Doe v. Heitler

26 P.3d 539, 2001 Colo. J. C.A.R. 2155, 2001 Colo. App. LEXIS 706, 2001 WL 423045
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 26, 2001
Docket00CA0849
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 26 P.3d 539 (Doe v. Heitler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Doe v. Heitler, 26 P.3d 539, 2001 Colo. J. C.A.R. 2155, 2001 Colo. App. LEXIS 706, 2001 WL 423045 (Colo. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge VOGT.

Plaintiff, John Doe, appeals the judgment entered on the trial court's orders dismissing his complaint against defendant, Susan Heit-ler, and denying his subsequent motion to amend the complaint. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand with directions.

Plaintiff brought an action for damages against defendant, a psychologist, alleging that she had breached her duty of confidentiality by referencing his cocaine abuse in a thank-you letter she sent to the physician who had referred plaintiff to her. Plaintiff filed the complaint as "John Doe," without first requesting the court's permission to proceed under a pseudonym.

Defendant moved to dismiss, arguing that plaintiff's failure either to use his real name or to obtain court approval for his use of a pseudonym violated C.R.C.P. 10(2) and deprived the court of subject matter jurisdiction. Plaintiff responded by requesting leave to proceed under a pseudonym. He stated in his response that he would be willing to *541 disclose his identity to the court under seal, if required to do so, and concluded with a one-sentence alternative request that, "if the court determines that no 'significant privacy interest' exists, ... the entire file be sealed in an effort to protect Plaintiff from any further emotional and financial harm."

The trial court granted defendant's motion and dismissed the case. It subsequently denied plaintiff's motion for reconsideration or, in the alternative, for leave to amend the complaint to substitute his real name.

I.

Plaintiff first contends that, because he would suffer additional injury if required to proceed in his real name, the trial court erred in granting the motion to dismiss. We disagree.

C.R.C.P. 10(a) provides, in relevant part, that; "In the complaint initiating a lawsuit, the title of the action shall include the names of all the parties to the action," unless those names are not known.

In Barker v. District Court, 199 Colo. 416, 419, 609 P.2d 628, 630 (1980), the supreme court observed that this rule embodies the "fundamental common law concept ... that for litigation there must be a controversy and for a controversy there must be adverse parties.... It is, therefore, indispensable ... that a complaint name a party plaintiff and a party defendant in order to present to a court subject matter that may be litigated." The court then held that, because the district attorney bad designated only a building and not any specific individual or legal entity as a party defendant, the trial court should have dismissed the action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

Although Barker involved an unnamed defendant, federal courts applying Fed.R.Civ.P. 10(a)-which, like C.R.C.P. 10(a), requires that the title of the action in the complaint include the names of all the parties-have similarly concluded that failure to name a party plaintiff may deprive the court of jurisdiction. See National Commodity & Barter Ass'n v. Gibbs, 886 F.2d 1240, 1245 (10th Cir.1989)(district court lacked jurisdiction over unnamed plaintiffs who had not sought permission to proceed anonymously, "as a case had not been commenced with respect to them"); see generally 2 Moore's Federal Practice § 10.02[2] (8d ed.2000).

Notwithstanding the rule requiring that a plaintiff be named in the caption of the complaint, plaintiff argues that he should have been allowed to proceed as John Doe because disclosing his real name would cause further injury to the privacy interest he seeks to protect. In so arguing, plaintiff relies on federal cases that have allowed plaintiffs to sue under a fictitious name in certain limited circumstances where there are significant privacy interests or threats of physical harm implicated by the disclosure of the plaintiffs name. See, eg., James v. Jacobson, 6 F.3d 233 (4th Cir.1993); Doe v. Frank, 951 F.2d 320 (11th Cir.1992); National Commodity & Barter Ass'n v. Gibbs, supra; Doe v. Stegall, 653 F.2d 180 (5th Cir.1981).

Under these cases, a plaintiff seeking to proceed anonymously must show that he or she has a substantial privacy right that outweighs the "customary and constitutionally-embedded presumption of openness in judicial proceedings." Doe v. Stegall, supra, 653 F.2d at 186.

Among the factors relevant to a determination of whether this showing has been made are: Whether the justification asserted by the requesting party is merely to avoid the annoyance and criticism that may attend any litigation or is to preserve privacy in a matter of sensitive and highly personal nature; whether identification poses a risk of retaliatory physical or mental harm to the requesting party or to innocent non-parties; whether the action is against a governmental or a private party; whether the plaintiff would be compelled to admit his or her intention to engage in illegal conduct, thereby risking criminal prosecution; and the risk of unfairness to the opposing party from allowing an action against it to proceed anonymously. See James v. Jacobson, supra; Doe v. Shakur, 164 F.R.D. 359 (S.D.N.Y.1996).

Because it is the public, not the court, which has an interest in the disclosure of the parties' identities, a mere offer to disclose a party's real identity to the court in camera *542 does not suffice to allow that party to proceed under a pseudonym if he or she is not otherwise entitled to do so. See Free Market Compensation v. Commodity Exchange, Inc., 98 F.R.D. 311, 313 (S.D.N.Y.1983)("The pub-lie's interest in an open judicial process is no more served by an in camera disclosure than by the use of the pseudonym itself.").

In balancing the interests, courts are to bear in mind that proceeding under a pseudonym is an unusual procedure and is reserved for exceptional cases. Femedeer v. Haun, 227 F.3d 1244 (10th Cir.2000); Doe v. Frank, supra. Thus, cases permitting plaintiffs to proceed under fictitious names have generally been limited to those involving matters such as abortion, homosexuality, illegitimacy, privacy rights of children, and the like. See 2 Moore's Federal Practice, supra, § 10.02(2][el{ii]; see also, eg., James v. Jacobson, supra (spouses suing doctor who had fraudulently used his own sperm rather than husband's sperm to impregnate wife could proceed under pseudonym to protect their children's privacy interests); Doe v. Stegall, swora (approving pseudonym for child plaintiffs challenging prayer and Bible reading in Mississippi public schools, where record indicated they could expect extensive harassment and potentially violent reprisals); Doe v. Blue Cross & Blue Shield, 794 F.Supp. 72 (D.R.I.1992) (allowing use of pseudonym by transsexual suing insurer for medical expenses incurred in connection with sex change operation}.

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Bluebook (online)
26 P.3d 539, 2001 Colo. J. C.A.R. 2155, 2001 Colo. App. LEXIS 706, 2001 WL 423045, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/doe-v-heitler-coloctapp-2001.