Opinion
1:23-cv-01512-TWP-MG
09-06-2023
DEBORAH WALTON, Plaintiff, v. FIRST MERCHANTS BANK, CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU, MARK HARDWICK, BRIAN HUNT, CHRISTOPHER HORTON, Defendants.
ORDER DISMISSING AND REMANDING CLAIMS
HON. TANYA WALTON PRATT, CHIEF JUDGE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
On September 1, 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued an Order restricting litigant Deborah Walton from filing new papers in any court within the Seventh Circuit for a period of two (2) years. The undersigned, in her capacity as Chief Judge of this Court, entered an Order directing the Clerk to docket any submissions by Ms. Walton in a miscellaneous case to implement the Seventh Circuit's order and to conserve Court resources. In re Deborah Walton, Case No. 1:22-mc-00062-TWP-MG, (Filing No. 1). Ms. Walton made two submissions in that case on August 28, 2023, which the undersigned ordered be docketed in the instant action. Id., Filing No. 8.
Ms. Walton filed the instant action in Hamilton Superior Court on April 27, 2021 under Cause No. 29D02-2104-PL-002935 against defendant First Merchants Bank and others. On May 30, 2023, Ms. Walton filed an Amended Complaint adding defendant Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, who then removed the case to this Court on August 24, 2023. Ms. Walton's 55-page operative complaint appears to assert state law claims of fraud and defamation premised on events in her prior litigation with some of the defendants in this Court under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and Regulation E of the Dodd-Frank Act. Ms. Walton's two filings in this removed action seek the following: (1) a Court order transferring the case to United States District Court for the District of Columbia (Filing No. 10), and (2) to notify this Court of the filing bar and again seek transfer to the District of Columbia (Filing No. 11).
The Court has jurisdiction over this removed action under 28 U.S.C. § 1442(a)(1) and 1446. Because Ms. Walton is unable to litigate this case in the Southern District of Indiana, any federal claims contained in the operative complaint are DISMISSED with PREJUDICE. Ms. Walton's state law claims are REMANDED to the Hamilton Superior Court. See Patel v. Univ. of Notre Dame du Lac, No. 22-2251 (7th Cir. Mar. 7, 2023) (in case removed from state court, affirming dismissal with prejudice of enjoined litigant's federal claims and ordering remand of state law claims to state court). Ms. Walton's Motion to Transfer Case to the District Court in Washington D.C. (Filing No. 10) is DENIED.
The Clerk shall docket any future submissions in this case or any other case in this Court as "submissions" in Case No. 1:22-mc-00062-TWP-MG in accordance with this Court's Order implementing the Seventh Circuit's filing bar.
Final judgment consistent with the Order shall now issue.
SO ORDERED.