-20-2011 I discovered that someone broke into my
apartment and stole 1000 dollars from my tool box, money that I keep for emergency
issues, like medications and car insurance. Two different people have access into the
apartment once you leave the building, security and maintenance. People that carry
on this burglary have master key and time to search and know all your valuables
inside your apartment. In fact, these master key are in three different hands. LMHA
Management always try to elude all responsibilities about illegal activities in the
building. . . . And for all this, I don’t believe my belongings and my person are in
a safe place.
As relief, Plaintiff seeks to recover the thousand dollars that was taken from his apartment and require
the Louisville Metro Housing Authority to investigate the security of the building.
It is axiomatic that federal district courts are courts of limited jurisdiction, and their powers
are enumerated in Article III of the Constitution. Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am., 511
U.S. 375, 377 (1994); Hudson v. Coleman, 347 F.3d 138, 141 (6th Cir. 2003) (“[I]t is well
established that federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction, possessing only that power
authorized by the Constitution and statute.”). The party that seeks to invoke a federal district
court’s jurisdiction bears the burden of establishing the court’s authority to hear the case.
Kokkonen, 511 U.S. at 377.
Moreover, “[a] federal court generally may not rule on the merits of a case without
first determining that it has jurisdiction over the category of claim in suit (subject-matter
jurisdiction).” Sinochem Int’l Co. v. Malaysia Int’l Shipping Corp., 549 U.S. 422, 430-31 (2007).
Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Court must dismiss an action if it “determines at
any time that it lacks subject-matter jurisdiction.” FED. R. CIV. P. 12(h)(3). The dismissal should
issue as soon as the Court determines that subject-matter jurisdiction is lacking.
Plaintiff has not articulated any federal-law claims or pleaded any state-law claims that
would meet the requirements of diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332. In short, Plaintiff
has not established any case or controversy over which this Court may exercise jurisdiction.
Accordingly, for the reasons set forth above, the Court will enter a separate Order of dismissal.
Date:
August 9, 2011
cc:
Plaintiff, pro se
4411.008
2
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