Schott v. Hepler

101 F.R.D. 99, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18448
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedMarch 20, 1984
DocketNo. F 83-8
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 101 F.R.D. 99 (Schott v. Hepler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schott v. Hepler, 101 F.R.D. 99, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18448 (N.D. Ind. 1984).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

ALLEN SHARP, Chief Judge.

This action was filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by a former pretrial detainee against various officials connected with the Wells County (Indiana) Jail. Jurisdiction is predicated on a federal question under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1343. This matter is presently before the court on defendant Wells County Board of Commissioners’ motion for summary judgment. Both sides having briefed their respective positions, and oral argument having been heard thereon, this motion is now ripe for ruling.

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1) provides:

“Subject to the provisions of Rule 23(e), of Rule 66, and of any statute of the United States, an action may be dismissed by the plaintiff without order of court (i) by filing a notice of dismissal at any time before service by the adverse party of an answer or of a motion for summary judgment, whichever first occurs, or (ii) by filing a stipulation of dismissal signed by all parties who have appeared in the action. Unless otherwise stated in the notice of dismissal or stipulation, the dismissal is without prejudice, except that a notice of dismissal operates as an adjudication upon the merits when [100]*100filed by a plaintiff who has once dismissed in any court of the United States or of any state an action based on or including the same claim.”

On October 15, 1982, plaintiff filed suit against Wells County in the Wells Circuit Court, docketed as No. 28356. Wells County appeared by counsel, answered on November 3, 1982, and filed a Motion for Summary Judgment on January 24, 1983, which motion was set for hearing on April 5, 1983. On February 25, 1983, plaintiff and Wells County, by counsel, filed a Stipulation for Dismissal in that action, dismissing the action with prejudice.

The allegations in Wells Circuit Court Cause No. 28356 averred inter alia, that Wells County, by its agents and employees, had arrested plaintiff on December 8, 1981 for no lawful reason and following said arrest, had detained him for fourteen days before bringing him before a magistrate to plead to the charges against him, thereby violating the duty to provide him with due process of law.

On January 10, 1983, plaintiff brought suit in this court against the State of Indiana, Carl Hepler, Wells County Board of Commissioners, Nyal Frantz and Michael Boonstra, as indicated by the complaint filed herein. Then, on March 21, 1983, plaintiff filed a Notice of Dismissal pursuant to F.R.Civ.P. 41(a)(l)(i) as to the Wells County Board of Commissioners. »

At all times relevant hereto, the Wells County Board of Commissioners constituted the county executive and was responsible for transacting the business of the county as mandated by Ind.Code § 36-2-2-2. Counties are known only through their boards of commissioners, Board of County Commissioners of Newton County v. Wild, 37 Ind.App. 32, 76 N.E. 256 (1905). Therefore, the suit brought by plaintiff in the Wells Circuit Court Cause No. 28356. against Wells County was, in fact, a suit against the Wells County Board of Commissioners.

As the facts clearly show, plaintiff brought a suit in state court against the Board which suit was dismissed with prejudice by stipulation of the parties. Plaintiff also filed an action against the Board in this court based on the same allegations and then dismissed the Board on a Notice of Dismissal. Nine months after that dismissal by notice under F.R.Civ.P. 41(a)(1), plaintiff filed an Amended Complaint, once again suing the Board on the same allegations. >

F.R.Civ.P. 41(a) specifically provides that a dismissal by notice “operates as an adjudication upon the merits when filed by a plaintiff who has once dismissed in any court of the United States or of any state an action based on or including the same claim.” F.R.Civ.P. 41(a)(1) (emphasis added). Thus, the dismissal of the first suit in state court counts. Rader v. Baltimore & Ohio Railway Company, 108 F.2d 980 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 309 U.S. 682, 60 S.Ct. 722, 84 L.Ed. 1026 (1940). In this case, the first dismissal was with prejudice. Plaintiffs Notice of Dismissal of the Board in this case, filed with the Clerk before the Board had filed an answer, itself closed the file as to the Board. Nothing more was needed. American Cyanamid Co. v. McGhee, 317 F.2d 295, 297 (5th Cir.1963).

The policy behind F.R.Civ.P. 41(a)(1) is to protect a defendant by providing that if the plaintiff has taken advantage of his right to early dismissal on one occasion, he may not repeat the process with impunity. En-glehardt v. Bell & Howell Company, 299 F.2d 480, 482 (8th Cir.1962). To allow plaintiff in this case to proceed against the Board upon his amended complaint would be to violate the two dismissal bar that F.R.Civ.P. 41(a)(1) was promulgated to avoid. American Cyanamid Co. v. McGhee, supra; 5 Moore’s Federal Practice § 41.04, p. 1014.

In plaintiff’s memorandum in opposition to defendant Wells County Board of Commissioners’ motion for summary judgment, plaintiff argues that F.R.Civ.P. 41(a)(1) does not bar his claim here. His first contention is that the complaint he filed in the Wells Circuit Court did not include an allegation of a deprivation of federal rights [101]*101under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. An examination of the complaint there filed, which is in the record in this ease, shows that all the factual allegations are substantially the same.

The Supreme Court recently held in Migra v. Warren City School District Board of Education, — U.S. -, 104 S.Ct. 892, 79 L.Ed.2d 56 (1984), that 28 U.S.C. § 1738’s requirement that state judicial proceedings receive full faith and credit in every court within the United States extends to “issue preclusion” in § 1983 suits stemming from state court judgments. Id. at-, 104 S.Ct. at 898, citing Allen v. McCurry, 449 U.S. 90, 101 S.Ct. 411, 66 L.Ed.2d 308 (1980). Thus, a plaintiff cannot seek to relitigate in federal court via 42 U.S.C. § 1983 issues actually raised on that could have been raised in the underlying state court proceedings. Id.

Even if there were some legal support for his claim against the commissioners, the two dismissal bar of F.R.Civ.P.

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Bluebook (online)
101 F.R.D. 99, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18448, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schott-v-hepler-innd-1984.