Tanyqua Latrice Oliver v. Tyler Murphy, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky dismissed Tanyqua Latrice Oliver’s amended pro se complaint under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2). The court held that Oliver failed to state claims for First Amendment retaliation and under the False Claims Act, and declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over her state-law defamation and intentional-infliction-of-emotional-distress claims. The case was stricken from the docket, and the state-law claims were dismissed without prejudice.

Holdings

1. Oliver failed to state a First Amendment retaliation claim because she did not clearly allege an adverse action capable of deterring a person of ordinary firmness, causation or retaliatory motivation, or that the alleged statements were made in response to her protected conduct at the Board meeting.
2. Oliver failed to state a conspiracy claim because she alleged no facts indicating that Murphy and Salsbury engaged in a conspiracy.
3. Oliver failed to state a False Claims Act claim because she did not identify fraud connected to an actual claim for payment made to the government, and a pro se litigant may not file an FCA claim.
4. The court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Oliver's defamation and intentional-infliction-of-emotional-distress claims after dismissing the federal claims and dismissed those claims without prejudice.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Oliver adequately pleaded a First Amendment retaliation claim based on alleged defamatory letters and statements made after her open-meetings complaint.
2. Whether Oliver adequately pleaded a conspiracy claim against Murphy and Salsbury.
3. Whether Oliver stated a claim under the False Claims Act based on allegedly false submissions to the Kentucky Attorney General.
4. Whether the court should retain supplemental jurisdiction over Oliver's state-law defamation and intentional-infliction-of-emotional-distress claims after dismissing the federal claims.

Disposition

dismissed