Wattleton v. Lynch ( 2015 )


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  • Case 1:14—cv-00281-UNA Document 3 Filed 02/21/14 Page 1 of 2
    FILED
    UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT CI k  2 I
    ‘ Bf, . .Dl
    FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Courtstarthe  2f
    David Earl Wattleton, )
    )
    Plaintiff, )
    )
    v ) Civil Action No. /¢"an/
    )
    )
    Eric IIimpton Holder, Jr., )
    )
    Defendant. )
    MEMORANDUM OPINION
    The plaintiffis an individual civilly committed pursuant to 18 U.S.C § 4243 at the
    Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minnesota. He has submitted an “Emergency Application
    for Expedited Mandatory Preliminary Injunctive Relief and Declaratory Judgment and
    Damages,” construed as a complaint, in which he again claims that “the term ‘writ of habeas
    corpus’ as used in sub~section (g) of [18 U.S.C. § 4247] is unconstitutionally vague and should
    be stuck dOWn . . .  
    Id. at 1.
    The plaintiff has already unsuccessfully litigated this issue. See
    Wattleton v. Holder, No. 13-0375, 
    2013 WL 1222943
    (D.D.C. Mar. 22, 2013). aff’d, 534 Fed,
    Appx. 3 (DC. Cir. 2013). Hence, this case will be dismissed as procedurally barred.
    Under the principle of resjua’icata, a final judgment on the merits in one action “bars any
    further claim based on the same ‘nucleus of facts’ . . .  Page v. United States, 
    729 F.2d 818
    ,
    820 (DC. Cir. 1984) (quoting Expert Elea, Inc. v. Levine, 
    554 F.2d 1227
    , 1234 (DC. Cir.
    1977)). Res judicata bars the relitigation “of issues that were or could have been raised in [the
    prior] action.” Drake v. FAA, 
    291 F.3d 59
    , 66 (DC. Cir. 2002) (emphasis in original) (citing
    Allen v. McCurry, 449 US. 90, 94 (1980)); see 1AM. Nat 'l Pension Fund v. Indus. Gear Mfg.
    I
    Case 1:14-cv—00281-UNA Document 3 Filed 02/21/14 Page 2 of 2
    Co., 
    723 F.2d 944
    , 949 (DC. Cir. 1983) (noting that resjudicata “forecloses all that which might
    have been litigated previously”); accord Crowder v. Bierman. Geesing, and Ward LLC, 713 F .
    Supp. 2d 6, 10 (D.D.C. 2010). Although resjudicaia is an affirmative defense that typically
    must be pied, courts “may raise the res judicata preclusion defense sua sponte," Rosendahl v.
    Nixon, 360 Fed. Appx. 167, 168 (DC. Cir. 2010) (citing Arizona v. California, 530 US. 392,
    412-13 (2000); Brown v. D. C., 
    514 F.3d 1279
    , 1285—86 (DC. Cir. 2008)), and a “district court
    may apply res judicata upon taking judicial notice of [a] [party’s] previous case,” Tinsley v,
    Equifax Credit Info. Serv’s, Inc., No. 99-7031, 
    1999 WL 506720
    (DC. Cir. June 2, 1999) (per
    curiam) (citing Gullo v. Veterans Cooperative Housing Ass'n, 
    269 F.2d 517
    (DC. Cir. 1959) (per
    curiam)). Resjudicala therefore forecloses this action.1
    flames Iiiéiiiéi Judge
    nit
    Date: January .97 ,2014
    l A separate Order accompanies this Memorandum Opinion.
    2