Opinion
No. 08-5488-cv.
January 13, 2010.
Appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York (McAvoy, J.).
UPON DUE CONSIDERATION IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the judgment of the district court be AFFIRMED.
John J. Voss, Jr., Albany, NY, pro se.
Andrew T. Baxter, United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York; Paula Ryan Conan, Assistant United States Attorney, Syracuse, NY, for Appellees.
SUMMARY ORDER
Appellant John J. Voss, Jr., pro se, appeals the district court's sua sponte dismissal of his complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. We assume the parties' familiarity with the underlying facts and procedural history of the case, as well as the issues on appeal.
We review a district court's rulings on subject matter jurisdiction de novo, see S.E.C. v. Berger, 322 F.3d 187, 191 (2d Cir. 2003), bearing in mind that a pro se plaintiff's complaint should be liberally construed to raise the strongest argument that it suggests, see Graham v. Henderson, 89 F.3d 75, 79 (2d Cir. 1996). Under the Federal Rules, if a court "determines at any time that it lacks subject-matter jurisdiction, the court must dismiss the action." Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(h)(3); accord Cave v. E. Meadow Union Free School Dist., 514 F.3d 240, 250 (2d Cir. 2008)("If a court perceives at any state of the proceedings that it lacks subject matter jurisdiction, then it must take proper notice of the defect by dismissing the action.").
Here, the district court properly determined that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction over Voss's complaint, and we affirm the district court's judgment for substantially the same reasons as articulated by that court. Moreover, we have considered Voss's remaining claims of error and determined them to be without merit; accordingly, there is no basis on which to challenge the judgment of the district court.
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the district court is hereby AFFIRMED.