Montgomery v. Comey

RICHARD J. LEON United States District Judge

MEMORANDUM OPINION
[Dkts. ##7, 26, 27, 36]

Plaintiffs, Dennis Montgomery (“Montgomery”) and Larry Klayman (“Klayman”) filed the instant action against three federal agencies—the Federal Bureau of Investigations (“FBI”), the Central Intelligence Agency (“CIA”), and the National Security Agency (“NSA”)—as well as seven current and former government officials—former President Barack Obama (“Obama”), Director of National Intelligence (“DNI”) Daniel Coats (“Coats”), former DNI James Clapper (“Clapper”), CIA Director Mike Pompeo (“Pompeo”), former CIA Director John Brennan (“Brennan”), NSA Director Michael Rogers (“Rogers”), and former FBI director James Comey (“Comey”). Compl. [Dkt. #1] ¶¶ 5-16. Plaintiffs allege that defendants have engaged in “ongoing illegal, unconstitutional surveillance of millions of Americans,” including high-profile Americans, such as the Chief Justice of the United States, President Donald J. Trump, other judges and justices across the nation, and prominent businessmen. Id. at ¶ 18. Plaintiffs claim that they, too, were targeted by this surveillance based on the fact that their personal and  business computers and cell phones were allegedly “hacked” by computers used by the CIA, the FBI, and the Department of Defense (“DOD”). Id. at ¶¶ 43-48, 56-62. According to plaintiffs, the FBI, under Comey’s direction, sought to “cover-up” its wrongdoing by inducing Montgomery to turn over 47 computer hard drives containing evidence of the illegal surveillance. Id. at ¶¶ 28-37. They also claim that the FBI has refused to investigate plaintiffs’ claims or return the incriminating hard drives. Id.

Based on this allegedly unlawful conduct by defendants, Klayman and Montgomery assert constitutional claims for violations of their First and Fourth Amendment rights, as well as common law tort claims for conversion and fraudulent misrepresentation. Id. at ¶¶ 67-80, 96-101, 109-20. They also seek injunctive relief and appointment of a special master to “conduct a real and through[sic] investigation of the information contained on the hard drives” and of “Defendants’ attempts to and/or actual hacks of Plaintiff Klayman’s Verizon Wireless cellular phone and Plaintiff Montgomery’s computer.” Id. at ¶¶ 81-95, 102-08…