Hill v. State of Washington

Filing 5

ORDER FOR AMENDED COMPLAINT; plaintiff to amend complaint within 21 days by Judge Ricardo S Martinez. (RS) cc plaintiff

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON
AT SEATTLE

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NATHAN KAREEN HILL,

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Plaintiff,
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v.
STATE OF WASHINGTON,
Defendant.

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) CASE NO. C17-0434RSM
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) ORDER FOR AMENDED COMPLAINT
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Pro Se Plaintiff, Nathan Kareen Hill, has been granted leave to proceed in forma
pauperis in this matter. Dkt. #3. His Complaint was filed on March 22, 2017. Dkt. #4.

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Summons has not yet been issued. From what this Court can discern, Plaintiff alleges a claim
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under the Lanham Act for copyright infringement of his name. Id. Plaintiff complains that

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Washington State and several of its Agencies have entered his allegedly trademarked name into

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State databases, which constitutes infringement, and has caused him harm. Id. He states that

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being included in a registry for convicted felons has precluded him from participating in
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Washington State commerce. Id. As a result, he seeks an Order from this Court directing

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Defendant to stop using his name and to remove it from all State databases, and to pay him

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damages in the amount of $8,480,000.00.

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As federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction, a plaintiff bears the burden of

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establishing that his case is properly filed in federal court. Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co.,
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ORDER
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511 U.S. 375, 377, 114 S. Ct. 1673, 1675, 128 L. Ed. 2d 391 (1994); In re Ford Motor

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Co./Citibank (South Dakota), N.A., 264 F.3d 952, 957 (9th Cir. 2001). This burden, at the

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pleading stage, must be met by pleading sufficient allegations to show a proper basis for the

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federal court to assert subject matter jurisdiction over the action. McNutt v. General Motors

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Acceptance Corp., 298 U.S. 178, 189, 56 S. Ct. 780, 785, 80 L. Ed. 1135 (1936). Further, the
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Court will dismiss a Complaint at any time if the action fails to state a claim, raises frivolous or

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malicious claims, or seeks monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief.

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See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B).

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In this case, Plaintiff appears to be relying on a “sovereign citizen” theory, which has

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been unsuccessfully propounded by others, to seek the removal of his name from certain State
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registries. Dkt. #4. This legal theory seems to have originated in the context of tax protests,

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and is generally advanced to challenge state and federal laws and judgments. The theory (in all

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of its various forms) has been struck down consistently by the courts. See, e.g., United States v.

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Sloan, 939 F.2d 499 (7th Cir. 1991) (concluding that plaintiff’s argument that he was a citizen
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of the state of Indiana, but not a citizen of the United States and therefore not subject to its laws

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was “simply wrong”); United States v. Jagim, 978 F.2d 1032, 1036 (8th Cir. 1992) (concluding

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that defendant’s argument that he was a citizen of the “Republic of Idaho” and not a U.S.

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citizen and therefore outside the jurisdiction of the United States was “completely without

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merit” and “patently frivolous”); U.S. v. Delatorre, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7530, 2008 WL
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312647 at *2 (N.D. Ill. 2008) (“This Court’s jurisdiction over Mr. Delatorre remains valid

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whether his name is written in all capital letters or a mix of capital and lower case letters, or

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whether he identifies himself as: a ‘real flesh and blood man, in his private capacity,’ a

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‘sovereign secured party creditor;’ a debtor; the ‘authorized representative of the corporate

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ORDER
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fiction-entity/debtor identified, as Fernando Delatorre,’ or ‘third party intervenor on behalf of

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Defendant/Debtor Fernando Delatorre.’ Mr. Delatorre’s Uniform Commercial Code (‘UCC’),

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copyright, and trademark filings do not change this fact.”); see also Francis X. Sullivan, The

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"Usurping Octopus of Jurisdictional/Authority": The Legal Theories of the Sovereign Citizen

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Movement, 1999 Wis. L. Rev. 785. Mr. Hill fails to provide legal authority in his Complaint
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that would lead the Court to any other conclusion than dismissal of his case.

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Accordingly, Plaintiff’s Complaint suffers from deficiencies that, if not corrected in an

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Amended Complaint, require dismissal. As a result, the Court hereby finds and ORDERS that

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Plaintiff shall file an Amended Complaint no later than twenty-one (21) days from the date

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of this Order. In the Amended Complaint, Plaintiff must include a short and plain statement
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demonstrating to the Court that his claims are brought under some other legal authority than the

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“sovereign citizen” theory.

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The Clerk shall send a copy of this Order to Plaintiff at 1709 SW 323rd St., Federal

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Way, WA 98023.
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DATED this 22 day of March, 2017.

A

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RICARDO S. MARTINEZ
CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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ORDER
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