Judge Joanna Seybert
California domiciliary Delahoussaye purports to be a mathematical and scientific scholar. His complaint against Physical Review Letters PRX Journal (Journal) sought $2000 in compensatory damages and unspecified travel expenses for the Journal’s “unjustifiabl[e] reject[ion]” of an article “ without a chance for [him] to defend [the] paper via a phone conference.” In addition to failing to indicate whether jurisdiction was based on a federal question or diversity of citizenship, Delahoussaye made no allegations as to the Journal’s principal place of business or state of incorporation. The court dismissed the complaint—liberally construed as invoking both federal question and diversity jurisdiction—sua sponte for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Diversity jurisdiction was lacking because Delahoussaye alleged neither Journal’s place of business or state of incorporation, and because the controversy amount was well below $75,000. Nor was Delahoussaye’s cause of action grounded in the Constitution, federal law, or a United States treaty. Because the Journal appears to be a private company lacking connection to any government body, it did not act under color of state law rendering it potentially liable under 42 USC §1983.
