Williams v. Shekmer
Filing
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OPINION ; signed by Judge Robert Holmes Bell (Judge Robert Holmes Bell, kcb)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN
SOUTHERN DIVISION
VERNELL D. WILLIAMS,
Plaintiff,
Case No. 1:15-cv-490
v.
Honorable Robert Holmes Bell
B. RENE SHECKMER,
Defendant.
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OPINION
This is a civil action brought by a federal prisoner, ostensibly pursuant to 42 U.S.C.
§ 1331. Plaintiff has paid the full civil action filing fee. Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act,
PUB. L. NO. 104-134, 110 STAT. 1321 (1996), the Court is required to dismiss any prisoner action
brought under federal law if the complaint is frivolous, malicious, fails to state a claim upon which
relief can be granted, or seeks monetary relief from a defendant immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C.
§ 1915A. The Court must read Plaintiff’s pro se complaint indulgently, see Haines v. Kerner, 404
U.S. 519, 520 (1972), and accept Plaintiff’s allegations as true, unless they are clearly irrational or
wholly incredible. Denton v. Hernandez, 504 U.S. 25, 33 (1992). Applying these standards,
Plaintiff’s action will be dismissed for failure to state a claim.
Factual Allegations
Plaintiff Vernell D. Williams presently is incarcerated at the Rochester Federal
Medical Center in Rochester, Minnesota. Following a jury trial in this Court, he was convicted of
conspiracy to distribute cocaine and sentenced to 292 months’ imprisonment and 10 years of
supervised release. He sues Barbara Rene Shekmer, an Assistant United States Attorney for the
Western District of Michigan, who prosecuted the action.
Plaintiff purports to raise claims under the Uniform Commercial Code as an alleged
“Secured Party/Plaintiff,” whom he further defines as follows:
Secured Party/Plaintiff is a natural born, free. Living, breathing, flesh and blood
human with sentient and moral existence, a real man upon the soil, a juris et de
jure, also know as a Secured Party and a inhabitant, not a United States Citizen. . . .
Secured Party/Plaintiff is not a subject of, or to, the Michigan State Constitution or
the United States Constitution, its Ordinances, Statutes, Codes, or Regulations; or
subject of, or to the Executive, Legislative, nor Judicial Jurisdiction of its actor(s)
agent(s) officer(s) employee(s) or elected officials of Government, as defined as
Corporate.
(Compl., docket #1, Page ID#2 (emphasis in original).) Plaintiff asserts that the “courts have no
jurisdiction over living men.” (Id., Page ID#4.) He contends that the judge and the prosecutor used
“deceit and trickery,” in violation of their fiduciary duties, to cause Plaintiff to be wrongfully
incarcerated.
Plaintiff attaches a document entitled “Private Administrative Remedy” to his
complaint. (See Ex. A to Compl., docket #1-1, Page ID ##10-29.) In that document, Plaintiff seeks
$1.5 million in compensatory damages for wrongful imprisonment, together with immediate release
from prison.
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Discussion
I.
Failure to state a claim
A complaint may be dismissed for failure to state a claim if it fails “‘to give the
defendant fair notice of what the . . . claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.’” Bell Atl. Corp.
v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007) (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47 (1957)). While
a complaint need not contain detailed factual allegations, a plaintiff’s allegations must include more
than labels and conclusions. Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555; Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009)
(“Threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements,
do not suffice.”). The court must determine whether the complaint contains “enough facts to state
a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570. “A claim has facial
plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable
inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679. Although
the plausibility standard is not equivalent to a “‘probability requirement,’ . . . it asks for more than
a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678 (quoting Twombly,
550 U.S. at 556). “[W]here the well-pleaded facts do not permit the court to infer more than the
mere possibility of misconduct, the complaint has alleged – but it has not ‘show[n]’ – that the
pleader is entitled to relief.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679 (quoting FED. R. CIV. P. 8(a)(2)); see also Hill
v. Lappin, 630 F.3d 468, 470-71 (6th Cir. 2010) (holding that the Twombly/Iqbal plausibility
standard applies to dismissals of prisoner cases on initial review under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915A(b)(1)
and 1915(e)(2)(B)(i)).
To state a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a plaintiff must allege the violation of a right
secured by the federal Constitution or laws and must show that the deprivation was committed by
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a person acting under color of state law. West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42, 48 (1988); Dominguez v. Corr.
Med. Servs., 555 F.3d 543, 549 (6th Cir. 2009). Because § 1983 is a method for vindicating federal
rights, not a source of substantive rights itself, the first step in an action under § 1983 is to identify
the specific constitutional right allegedly infringed. Albright v. Oliver, 510 U.S. 266, 271 (1994).
Plaintiff challenges his incarceration by the United States. A challenge to the fact or
duration of confinement should be brought as a petition for habeas corpus and is not the proper
subject of a civil rights action brought pursuant to § 1983. See Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475,
484 (1973) (the essence of habeas corpus is an attack by a person in custody upon the legality of that
custody and the traditional function of the writ is to secure release from illegal custody). Therefore,
to the extent that Plaintiff’s complaint challenges the fact or duration of his incarceration, it must be
dismissed. See Adams v. Morris, 90 F. App’x 856, 858 (6th Cir. 2004) (dismissal is appropriate
where § 1983 action seeks equitable relief and challenges fact or duration of confinement); see also
Moore v. Pemberton, 110 F.3d 22, 23-24 (7th Cir. 1997) (reasons for not construing a § 1983 action
as one seeking habeas relief include (1) potential application of Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477
(1994), (2) differing defendants, (3) differing standards of § 1915(a)(3) and § 2253(c), (4) differing
fee requirements, (5) potential application of second or successive petition doctrine or three-strikes
rules of § 1915(g)).
To the extent Plaintiff seeks injunctive, declaratory and monetary relief for alleged
violations of Constitutional rights, his claim is barred by Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477, 486-87
(1994), which held that “in order to recover damages for allegedly unconstitutional conviction or
imprisonment, or for other harm caused by actions whose unlawfulness would render a conviction
or sentence invalid, a § 1983 plaintiff must prove that the conviction or sentence has been
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[overturned].” See Edwards v. Balisok, 520 U.S. 641, 646 (1997) (emphasis in original). In Heck,
the Supreme Court held that a state prisoner cannot make a cognizable claim under § 1983 for an
allegedly unconstitutional conviction or for “harm caused by actions whose unlawfulness would
render a conviction or sentence invalid” unless a prisoner shows that the conviction or sentence has
been “reversed on direct appeal, expunged by executive order, declared invalid by a state tribunal
authorized to make such determination, or called into question by a federal court’s issuance of a writ
of habeas corpus.” Id. at 486-87 (footnote omitted). The holding in Heck has been extended to
actions seeking injunctive or declaratory relief. See Edwards, 520 U.S. at 646-48 (declaratory relief);
Clarke v. Stalder, 154 F.3d 186, 189-90 (5th Cir. 1998) (claim for injunctive relief intertwined with
request for damages); Wilson v. Kinkela, No. 97-4035, 1998 WL 246401, at *1 (6th Cir. May 5,
1998) (injunctive relief). Plaintiff’s allegations clearly call into question the validity of his
conviction. Therefore, his action is barred under Heck until his criminal conviction has been
invalidated.
A court’s dismissal of a claim on the basis that it is barred by Heck v. Humphrey is
properly considered a dismissal under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), either on the grounds that it fails to state
a claim on which relief can be granted or that it is frivolous. See Hunt v. Michigan, 482 F. App’x
20, 22 (6th Cir. 2012) (a claim barred by Heck is properly dismissed for failure to state a claim);
Morris v. Cason, 102 F. App’x 902, 903 (6th Cir. 2004) (same); Goodson v. Tennessee, 102 F.
App’x 906, 907 (6th Cir. 2004) (a claim barred by Heck is frivolous); Campbell v. Putnam, 38 F.
App’x 298, 300 (6th Cir. 2002) (same).
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Conclusion
Having conducted the review required by the Prison Litigation Reform Act, the Court
determines that Plaintiff’s action will be dismissed for failure to state a claim, pursuant to 28 U.S.C.
§§ 1915(e)(2) and 1915A(b), and 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(c).
The Court must next decide whether an appeal of this action would be in good faith
within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3). See McGore v. Wrigglesworth, 114 F.3d 601, 611
(6th Cir. 1997). For the same reasons that the Court dismisses the action, the Court discerns no
good-faith basis for an appeal. Should Plaintiff appeal this decision, the Court will assess the
$505.00 appellate filing fee pursuant to § 1915(b)(1), see McGore, 114 F.3d at 610-11, unless
Plaintiff is barred from proceeding in forma pauperis, e.g., by the “three-strikes” rule of § 1915(g).
If he is barred, he will be required to pay the $505.00 appellate filing fee in one lump sum.
This is a dismissal as described by 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g).
A Judgment consistent with this Opinion will be entered.
Dated: May 21, 2015
/s/ Robert Holmes Bell
ROBERT HOLMES BELL
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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