Source: http://ne.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.20180927_0004069.DNE.htm/qx
Timestamp: 2019-09-18 01:49:50
Document Index: 615070786

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1915', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1332']

FindACase™ | Campbell v. Hepburn
Campbell v. Hepburn
RICHARD L. CAMPBELL, Plaintiff,
SHELLY HEPBURN, individually Director of Our Homes Assisted Living; Defendant.
Plaintiff Richard L. Campbell filed his Complaint on May 3, 2018. (Filing No. 1.) He has been given leave to proceed in forma pauperis. (Filing No. 5.) The court now conducts an initial review of Plaintiff's Complaint to determine whether summary dismissal is appropriate under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2).
Plaintiff has filed this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Defendant Shelly Hepburn (“Defendant”), the Director of Our Homes Assisted Living, alleging Defendant deprived him of his rights to due process and equal protection under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Plaintiff alleges that on April 13, 2018, Plaintiff went to Our Homes Assisted Living to visit his brother and was denied access by Defendant. Defendant informed Plaintiff that he was banned and barred from the facility, no longer allowed to visit his brother, and that he would be arrested if he returned to the facility. Defendant did not provide Plaintiff with any reason for banning and barring him. As relief, Plaintiff seeks $250, 000 in compensatory damages and $250, 000 in punitive damages.
Plaintiff has filed this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. To state a § 1983 cause of action, a plaintiff must allege a violation of rights protected by the United States Constitution or created by federal statute and also must show that the alleged deprivation was caused by conduct of a person acting under color of state law. West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42, 48 (1988); Buckley v. Barlow, 997 F.2d 494, 495 (8th Cir. 1993). Because Plaintiff does not allege that Defendant is a person acting under color of state law, he fails to state a § 1983 claim and, consequently, fails to set forth grounds for the court's jurisdiction.
Here, Plaintiff alleges jurisdiction under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 “for violation of his civil rights . . . under color of federal law, ” (filing no. 1 at CM/ECF p. 2, ¶ 3), but fails to allege that Defendant is a state actor or that her conduct is attributable to the state. See West, 487 U.S. at 49 (“The traditional definition of acting under color of state law requires that the defendant in a § 1983 action have exercised power ‘possessed by virtue of state law and made possible only because the wrongdoer is clothed with the authority of state law.'”); see also Filarsky v. Delia, 566 U.S. 377, 383 (2012) (“Anyone whose conduct is ‘fairly attributable to the state' can be sued as a state actor under § 1983.”). Consequently, there is no discernible “federal question” alleged in the Complaint as Plaintiff has failed to state a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
Moreover, Plaintiff has not alleged that Defendant is a citizen of a different state as required by 28 U.S.C. § 1332. Thus, the allegations of the Complaint also fail to establish diversity of citizenship jurisdiction.
On the court's own motion, Plaintiff will have 30 days in which to file an amended complaint that clearly sets forth a ...