Poff, Jeff v. Kartman, Mark

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN _________________________________________________________________________________

JEFF POFF,

Plaintiff, ORDER

v. 23-cv-43-wmc

WYATT WEADGE,

Defendant.

_________________________________________________________________________________

On August 28, 2025, the court granted the motion for summary judgment on the defense of exhaustion filed by defendants Krystal Chestut, Austin Mellem, Gary Boughton, Heidi Brown, Mark Kartman, Matthew Scullion, and Jamie Adams. (Dkt. #77.) This leaves only plaintiff Jeff Poff’s claims that defendant Wyatt Weadge acted with conscious disregard for plaintiff’s safety by ignoring his threats of self-harm and retaliated against him on October 15, 2021. Defendant Weadge was served but has not appeared. At plaintiff’s request (dkt. #32), the clerk of court entered a default against Weadge on February 22, 2024. (Dkt. #34.) Plaintiff filed a motion for a default judgment with a supporting declaration and an affidavit with 77 pages of documents related to his claims. (Dkt. #39, #40, #41.) Plaintiff seeks $250,000.00 in compensatory damages, $50,000.00 in punitive damages, and costs of court including the $350.00 filing fee, $100.00 to repay a legal loan, and $150.00 for his law books. (Dkt. #41, at 4-5.) The court denied plaintiff’s motion for default judgment without prejudice to reconsideration once the claims against the other defendants were resolved. See Home Ins. Co. of Illinois v. Adco Oil Co., 154 F.3d 739, 741 (7th Cir. 1998) (A court may not enter default judgment in a suit against multiple defendants “until the matter has been resolved as to all.”). Now that the claims against all other defendants have been resolved, plaintiff’s motion for reconsideration (dkt. #68) will be granted and this matter will be set for a default judgment hearing under Fed. R. Civ. P. 55(b)(2). Plaintiff will be given an opportunity to supplement

the record. In addition, defendant Weadge will be given notice and one final opportunity to appear and show cause why a default judgment should not be entered against him. ORDER IT IS ORDERED THAT: 1) Plaintiff Jeff Poff’s motion to reconsider his motion for a default judgment against defendant Wyatt Weadge (dkt. #68) is GRANTED. 2) A default judgment hearing by videoconference is set for 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday November 5, 2025.

3) No later than October 24, 2025, plaintiff shall submit any additional briefing and evidence relevant to his claims against defendant Weadge. 4) Defendant Weadge shall have until 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday November 4, 2025, to advise the court whether he will appear at the November 5 hearing or otherwise show cause why a default judgment should not be entered against him. 5) The clerk’s office shall provide a copy of this order to plaintiff and shall also provide a copy to defendant Weadge at his address of record. Entered this 4th day of September, 2025.

BY THE COURT:

/s/ __________________________________________ WILLIAM M. CONLEY District Judge