Patrick Roy Harper v. Rita Lin, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed Patrick Roy Harper’s claims against two federal district court judges with prejudice. The court concluded that the claims were duplicative of claims in another action, that plaintiff could not obtain the requested relief, and that judicial immunity applied to claims based on judicial acts.

Holdings

1. A trial court may dismiss a claim sua sponte and without notice under Rule 12(b)(6) when the claimant cannot possibly win relief.
2. Judicial immunity bars claims seeking to hold a judge liable for performance of judicial acts.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the district court could dismiss the complaint sua sponte under Rule 12(b)(6) without notice because the plaintiff could not possibly obtain relief.
2. Whether claims seeking to hold federal judges liable for acts performed in their judicial capacity were barred by judicial immunity.
3. Whether the plaintiff's claims arising from prior district court adjudications could succeed in this action.

Disposition

dismissed