Driessen v. Citibank

Filing 23

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER granting with prejudice 13 Motion to Dismiss; denying 16 Motion for Summary Judgment. Signed by U. S. District Judge Lawrence L. Piersol on 8/26/13. (DJP)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA
SOUTHERN DIVISION

FILED

AUG 26 2013

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ROCHELLE DRIESSEN,
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CIV 13-4018
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Plaintiff,
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MEMORANDUM OPINION
vs.
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AND ORDER RE: MOTIONS
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TO DISMISS AND FOR
CITIBANK, N.A.,
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SUMMARY JUDGMENT
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Defendant.
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Plaintiff Rochelle Driessen brought a pro se complaint against Defendant, Citibank, N.A.,
alleging violation of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act and presenting Driessen's allegation that
Citibank failed to deposit a million pound lottery winning from the UK National Lottery into an
account for her. Doc. 1. Driessen then filed a notice of additional claim stating that she had received
an e-mail from the "Claims Office of Health Lottery Announcement/20 13 -The National Lottery,
informing Plaintiff that she has won prize money in the amount of £1,000,000," and that Citibank
had been directed to, but had not transferred these winnings to her. Doc. 10. Citibank moved to
dismiss pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). Doc. 13. Driessen then moved for summary judgment.
Doc. 16.

StandardJor Determining Motion under Federal Rule oJCivil Procedure J2 (b)(6)
In considering a motion under Federal Rule ofCivil Procedure 12(b)(6), the factual allegations
of a complaint are assumed true and construed in favor ofthe plaintiff, "even ifit strikes a savvy judge
that actual proof of those facts is improbable." Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 556
(2007), cited in Data MJg., Inc. v. United Parcel Serv., Inc., 557 F.3d 849, 851 (8th Cir. 2009).

"While a complaint attacked by a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss does not need detailed factual
allegations, a plaintiff's obligation to provide the 'grounds' ofhis 'entitlement to relief' requires more
than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation ofthe elements ofa cause ofaction will not do."

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Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555 (internal citations omitted). The complaint must allege

facts, which, when taken as true, raise more than a speculative right to relief. Id.(internal citations
omitted); Benton v. Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., 524 F.3d 866,870 (8th Cir. 2008). Although a plaintiff
in defending a motion under Rule 12(b)(6) need not provide specific facts in support of its allegations,
see Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 93 (2007) (per curiam), it must include sufficient factual

information to provide the grounds on which her claim rests, and to raise a right to relief above a
speculative level. Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555-556 & n3. Although Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8
may not require "detailed factual allegations," it "demands more than an unadorned,
the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation."Ashcroftv. Iqbal, 556 U.S.662, 678 (2009). A claim
must have facial plausibility to survive a motion to dismiss. Id. Determining whether a claim has facial
plausibility is "a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial
experience and common sense." 556 U.S. at 679.

DISCUSSION
A district court may take judicial notice of public records and consider them in deciding a
motion to dismiss. See Stahl v. Us. Dep't ofAgric., 327 F.3d 697, 700 (8th Cir. 2003). Driessen has
filed approximately twenty-eight pro se civil actions in various district courts. In Driessen v. Home
Loan State Bank, No. 12-cv-02220 (D. Co. Aug. 20,2012), Driessen alleged that Home Loan State

Bank failed to transfer the sum of 3,500,000 pounds in winnings to her from the Power Ball Sweep
Stake Lottery, in violation of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act. In Driessen v. Nat west Bank PLC
and Royal Bank ofScotaland , No.13-cv-00217 (D. Conn. Feb. 19,2013), Driessen sued another

bank for violation of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act for allegedly failing to transfer lottery
winnings of over a million dollars that she claims to have won from the BMW 2012 International
Award. In Driessen v. Clinton, No. 12-cv-00227(E.D. Tex. April 12, 2012), Driessen filed a pro se
complaint claiming that then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton informed her that she
had inherited $10.5 million from a Nigerian relative but then unlawfully prevented the transfer of
funds on the grounds that the funds were terrorist- and drug-related. These are but a few of the
complaints that Plaintiff has filed which contain a theme similar to the one presented in the case at
hand.
The Court has carefully reviewed Driessen's pleadings and has determined that her claim

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lacks facial plausibility and must be dismissed with prejudice. Since Citibank's motion to dismiss
is granted for the reasons stated, Driessen's motion for summary judgment is denied. Accordingly,

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED:
(1)

That Defendant's motion to dismiss (doc. 13) is granted with prejudice; and

(2)

That Plaintiffs motion for summary judgment (doc. 16) is denied.

Dated this

a
~day

of August, 2013.

BY THE COURT:

~tuAWLt~~ --­
\lawrence L. PIersol
United States District Judge

ATTEST:
JOSEPH H~tLERK

BY:~.¥
(SE L)

DEPUTY

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