Opinion
Civil Action 22-cv-2347 (UNA)
09-22-2022
TONI IRONS, Plaintiff, v. KAMALA HARRIS Vice President, Defendant.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
JIA M. COBB, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Plaintiff, appearing pro se, has filed a Complaint, ECF No. 1, and an application to proceed in forma pauperis, ECF No. 2. The Court will grant the application and dismiss this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B) (requiring immediate dismissal of a case proceeding in forma pauperis upon a determination that the complaint is frivolous).
Plaintiff, a resident of Washington, D.C., sues Vice President Kamala Harris. In the one-page complaint, Plaintiff alleges that Harris's family members have threatened her “to hand over my inheritance that involves a phone company” or “be killed” and “get no services[.]” Plaintiff also accuses Harris's family of threatening “revenge on all white people for the past” and claims to be “a victim of [racism]” and other wrongs.
Complaints premised on “fantastic or delusional scenarios” or supported wholly by allegations lacking “an arguable basis either in law or in fact” are subject to dismissal as frivolous. Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 325, 328 (1989); see Denton v. Hernandez, 504 U.S. 25, 33 (1992) (“[A] finding of factual frivolousness is appropriate when the facts alleged rise to the level of the irrational or the wholly incredible[.]”); Best v. Kelly, 39 F.3d 328, 330 (D.C. Cir. 1994) (a court may dismiss claims that are “essentially fictitious”-for example, where they suggest “bizarre conspiracy theories . . . [or] fantastic government manipulations of their will or mind”) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted)); Crisafi v. Holland, 655 F.2d 1305, 1307-08 (D.C. Cir. 1981) (“A court may dismiss as frivolous complaints . . . postulating events and circumstances of a wholly fanciful kind.”). The instant complaint satisfies this standard and therefore will be dismissed by separate order.