Foe v. Sprint/United Management. Co.

196 F.R.D. 392, 47 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1220, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13149, 2000 WL 1277656
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedJune 15, 2000
DocketNo. 98-2366-JWL
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 196 F.R.D. 392 (Foe v. Sprint/United Management. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Foe v. Sprint/United Management. Co., 196 F.R.D. 392, 47 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1220, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13149, 2000 WL 1277656 (D. Kan. 2000).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

LUNGSTRUM, District Judge.

This action arises out of pro se plaintiff Venita De Foe’s employment with defendant Sprint/United Management Company. On May 17, 2000, defendant moved for the dismissal of this action with prejudice as a sanction for plaintiffs repeated noncompliance with court orders. In addition, on June 2, 2000, Magistrate Judge Waxse ordered plaintiff to show cause in writing why this action should not be dismissed with prejudice for plaintiffs failure to appear at a scheduling conference, failure to confer with opposing counsel regarding scheduling issues, failing to serve opposing counsel with copies of various motions she filed and misrepresenting in the certificates of service accompanying those motions that service had in fact been made on opposing counsel. For the reasons set forth in defendant’s motion to dismiss (doc. # 100) and because plaintiff has failed to show good cause why this action should not be dismissed for the reasons described by Judge Waxse, the court hereby dismisses this action. Plaintiffs complaint is dismissed in its entirety with prejudice. Background

Plaintiff filed her complaint in August 1998, naming numerous individuals and entities as defendants. On September 25, 1998, the court signed an order dismissing the individual defendants pursuant to the parties’ stipulation. All other corporate defendants except Sprint/United Management Company [393]*393were eventually dismissed for plaintiffs inability, despite numerous opportunities and extensions from Magistrate Judge Rushfelt, to effectuate proper service upon those entities. Shortly thereafter, plaintiff filed her first motion in a series of five motions for default judgment and/or directed verdict against all “defendants” named in her complaint for those “defendants” alleged failure to answer plaintiffs’ complaint. That motion was denied by this court for plaintiffs failure to comply with local court rules governing the filing of motions.

In August 1999, plaintiff filed two motions for default judgment and/or summary judgment against all “defendants” named in her complaint for the same reason cited in her initial motion — the alleged failure of those defendants to answer plaintiffs’ complaint. This court denied those motions, explaining to plaintiff what Magistrate Judge Rushfelt had explained on numerous occasions — that plaintiffs second amended complaint named only one defendant, that the defendant was not in default and that there was no basis to enter summary judgment in plaintiffs favor at that stage in the litigation. During the same time frame, plaintiff was repeatedly refusing to provide her initial disclosures as mandated by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 26(a) and refusing to respond to defendant’s first interrogatories and request for production of documents. Defendant’s filed a motion to compel such discovery with the court.

On March 9, 2000, Magistrate Judge Waxse issued an Order in which he granted defendant’s motion to compel discovery. Concluding that plaintiff had waived any objections she may have had to defendant’s discovery requests, Judge Waxse ordered plaintiff to respond fully to those requests within twenty days of the date of the Order. Judge Waxse also imposed sanctions against plaintiff in the amount of $300.00 in connection with the costs and fees associated with defendant’s motion to compel. Finally, the court expressly cautioned plaintiff that any further noncompliance with procedural rules or court orders could result in the dismissal of her lawsuit. In that Order, Judge Waxse highlighted several examples of plaintiffs refusal to comply with procedural rules and her continued “abuse” of the judicial process. Plaintiff sought this court’s review of Judge Waxse’s Order.

On April 26, 2000, this court ruled on two additional motions for default judgment and/or summary judgment filed by plaintiff. These motions were virtually identical to her three previous motions for default judgment and/or directed verdict and/or summary judgment; plaintiff continued to press the issue of service of process on entities and individuals that were not in fact defendants in this action. The court denied those motions for the same reasons set forth in the court’s previous order. The court also ordered plaintiff to comply with Magistrate Judge Waxse’s March 9, 2000 Order, including the payment of sanctions.

On the same day, Judge Waxse entered an Order setting a scheduling conference for the case on May 30, 2000. The Order directed plaintiff and counsel for defendant to meet in person or via telephone to discuss proposed dates for various deadlines. Plaintiff did not appear at the May 30, 2000 scheduling conference, did not notify the court that she would not be appearing at the conference, and did not attempt to reschedule the conference. At the conference, counsel for defendant advised Judge Waxse that plaintiff had failed to meet with defendant’s counsel to discuss any of the issues that Judge Waxse had directed the parties to discuss in the April 26, 2000 Order. It further came to light at the scheduling conference that plaintiff had failed to serve defendant’s counsel with copies of two motions that she had recently filed.

On June 2, 2000, Judge Waxse issued an order memorializing the above events and noting that “the record in this case reflects a history of plaintiff failing to serve pleadings on defense counsel and misrepresenting that service was made, in addition to other violations of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Rules of Practice of this District.” As a result, Judge Waxse ordered plaintiff to show good cause in writing why the action should not be dismissed for her transgressions. On June 13, 2000, plaintiff responded to the show cause order. In her response, plaintiff [394]*394makes no effort to explain her absence at the scheduling conference, her failure to meet with ■ opposing counsel regarding deadlines, or her repeated failure to serve copies of her motions on opposing counsel. Rather, plaintiff simply chronicles her efforts to serve additional defendants in this action and reiterates her belief that numerous other entities have been properly served with process and should be named as defendants in this action.

Despite an order from this court, Judge Waxse, and numerous reminders and requests from opposing counsel, plaintiff, as of the time of this writing, has still not provided her Rule 26(a) initial disclosures, has not responded to defendant’s discovery requests, and has not paid the $300 in sanctions. Discussion

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure give a district court ample tools to deal with a recalcitrant litigant. See Jones v. Thompson, 996 F.2d 261, 264 (10th Cir.1993). Rule 16(f) enables the court to impose sanctions, including dismissal,-when a party fails to appear at a scheduling or pretrial conference. See id. Rule 37(b)(2) permits the court to dismiss the action where a party fails to obey an order to provide or permit discovery. See id. Rule 41(b) allows a defendant to move for dismissal of an action if the plaintiff fails to prosecute or to comply with a court order. See id.

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196 F.R.D. 392, 47 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1220, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13149, 2000 WL 1277656, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/foe-v-sprintunited-management-co-ksd-2000.