Christie B. Jordan v. at&t

NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
___________
No. 25-3589
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CHRISTIE B. JORDAN,
Appellant
v.
AT&T; UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH MEDICAL CENTER, ALTOONA, PA;
GOOGLE, INC. USA; TWITTER/X CEO ELON MUSK
____________________________________
On Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Pennsylvania
(D.C. Civil Action No. 3:25-cv-00071)
District Judge: Honorable Stephanie L. Haines
____________________________________
Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)
May 1, 2026
Before: MATEY, MONTGOMERY-REEVES, and NYGAARD, Circuit Judges
(Opinion filed: May 14, 2026)
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OPINION*
___________
PER CURIAM
* This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not
constitute binding precedent.

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Pro se Appellant Christie Jordan appeals the District Court’s dismissal of her
complaint for failure to prosecute. We will affirm the District Court’s judgment.
Jordan, proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis, filed a complaint against AT&T
and others in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
She alleged “Bioweapons, Identity Theft, Assaulted with kidnapping, def[a]mation of
character,” and that she sustained injuries, including the removal of her gallbladder and
“crisis.” The District Court, screening the complaint under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2),
determined that the complaint was “deficient in both law and fact” and that it contained
no plausible cause of action. The District Court dismissed the complaint without
prejudice and directed Jordan to provide an amended complaint on or before October 6,
2025.
When Jordan did not submit a timely amended complaint, the District Court issued
a show-cause order, directing Jordan to show cause by November 9, 2025, as to why her
case should not be dismissed for failure to prosecute. The District Court stated that any
response to the order needed to include an amended complaint, and it warned that failure
to respond to the order could result in dismissal for failure to prosecute.
Jordan did not comply with the District Court’s order. Instead, on November 12,
the District Court received a letter from Jordan, in which she requested a court date to
present her case before the Judge, stated that she was trying to print out thousands of
pages of “civil codes,” and listed several of these “civil codes,” including those for

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murder, cyber espionage, bioweapons, identity theft, and abuse of power. The District
Court applied the Poulis factors and subsequently dismissed the action with prejudice for
failure to prosecute.1
This appeal followed. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we
review the District Court’s dismissal for failure to prosecute for abuse of discretion. See
Hildebrand v. Allegheny County, 923 F.3d 128, 131 (3d Cir. 2019).
We discern no abuse of discretion in the District Court’s determination that the
Poulis factors weighed in favor of dismissal. The District Court gave Jordan two
opportunities to cure the deficiencies in her complaint and warned her that failure to
comply could result in dismissal with prejudice. While Jordan indicated that she had
issues printing “civil codes,” she did not otherwise explain why she could not file her
amended complaint.2 The District Court’s attempted lesser sanction—warning Jordan
that future failures to file may result in dismissal with prejudice—was ineffective. And as
1 Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b), a district court may dismiss an action for
failure to prosecute after considering six factors: a party’s personal responsibility,
resulting prejudice to the adversary, any history of dilatoriness, whether the party’s
conduct was willful or in bad faith, the effectiveness of sanctions rather than dismissal,
and the meritoriousness of the party’s claim or defense. Poulis v. State Farm Fire & Cas.
Co., 747 F.2d 863, 868 (3d Cir. 1984).
2 Jordan suggests in her appellate brief that she did not file her amended complaint “[d]ue
to hospitalization,” but she did not present this argument in the District Court. See
Goldenstein v. Repossessors Inc., 815 F.3d 142, 149 (3d Cir. 2016) (explaining that
generally, a federal appellate court does not consider an issue not decided below,
especially if it requires fact finding or the exercise of discretion).

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the District Court reasonably noted, because Jordan was proceeding in forma pauperis, it
was “unlikely that any sanction imposing costs or fees upon her would be effective.”
Finally, as the District Court explained, Jordan had yet to assert any viable cause of
action. Thus, the District Court did not err in dismissing Jordan’s complaint with
prejudice.
In light of the above, we will affirm the District Court’s judgment.

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