FILED United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit TENTH CIRCUIT July 19, 2018 ___________________________________ Elisabeth A. Shumaker Clerk of Court JAMES BLUME, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. No. 18-4031 (D.C. No. 2:17-CV-01155-DN) LOS ANGELES SUPERIOR COURTS; (D. Utah) LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPT.; STATE OF CALIFORNIA, Appellate Courts Division; LOS ANGELES HOUSING DEPT., a/k/a LAHCID, Defendants - Appellees. ____________________________________ ORDER AND JUDGMENT* ____________________________________ Before PHILLIPS, McKAY, and BALDOCK, Circuit Judges.** ____________________________________ Plaintiff-Appellant James Blume filed an original complaint in October 2017. The complaint appeared to allege several grievances against the Los Angeles Superior Courts, the Los Angeles Police Department, the State of California Appellate Courts Division, and the Los Angeles Housing Department. Plaintiff alleged the courts were “rigged” * This order and judgment is not binding precedent except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1. ** After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist in the determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument against him and claimed he was being “stalked” for being a whistleblower. In October 2017, the district court granted Plaintiff’s application for leave to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP) and waived the prepayment of filing fees pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915. In December 2017, the magistrate judge dismissed the complaint without prejudice based on the court’s assessment the complaint did not establish jurisdiction and did not satisfy the basic pleading requirements of Fed. R. Civ. P. 8. Plaintiff then filed another pleading, which the district court construed as an amended complaint. In January 2018, prior to serving the named Defendants, the magistrate judge issued a Report and Recommendation, which recommended the complaint be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii). Later that month, the district court adopted the recommendation in its entirety and dismissed the action with prejudice. Plaintiff now appeals the final judgment, generally arguing the same incoherent and rambling allegations raised in the underlying complaint. We review de novo the district court’s dismissal of a complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Safe Streets Alliance v. Hickenlooper, 859 F.3d 865, 878 (10th Cir. 2017). Exercising jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm. A plaintiff has the burden to establish subject matter jurisdiction. Penteco Corp. Ltd. P’ship—1985A v. Union Gas Sys., Inc., 929 F.2d 1519, 1521 (10th Cir. 1991). In general, subject matter jurisdiction arises from diversity of the parties or by raising a federal question. 28 U.S.C. §§ 1332, 1331. Given all Defendants are California entities and Plaintiff is domiciled in California, diversity does not exist. Accordingly, Plaintiff 2 must establish federal question jurisdiction to avoid dismissal. “[J]urisdiction under § 1331 exists only where there ...
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