Chang v. Vanderwielen ( 2022 )

THE HONORABLE JOHN C. COUGHENOUR 1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE 9 VICKI CHANG, CASE NO. C22-0657-JCC 10 Plaintiff, ORDER 11 v. 12 ANDREW VANDERWIELEN, et al., 13 Defendants. 14 15 This matter comes before the Court on pre-service review of Plaintiff’s proposed in 16 forma pauperis complaint (Dkt. No. 1-1), as required under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B). Plaintiff, 17 proceeding pro se, recently filed an application to proceed in forma pauperis (Dkt. No. 1-3). 18 Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a), the Court must review and dismiss before service the associated 19 complaint if it is “frivolous, malicious, fail[s] to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, 20 or seek[s] monetary relief from a defendant immune from such relief.” 28 U.S.C. 21 § 1915(e)(2)(B); see also Calhoun v. Stahl, 254 F.3d 845, 845 (9th Cir. 2001) (“[T]he provisions 22 of 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B) are not limited to prisoners.”). 23 Plaintiff’s proposed complaint is similar, in all material respects, to the complaint she 24 filed in an earlier-filed case: Chang v. Vanderwielen, Case No. C22-0013-JCC (W.D. Wash.). 25 There, the Honorable S. Kate Vaughan, United States Magistrate Judge, already issued a report 26 and recommendation (“R&R”) on a summary judgment motion seeking dismissal of that 1 complaint. See Case No. C22-0013-JCC, Dkt. No. 14. In the R&R, Judge Vaughan found that the 2 complaint fails to state a claim for relief, at least with respect to Defendant Dr. Riddhi Kothari. 3 See Case No. C22-0013-JCC, Dkt. No. 65 at 12. Moreover, Defendants Edward Collins and 4 Andrew Vanderwielen—also named in this action—have since moved to dismiss that same 5 complaint. See Case No. C22-0013-JCC, Dkt. No. 68. Therefore, it appears to the Court that 6 Plaintiff’s present in forma pauperis complaint is duplicative of Plaintiff’s earlier action, which 7 is presently being litigated. 8 An in forma pauperis complaint that merely repeats pending or previously litigated 9 claims may be dismissed under § 1915. See Cato v United States, 70 F3d 1103, 1105 n.2 (9th Cir 10 1995); Bailey v Johnson, 846 F2d 1019, 1021 (5th Cir 1988). Similarly, an in forma pauperis 11 complaint repeating the same factual allegations asserted in an earlier case, even if now filed 12 against certain additional defendants, as is the case here, is also subject to dismissal as 13 duplicative. See Van Meter v Morgan, 518 F2d 366, 368 (8th Cir 1975); Ballentine v Crawford, 14 563 F. Supp. 627, 629 (N.D. Ind. 1983). 15 For the foregoing reasons, plaintiff's request to proceed in forma pauperis is DENIED 16 and the instant allegations are hereby DISMISSED with prejudice to reasserting them in another 17 unpaid complaint. The Clerk is DIRECTED to send Plaintiff a copy of this order. 18 19 DATED this 17th day of May 2022. A 20 21 22 John C. Coughenour 23 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 24 25 26