Opinion
C.A. NO. 15-cv-30171-MAP
01-12-2016
MICHAEL J. DICENZO, JR., Plaintiff, v. MASSACHUSETTS PROBATE AND FAMILY COURT, ET AL., Defendants.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER REGARDING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION ON PLAINTIFF'S MOTION TO PROCEED IN FORMA PAUPERIS AND FOR SUMMARY DISMISSAL
(Dkt. Nos. 2 & 8)
This is a civil rights action filed, pro se, by an inmate of the Northeast Correctional Center in Concord, Massachusetts, asserting various purported civil rights claims against the Berkshire County Probate and Family Court, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, the Massachusetts Commission of Judicial Conduct, the Executive Office of the Trial Court of Massachusetts, and the Berkshire County District Attorney.
On September 24, 2015, the complaint was referred to Magistrate Judge Katherine A. Robertson for review of Plaintiff's application to proceed in forma pauperis and for pretrial screening.
Following her review, on November 19, 2015, Judge Robertson issued her Report and Recommendation, to the effect that the motion to proceed in forma pauperis (Dkt. No. 2) should be allowed. However, after completing a preliminary screening under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2), Judge Robertson also recommended that the complaint be dismissed on the merits based upon immunity and lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Judge Robertson's meticulous memorandum examined the complaint based on several theories of immunity and jurisdictional defects.
The conclusion of the Report and Recommendation admonished the parties that objections to the Report and Recommendation would have to be filed within fourteen days. See Dkt. No. 8 at n.1. On November 27, 2015, Plaintiff filed his objections to the recommendation. See Dkt. No. 10.
Having reviewed the Report and Recommendation and objections, de novo, the court finds that Judge Robertson's analysis is entirely correct as a matter of law and that Plaintiff's complaint must be dismissed. None of the written objections submitted by Plaintiff adequately addresses the fatal deficiencies in the complaint, including Eleventh Amendment immunity, judicial immunity, prosecutorial immunity, and lack of jurisdiction.
For the foregoing reasons, the court hereby ADOPTS Judge Robertson's Report and Recommendation (Dkt. No. 8). Based upon this, the complaint is ordered DISMISSED. This case may now be closed.
It is So Ordered.
/s/ Michael A. Ponsor
MICHAEL A. PONSOR
U. S. District Judge