Knudsen v. Belt Valley Bank, No. 4:2013cv00102 - Document 7 (D. Mont. 2014)
Court Description: ORDER ADOPTING FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5 in full. Plaintiff Lloyd Knudsen's Complaint, 2 , is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE. Signed by Judge Donald W. Molloy on 3/3/2014. Mailed to Knudsen. (TAG, )
Download PDF
<![CDATA[
Knudsen v. Belt Valley Bank Doc. 7 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MONTANA GREAT FALLS DIVISION LLOYD KNUDSEN, CV 13-102-GF-DWM Plaintiff, vs. ORDER BELT VALLEY BANK, Defendant. The Findings and Recommendations of United States Magistrate Judge Keith Strong are now before the Court. (Doc. 5.) Judge Strong recommends Plaintiff Lloyd Knudsen's Complaint be dismissed without prejudice. (Id. at 6.) Knudsen timely filed his Objections on February 21, 2014. (Doc. 6.) When a party objects to any portion of Findings and Recommendations issued by a Magistrate Judge, the district court must make a de novo determination when reviewing that portion of the Magistrate Judge's report. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B); McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Commodore Bus. Mach. Inc., 656 F.2d 1309, 1313 (9th Cir.1981). The Court notes that Knudsen's Objections do not specifically address any of the contentions of Judge Strong's Findings and Recommendations. For that reason, Judge Strong's report is reviewed de novo in -1 Dockets.Justia.com its entirety and detennined as follows. Judge Strong's Findings and Recommendations are well-reasoned and will be adopted in full. Knudsen brings this qui tam action pro se under the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. § 3729 et seq. The [False Claims Act] does not authorize a relator to prosecute a § 3729 violation pro se . . . . "Given the fact that Congress did not expressly authorize a qui tam relator to proceed pro se when acting on behalf of the United States, it 'must have had in mind that such a suit would be carried on in accordance with the established procedure which requires that only one licensed to practice law may conduct proceedings in court for anyone other than himself." Stoner v. Santa Clara Co. Off. ofEduc., 502 F 3d 1116, 1127 (9th Cir. 2007) (quoting United States v. Onan, 190 F.2d 1,6 (8th Cir. 1951)). Based on this binding authority, Judge Strong finds Knudsen cannot proceed with this action, regardless of its basis in law or fact, as he lacks representation by a licensed attorney and recommends the Complaint be dismissed without prejudice. (Doc. 5 at 5-6.) Knudsen's Objections simply restate his claim for relief and rejoin neither this fmding nor this recommendation. (Doc. 6.) Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that Judge Strong's Findings and Recommendations, (Doc. 5), are ADOPTED IN FULL. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiff Lloyd Knudsen's Complaint, (Doc. 2), is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE. The Clerk of Court shall close -2 this case. DATED this .b~ay of March, 2014. oy, District Judge istrict Court -3
]]>
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You
should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google
Privacy Policy and
Terms of Service apply.
