Michael R. Atraqchi v. USA ( 2021 )


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  • USCA11 Case: 21-11526    Date Filed: 10/15/2021   Page: 1 of 4
    [DO NOT PUBLISH]
    In the
    United States Court of Appeals
    For the Eleventh Circuit
    ____________________
    No. 21-11526
    Non-Argument Calendar
    ____________________
    MICHAEL R. ATRAQCHI,
    IRENE S. ATRAQCHI,
    Plaintiffs-Appellants,
    versus
    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
    BARACK OBAMA,
    MICHELLE OBAMA,
    SHIRLEY SVENSON,
    MUMTAZ FARGO, et al.,
    Defendants-Appellees.
    USCA11 Case: 21-11526         Date Filed: 10/15/2021      Page: 2 of 4
    2                       Opinion of the Court                  21-11526
    ____________________
    Appeal from the United States District Court
    for the Middle District of Florida
    D.C. Docket No. 8:21-cv-00956-MSS-JSS
    ____________________
    Before NEWSOM, LAGOA, and BRASHER, Circuit Judges.
    PER CURIAM:
    Pro se plaintiffs Michael and Irene Atraqchi appeal the sua
    sponte dismissal of their 
    18 U.S.C. § 2520
     in forma pauperis com-
    plaint and motion for a temporary restraining order and prelimi-
    nary injunction against the United States of America, Barack and
    Michelle Obama, Wells Fargo Bank, George W. Bush, Jimmy
    Carter, Bill and Hillary Clinton, First United Methodist Church,
    and hundreds of other defendants. The Atraqchis argue that the
    district court abused its discretion in dismissing their action as friv-
    olous when, according to them, there is an arguable basis in both
    law and fact that defendants have formed a “Death Cult” for the
    purpose of “impos[ing] religious inquisition upon them.”
    District courts have discretion to dismiss frivolous in forma
    pauperis complaints at any stage of the proceedings. 
    28 U.S.C. § 1915
    (e)(2)(B)(i). An in forma pauperis complaint is “frivolous”
    when it appears that the plaintiff “has little or no chance of suc-
    cess.” Carroll v. Gross, 
    984 F.2d 392
    , 393 (11th Cir. 1993). A district
    court may conclude that the plaintiff has little or no chance of
    USCA11 Case: 21-11526         Date Filed: 10/15/2021     Page: 3 of 4
    21-11526                Opinion of the Court                         3
    success where the allegations are “clearly baseless,” “fanciful,” “fan-
    tastic,” “delusional,” or without “an arguable basis either in law or
    in fact.” Denton v. Hernandez, 
    504 U.S. 25
    , 31, 32–33 (1992). We
    review such determinations for abuse of discretion. 
    Id. at 33
    .
    In their complaint, the Atraqchis assert that the defendants
    have—
    illegally wiretapp[ed] their telephone and [conducted]
    electronical surveillances of their Hotels room in the
    State of Florida, Tampa area, on the train, buses, res-
    taurants, stores, on the streets, hospitals and doctors’
    offices, and elsewhere and even from the White
    House, for the purpose of isolating and criminating
    the Plaintiffs and impose religious inquisition upon
    them, homosexualize, rape, blackmail, and procure
    them into a field of interception of illegal wire com-
    munications where they will be forced to commit
    crime against humanity, . . . and convert them to Bap-
    tist and/or Methodist sect of Christianity from being
    Muslims, other religions and Christian denomina-
    tions in violation of the law and U.S. Constitution.
    On appeal, they assert that “an individual by the name of
    Dylann Roof prevented [the Atraqchis’ murder by the death cult]
    and saved the Atraqchis lives by executing the nine co-conspirators
    at the basement of the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC.”
    They also accuse the defendants of “[r]aping [their] daughters and
    prostituting them and forcing them to blame their [p]arents for the
    crime.”
    USCA11 Case: 21-11526         Date Filed: 10/15/2021      Page: 4 of 4
    4                       Opinion of the Court                  21-11526
    Here, the district court did not abuse its discretion in dis-
    missing the in forma pauperis actions as “frivolous” under
    § 1915(e)(2)(B)(i). The Atraqchis’ allegations were clearly baseless,
    fanciful, fantastic, delusional, or lacking any arguable basis in either
    law or fact. See Denton, 
    504 U.S. at
    31–33. The Atraqchis therefore
    had little or no chance of success. As such, it was within the district
    court’s discretion to dismiss the complaint and to deny the motion
    for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction sua
    sponte. Accordingly, we affirm.
    AFFIRMED.
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 21-11526

Filed Date: 10/15/2021

Precedential Status: Non-Precedential

Modified Date: 10/15/2021