VIRGINIA M. HERNANDEZ COVINGTON, District Judge.
This matter comes before the Court upon consideration of Defendant Sharon Hayes' Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Amended Complaint (Doc. #12), filed on December 4, 2014. Pro Se Plaintiff Keith R. Caldwell failed to file a response in opposition thereto pursuant to the local rules and the time to do so has now passed. After due consideration of the pleadings filed, this Motion is granted.
On October 30, 2014, Caldwell initiated this action against Suzanne Klinker, Susan Cutchall, Sharon Hayes, and John Timberlake, setting forth various claims for disregard of health and welfare of veterans, violations of Florida's Baker Act law, and medical malpractice. (
Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction.
A facial attack on the complaint requires "the court merely to look and see if the plaintiff has sufficiently alleged a basis for subject matter jurisdiction, and the allegations in [the] complaint are taken as true for the purposes of the motion."
On a motion to dismiss, this Court accepts as true all of the factual allegations in the complaint and construes them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff.
In accordance with
Hayes contends that the allegations in the Amended Complaint "do not identify or otherwise describe any act or omission committed by [] Hayes, let alone any act or omission that caused or contributed to [Caldwell's] alleged damages or would support a cause of action against [] Hayes." (Doc. #12 at 2). Hayes argues that the "conclusory allegations" contained within the Amended Complaint are "insufficient to plausibly suggest that [] Hayes committed any act or omission that amounted to medical malpractice, a federal or state statutory violation, or a violation of [Caldwell's] constitutional rights. (
Furthermore, Hayes asserts that to the extent Caldwell attempts to allege claims for medical malpractice against Defendants, Caldwell has not alleged Hayes is a healthcare provider and has "failed to plead that he complied with the statutory presuit requirements of Chapter 766, Florida Statutes." (
From the Court's review, the Amended Complaint consists entirely of legal conclusions and incoherent factual allegations and fails to set forth a cause of action or to reference any particular statute or Constitutional provision that Hayes allegedly violated. As a result, Hayes is forced to hypothesize based on the vague allegations what statutory or Constitutional violations Caldwell is asserting against her. Pleadings of this nature violate Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a), which requires "a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief."
Finally, Hayes contends that the Amended Complaint should be dismissed as it does not "cure the subject matter deficiency previously identified by the Court by referencing several federal statutes and constitutional amendments" as these mere references are insufficient to give the Court federal question jurisdiction over claims against Hayes. (
Construing Caldwell's Amended Complaint liberally due to his pro se status, the Court reaches the inescapable conclusion that this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over this action. Although Caldwell has referenced constitutional amendment and federal statutes, a mere reference to federal law is not enough to establish federal question jurisdiction. A case "arises under" federal law where federal law creates the cause of action or where a substantial disputed issue of federal law is a necessary element of a state law claim.
The Court has no obligation to hypothesize federal claims, even considering Caldwell's pro se status.
Although Caldwell alleges this Court has jurisdiction, he has again failed to establish diversity jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332. In order to sufficiently allege diversity jurisdiction, Caldwell must demonstrate complete diversity of citizenship and that the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000.
Upon review of the Complaint, Caldwell has failed to definitively establish diversity jurisdiction as Caldwell has alleged that all parties are residents of Florida. Specifically, Caldwell provides that he resides in St. Petersburg, Florida. He also alleges that Klinker and Cutchall live in Bay Pines, Florida, Hayes lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Timberlake lives in Clearwater, Florida. (Doc. #1). As stated above, it is citizenship and not residence that is essential to the diversity analysis. Furthermore, it is unclear from the Amended Complaint what causes of action Caldwell attempts to allege that would give this Court subject matter jurisdiction arising from federal law.
Accordingly, based on the above, this Court determines that Caldwell has failed to state a claim against Hayes and has failed to establish that this Court has subject matter jurisdiction over this action. Therefore, Hayes' Motion is granted. However, this case is dismissed without prejudice so that Caldwell has one final opportunity to file a Second Amended Complaint — by January 5, 2015 — to demonstrate that this Court has subject matter jurisdiction over this action and allege a claim against all Defendants.
The Court reminds Caldwell that he has until February 25, 2015, to effectuate service on the remaining Defendants in this action. Failure to properly serve the remaining Defendants by February 25, 2015, will result in dismissal of those Defendants from this action without further notice.
Accordingly, it is hereby