PATEL v. PATEL

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
RAJ K. PATEL, 	)
)
Plaintiff, 	)
)
v. 	) 	Civil Action No. 1:26-cv-00410 (UNA)
)
KASH P. PATEL, 	)
)
Defendant. 	)
MEMORANDUM OPINION
This matter is before the Court on its initial review of Plaintiff’s pro se Petition for Writ of
Mandamus, ECF No. 1, and his Application for Leave to Proceed in forma pauperis (“IFP”), ECF
No. 2. 	At the outset, the Court denies Plaintiff’s IFP Application. The Application is unsigned
in contravention of Federal Rule 11(a) and 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(1). Moreover, for the
reasons discussed below, the Court dismisses this case pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(i),
by which the Court is required to dismiss a case “at any time” it determines that the action is
frivolous.
As a rule, a pleading “must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a
claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting
Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). To the contrary, a pleading that lacks “an
arguable basis either in law or in fact” is frivolous, Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 325 (1989),
and a pleading “plainly abusive of the judicial process is properly typed malicious,” Crisafi v.
Holland, 655 F.2d 1305, 1309 (D.C. Cir. 1981).
Here, Plaintiff, who has, admittedly, “since 2018, . . . filed over 150-200 cases in state and
federal court,” sues the current Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The allegations in
the Petition are rambling and largely incomprehensible. The Petition contains bare recitations and
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esoteric discussions of domestic and international laws, politics, philosophy, and history, and also
includes Plaintiff’s biography and anecdotes from his life spanning decades. He broaches a variety
of random topics, including, but not limited to, Queen Elizabeth and “her loyalist descendants,”
“social control,” “corporal punishment,” “the American Bar Association,” “intellectual property,”
inquiries into Plaintiff’s mental health conducted by “every President since George Bush, [and]
college and universities,” “religious and cultural procreation matters,” “counter-governments and
militaries across the world,” “public decency and morality,” censorship by “censors [that] have
gone rogue and are engaged in a game of thrones,” “original sin,” and “handouts by government
employees.” He alleges that Defendant and others have constructively “jailed” him, affecting his
rights to life, liberty, and property, and asks this Court to grant him equitable relief, including a
writ of mandamus “to remedy trespass by Director Patel because Petitioner clearly needs law
enforcement from a political appointee and governmental executives.”
The Court cannot exercise subject matter jurisdiction over Plaintiff’s Petition because it is
patently frivolous. Hagans v. Lavine, 415 U.S. 528, 536–37 (1974) (“Over the years, this Court
has repeatedly held that the federal courts are without power to entertain claims otherwise within
their jurisdiction if they are ‘so attenuated and unsubstantial as to be absolutely devoid of merit.’
”) (quoting Newburyport Water Co. v. Newburyport, 193 U.S. 561, 579 (1904)); Tooley v.
Napolitano, 586 F.3d 1006, 1010 (D.C. Cir. 2009) (examining cases dismissed “for patent
insubstantiality,” including where the plaintiff allegedly “was subjected to a campaign of
surveillance and harassment deriving from uncertain origins.”). 	As here, a court may dismiss a
petition as frivolous “when the facts alleged rise to the level of the irrational or the wholly
incredible,” 	Denton 	v. 	Hernandez, 	504 	U.S. 	25, 	33 	(1992), 	or 	“postulat[e] 	events 	and
circumstances of a wholly fanciful kind,” Crisafi, 655 F.2d at 1307-08.
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Accordingly, this case is dismissed without prejudice. A separate Order accompanies this
Memorandum Opinion.
DATE: May 26, 2026 	/s/ CHRISTOPHER R. COOPER
United States District Judge
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