Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-casd-3_19-cv-01538/USCOURTS-casd-3_19-cv-01538-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 370
Nature of Suit: Other Fraud
Cause of Action: 28:1331 Fed. Question

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

JOHN DAVIS,

Plaintiff,

v.

MONIQUE BOOTH ET AL. 

Defendants.

Case No.: 19-cv-01538-AJB-MSB

ORDER: 

(1) DISMISSING PLAINTIFF’S 

COMPLAINT WITH PREJUDICE

(Doc. No. 1); 

(2) DENYING PLAINTIFF’S 

MOTION TO PROCEED IN FORMA 

PAUPERIS AS MOOT (Doc. No. 2);

AND

(3) DENYING PLAINTIFF’S 

MOTION TO APPOINT COUNSEL

AS MOOT (Doc. No. 3.)

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Presently before the Court is John Davis’s (“Plaintiff”) motion to proceed in forma 

pauperis (“IFP”) and motion to appoint counsel. (Doc. Nos. 2–3.) For the reasons set forth 

below, the Court DISMISSES Plaintiff’s complaint WITH PREJUDICE, DENIES

Plaintiff’s IFP motion AS MOOT, and DENIES Plaintiff’s request for appointment of 

counsel AS MOOT.

I. SCREENING PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)

Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2), when reviewing an IFP motion, the Court must 

rule on its own motion to dismiss before the complaint is served. Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 

1122, 1127 (9th Cir. 2000). When an individual seeks to proceed in forma pauperis, the 

Court is required to review the complaint and must dismiss a complaint, or portion of the 

complaint, if it is “frivolous, malicious or fails to state a claim upon which relief may be 

granted; or . . . seeks monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief.” 

28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b); 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2). A plaintiff’s claim is frivolous “when the 

facts alleged rise to the level of the irrational or the wholly incredible, whether or not there 

are judicially noticeable facts available to contradict them.” Denton v. Hernandez, 504 U.S. 

25, 32–33 (1992).

In order to survive a motion to dismiss, the complaint must contain “a short and plain 

statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2).

The Court may dismiss claims that fail to comply with Rule 8’s requirement that claims be 

simple, concise, and direct. McHenry v. Renne, 84 F.3d 1172, 1179 (9th Cir. 1996) (citing 

Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(e)); Lopez, 203 F.3d at 1127 (“[§] 1915(e) not only permits but requires 

a district court to dismiss an [IFP] complaint that fails to state a claim”). Accordingly, the 

Court “may dismiss as frivolous complaints reciting bare legal conclusions with no 

suggestion of supporting facts . . . .” Franklin v. Murphy, 745 F.2d 1221, 1228 (9th Cir. 

1984) (citation omitted). A complaint which is argumentative, prolix, replete with 

redundancy, and largely irrelevant does not meet Rule 8’s requirement of simplicity, 

directness, and clarity. Id. at 1177–78. Furthermore, if the court determines that a claim

lacks subject-matter jurisdiction, the court must dismiss the action. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(h)(3).

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Here, it is unclear what causes of action Plaintiff is alleging due to the lack of short

and plain statements with legally relevant facts regarding his claim for relief. Plaintiff’s

complaint is so convoluted and difficult to read that the Court must strain to determine 

whether Plaintiff may have any meritorious claims. A complaint that lacks “simplicity, 

conciseness and clarity as to whom [a plaintiff is] suing and for what wrongs, fails to 

perform the essential functions of a complaint.” See McHenry, 84 F.3d at 1178. The Ninth 

Circuit has further held that a complaint may be dismissed with prejudice for failure to 

comply with the requirements of Rule 8. See id. As such, the Court may dismiss the 

complaint on this basis alone.

However, in any event, from what the Court can glean from Plaintiff’s complaint, 

Plaintiff does not have a claim for relief in this Court. First, Plaintiff appears to be seeking 

the return of all retroactive child support payments made to Defendant Booth, and for this 

Court to vacate Plaintiff’s child support order. (Doc. No. 1 at 7.) Plaintiff argues he is 

entitled to a return of his child support payments because the family court did not consider 

Defendant Booth’s welfare fraud and perjury convictions. (Doc. No. 1 at 1.) But under the 

Rooker-Feldman doctrine, federal district courts are barred from reviewing state court 

decisions regarding proceedings in family court. See, e.g., Moore v. County of Butte, 547 

Fed. App’x. 826, 829 (9th Cir. 2013) (finding a plaintiff’s claims challenging the outcome 

of custody proceedings were properly dismissed); Rucker v. County of Santa Clara, State 

of California, 2003 WL 21440151, at *2 (N.D. Cal. June 17, 2003) (finding the plaintiff’s 

claims were “inextricably intertwined” with the state court’s rulings where the plaintiff 

“challenge[d] his original child support order on jurisdictional grounds, dispute[d] his total 

child support arrearages, and allege[d] that Santa Clara County’s garnishment order against 

his disability benefits payments is invalid”); see also Ignacio v. Judges of U.S. Court of 

Appeals, 453 F.3d 1160, 1165–66 (9th Cir. 2006) (affirming the district court’s dismissal 

of the case “because the complaint is nothing more than another attack on the California 

superior court’s determination in [the plaintiff’s] domestic case”). Accordingly, because 

this Court may not disturb the family court’s order, the Court is unable to grant Plaintiff 

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the relief requested.

Second, this Court does not have either federal question jurisdiction or diversity 

jurisdiction over Plaintiff’s claims for relief. Generally, “[f]ederal jurisdiction typically 

exists only when a federal question is presented on the face of the plaintiff’s properly 

pleaded complaint.” Valles v. Ivy Hill Corp., 410 F.3d 1071, 1075 (9th Cir. 2005). In 

addition to his claim for the return of child support payments, Plaintiff additionally appears 

to allege fraud under California law against Defendants Booth, the San Diego & San 

Francisco County Child Support Departments, and San Diego County Health & Human

Services1for failure to disclose to the family court that Defendant Booth, the custodial 

parent, was convicted of welfare fraud and perjury. (Id. at 2.) Thus, upon review of the 

complaint, the Court does not find that Plaintiff’s complaint presents a federal question for 

this Court’s adjudication because Plaintiff’s claims solely arise under California law.

2

Furthermore, Plaintiff fails to prove that the parties are diverse or that the amount in 

controversy exceeds $75,000. See 28 U.S.C. § 1332. Complete diversity means the parties 

must be “citizens of different States.” Id. at (a)(1). Here, both Plaintiff and Defendant

Booth are citizens of California. (Doc. No. 1 at 3.) And, Plaintiff’s prayer for relief asks 

the Court to vacate the child support award with “the principle balance of $15,000 and 

interest of $15,700” and for the return of $2,046 in retroactive child support payments. 

These amounts do not demonstrate that the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000. Thus, 

 

1 Additionally, the Court notes that the defendant entities are all state agencies entitled to sovereign 

immunity under the Eleventh Amendment. Greenlaw v. Cty. of Santa Clara, 125 F. App’x 809, 810 (9th 

Cir. 2005).

2 To the extent Plaintiff asserts violations of the United States Constitution, Plaintiff’s complaint must still 

be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. Specifically, Plaintiff’s prayer for relief states that “Due Process and 

Equal Protection of the Law were violated due to the concealment of” Defendant Booth’s criminal 

convictions. (Doc. No. 1 at 7.) However, under the Rooker–Feldman doctrine, a federal district court’s 

jurisdiction to hear a particular constitutional challenge depends on whether the constitutional claim is 

“inextricably intertwined” with the state court’s ruling in a state court action. See Rucker, 2003 WL 

21440151, at *2. Here, the constitutional challenges to the child support order necessarily require review 

of the state court’s decision to order child support payments. As such, because Plaintiff’s claims are 

“inextricably intertwined” with the state court’s ruling, this Court does not have jurisdiction to review 

Plaintiff’s claims.

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Plaintiff fails to establish diversity jurisdiction as well.

II. CONCLUSION

For the foregoing reasons, the Court DISMISSES WITH PREJUDICE Plaintiff’s 

complaint, DENIES AS MOOT Plaintiff’s motion to proceed in forma pauperis, and 

DENIES AS MOOT Plaintiff’s motion to appoint counsel. The Clerk of Court is directed 

to CLOSE this case.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: October 18, 2019

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