Lowe v. Salvation Army

• Court: District Court, E.D. Wisconsin
• Decided: July 14, 2025
• Docket: 2:25-cv-00414
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN

ALFONSO LOWE, III,

Plaintiff, Case No. 25-CV-414-JPS-JPS v.

SALVATION ARMY, DANIEL ORDER ARFSTEN, and STEVE STANEART,

Defendants.

In March 2025, Plaintiff Alfonso Lowe, III (“Plaintiff”), proceeding pro se, sued the Salvation Army for race-based employment discrimination and retaliation. ECF No. 1. The following month, he filed an amended complaint, additionally naming as defendants Daniel Arfsten, a warehouse foreman (“Arfsten”), and Steve Staneart, a supervisor (“Staneart”). ECF No. 4. In May 2025, Magistrate Judge Stephen C. Dries screened Plaintiff’s amended complaint, identifying cognizable claims of employment discrimination and retaliation against the Salvation Army under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. ECF No. 8. He also recommended that Arfsten and Staneart be dismissed, since Title VII applies only to “employers” and neither Arfsten nor Staneart constitute employers under that Act. ECF No. 7 at 4–5 (citing Vance v. Ball State Univ., 646 F.3d 461, 469 (7th Cir. 2011) and Bronson v. Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hosp. of Chi., 69 F.4th 437, 448 n.4 (7th Cir. 2023)). Magistrate Judge Dries ordered that any written objections to the recommendation be filed within fourteen days of service of the recommendation pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B) and (C), Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 72(b)(2), and General Local Rule 72(c). Id. at 5. Plaintiff has not timely objected to the recommendation. That being the case, and independently seeing no reason to depart from the recommendation, the Court will adopt Magistrate Judge Dries’ recommendation and order that Arfsten and Staneart be dismissed as defendants from this action. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 72, Notes of Advisory Committee on Rules—1983 (“When no timely objection is filed, the court need only satisfy itself that there is no clear error on the face of the record in order to accept the recommendation.” (citing Campbell v. U.S. Dist. Ct., 501 F.2d 196, 206 (9th Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 879)). This case will proceed solely against the Salvation Army and will be returned to Magistrate Judge Dries for further proceedings. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that Magistrate Judge Stephen C. Dries’ report and recommendation, ECF No. 7, be and the same is hereby ADOPTED; IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Daniel Arfsten and Steve Staneart be and the same are hereby DISMISSED as defendants from this action; and IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this action be returned to Magistrate Judge Stephen C. Dries for further proceedings. Dated at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this 14th day of July, 2025. \ wee ) OEY fa J.P. Stach, ueller U.S Distfict Judge

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