Ng v. Metz et al

Filing 6

MINUTE ORDER Directing Plaintiff to file an amended complaint no later than twenty-one (21) days from the date of this order. Authorized by U.S. District Judge John C Coughenour. (TH) (cc: Plaintiff via first class mail)

THE HONORABLE JOHN C. COUGHENOUR

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON
AT SEATTLE

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SING CHO NG,

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Plaintiff,

MINUTE ORDER

v.

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CASE NO. C18-0690-JCC

JIM METZ, et al.,

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Defendants.

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The following Minute Order is made by direction of the Court, the Honorable John C.
Coughenour, United States District Judge:
This matter comes before the Court sua sponte. On May 16, 2018, Magistrate Judge

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Mary Alice Theiler granted Plaintiff’s motion to proceed in forma pauperis and recommended

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the complaint be reviewed under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B) prior to the issuance of a summons.

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(Dkt. No. 4).

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Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B), the Court must dismiss an in forma pauperis

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complaint at any time if the action fails to state a claim, raises frivolous or malicious claims, or

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seeks monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. Federal Rule of Civil

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Procedure 8 provides that in order to state a claim for relief, a pleading must contain “a short and

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plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2).

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At a minimum, a complaint must put defendants on notice of what wrongs they committed
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against the plaintiff. See McHenry v. Renne, 84 F.3d 1172, 1180 (9th Cir. 1996). Conclusory

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allegations of law and unwarranted factual inferences are not sufficient to state a claim. Vasquez

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v. L.A. Cty., 487 F.3d 1246, 1249 (9th Cir. 2007). The plaintiff is obligated to provide grounds

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for her entitlement to relief that amount to more than labels and conclusions or a formulaic

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recitation of the elements of a cause of action. Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 545

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(2007). “[T]he pleading standard Rule 8 announces does not require ‘detailed factual

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allegations,’ but it demands more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me

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accusation.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). Dismissal is also appropriate if a

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complaint fails to put forth “a cognizable legal theory.” Balistreri v. Pacifica Police Dep’t, 901

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F.2d 696, 699 (9th Cir. 1988).
Plaintiff names the following parties as Defendants: Jim Metz, Janet Helson, Kirstin

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Grant, Terence Brown, Terence Wong, John Do, Jane Do, Bing Kung B. L. Association,

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Sukhvinder Awla, Ryan S.F. Yee, Tomas Cheng, Yau Shen Chen. (Dkt. No. 5 at 1.) Plaintiff

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alleges the following causes of action against all defendants: Conspiracy, Negligence, Intentional

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Misrepresentation, Fraud, and Deceit, Causation and Damages. 1 (Dkt. No. 5 at 45–49.)

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After stating each cause of action, Plaintiff asserts the following language: “Against All

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Defendants in Its Official and Individual Capacity under 42 USC 1983, 42 USC 1985, RCW

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59.18.150, RCW 59.18.240, RCW 59.18.250, SCM 7.24.030(a), Fair Housing Law (Occupancy

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Standard), Washington Law against Criminal Profiteering.” (Id.) Plaintiff additionally seeks

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declaratory judgment against Defendant Bing Kung Association for violations of some of the

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previously listed statutes. (Id. at 48–49.) Plaintiff asserts individual causes of action against

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Commissioners Janet Helson and Kirstin Grant for “Abuse of Power, Obstruction of Justice,

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The Court notes that Plaintiff has a pending lawsuit in front of the Hon. Richard A.
Jones against the following Defendants in this action: Bing Kung Association, Jim Metz, and
Tomas Cheng. Sing Cho Ng v. Bing Kung Association, et al., No. C17-1515-RAJ, Dkt. No. 4
(W.D. Wash. Oct. 13 2017). Plaintiff’s lawsuit before Judge Jones appears to arise from largely
the same factual allegations as the present case. See generally id.
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Deprivation of Due Process, Fraud, Lying and Collusion.” (Id. at 7.) Plaintiff asserts individual

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causes of action against Defendants Sukhvinder Awla and Terence Wong, for knowing

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violations of the “Rule of Civil Procedures which prohibit a plaintiff’s party to serve summons

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on me . . . .” (Id. at 49–50.) Finally, Plaintiff asserts a cause of action against Ryan S.F. Yee and

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Terence Wong for “Failure of Fiduciary Responsibility to supervise its associate attorney to

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observe Rules of Civil Procedures . . . .” (Id. at 50.)

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Plaintiff fails to provide a short and plain statement of his claims showing he is entitled to

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relief that places the Defendants on notice of the claims against them. This is true even when the

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Court applies the Ninth Circuit’s directive to construe pro se complaints liberally. See Hebbe v.

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Pliler, 627 F.3d 338, 342 (9th Cir. 2010). In his 51 page complaint, Plaintiff asserts facts that

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appear to deal with his eviction from his apartment in 2014 or 2015 and a subsequent legal

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proceeding in King County Superior Court regarding the eviction. (See generally Dkt. No. 5.)

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Plaintiff makes conclusory and fragmented allegations in support of his claims. As an example,

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he asserts that “Seattle City official Jim Metz is the first defendant in this action because without

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its failures to act in 2014 and its intentional omissions to act in 2015, no retaliatory eviction

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could have happened and none of the unlawful acts of court officials and officers below

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mentioned would [sic] happened.” (Id. at 3.)

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Plaintiff goes on to assert that “[i]n August 2015, Bing Kung, through Tom Cheng,

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callused [sic] with corrupted DPD official Jim Metz and a corrupted KCSC commissioner-

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attorney Terence Wong to dupe a vulnerable judge Janet Helson (Helson) into belief that Bing

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Kung’s 11/28/2014-dated notice of rent increase did not trigger scrutiny of RCW 59.18.250

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which requires a landlord to deliver affirmatively [sic] defense for Bing Kung’s eviction actions

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note being retaliatory in light of the existence of [sic] administrative complaint filed prior to the

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eviction action.” (Id. at 6.) Plaintiff spends dozens of pages in the complaint explaining the

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procedural history of and quoting excerpts from a 2015 legal proceeding in King County

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Superior Court that dealt with his alleged eviction. (See id. at 25–42.) However, Plaintiff fails to
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plausibly allege how this information supports his underlying causes of action. As a result,

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Plaintiff’s claims that the Defendants violated certain statutes are simply “unadorned, the-

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defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation[s].” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. Plaintiff’s tangential

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allegations do not adequately put the 10-named Defendants on notice of what legal wrongs they

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committed against Plaintiff. The Court additionally finds that the following causes of action

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listed in Plaintiff’s complaint do not represent cognizable legal theories that can pursued in a

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civil lawsuit: violations of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, abuse of power, lying and

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collusion, and all of the alleged violations of Washington criminal statutes (e.g. perjury under

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Revised Code of Washington section 9A.72). (Dkt. No. 5 at 43.)

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Although the Court finds the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be

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granted, it will not dismiss a claim unless “it is absolutely clear that no amendment can cure the

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[complaint’s] defects.” Lucas v. Dep’t of Corr., 66 F.3d 245, 248 (9th Cir. 1995) (citation

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omitted). Accordingly, the Court ORDERS that the Plaintiff file an amended complaint no later

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than twenty-one (21) days from the date of this order. In his amended complaint, Plaintiff must

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include a short and plain statement of the facts that support his claims against each named

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Defendant. These facts must put each Defendant on notice of the alleged violations of law they

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committed against Plaintiff.

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The Clerk is DIRECTED to mail a copy of this order to Plaintiff at P.O. Box 14551,
Seattle, WA 98114.
DATED this 21st day of May 2018.

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William M. McCool
Clerk of Court

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s/Tomas Hernandez
Deputy Clerk

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