Rudder v. City of Fort Lauderdale

Opinion

United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida Wayne Rudder, Plaintiff, ) ) Civil Action No. 22-60363-Civ-Scola City of Fort Lauderdale and others, _) Defendants. ) Order Dismissing Case Previously, the Court reviewed Plaintiff Wayne Rudder’s complaint and concluded that it was a shotgun pleading and that the Court was unable to discern whether he had alleged facts stating a plausible claim for relief. (Order, ECF No. 7.) Accordingly, the Court ordered Rudder to file an amended complaint, by March 11, 2022, if he wished to proceed further with his case. A week after that deadline had passed, Rudder sought, and received, an extension to time to file his amended complaint until April 11, 2022. (ECF No. 9.) The Court forewarned Rudder that his failure to timely to do so could result in the dismissal of his case. The date to do so has come and gone and Rudder has not complied. A district court may dismiss a case, on its own initiative, if a plaintiff abandons her prosecution of the suit. Compare Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(b) with Link v. Wabash R. Co., 370 U.S. 626, 630-31 (1962). Courts are vested with this inherent power “to manage their own affairs so as to achieve the orderly and expeditious disposition of cases” and “to clear their calendars of cases that have remained dormant because of the inaction or dilatoriness of the parties seeking relief.” Link, 370 U.S. at 630-31. The Court finds Rudder has abandoned his prosecution of this matter. The Court therefore dismisses this case without prejudice, and directs the Clerk of the Court to close the matter. Any pending motions are denied as moot. Done and ordered, at Miami, Florida, on April 19, 2022.

{—— N. Scola, Jr. United States District Judge