explaining a party “generally must assert his own legal rights and interests, and cannot rest his claim to relief on the legal rights or interests of third parties.”
How later courts described this case
- explaining a party “generally must assert his own legal rights and interests, and cannot rest his claim to relief on the legal rights or interests of third parties.”
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI
EASTERN DIVISION
ALEXANDRA MARIE DEAN, et al., )
)
Plaintiffs, )
)
v. ) No. 4:24-cv-00074-MTS
)
LAURA HAWK STOBIE, )
)
Defendant. )
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
In this action, Plaintiffs have made a myriad of filings. They have filed a Complaint,
an Amended Complaint, and a Second Amended Complaint, though not in compliance with
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a). They also have filed lengthy documents they entitled
as “Verified Claim[s].” For purposes of the Court’s review, it will use the Second Amended
Complaint. Doc. [16]; cf. Fed. R. Civ. P. 3.
The Second Amended Complaint purports to be brought jointly by Plaintiffs Alexandra
Marie Dean, Brooke Marr, Justin Shire, Ryan Nicolas Brown, Ariel Alton, and Michelle
Marryann Dickerson, each Plaintiff being listed as “An Enfranchised Living Soul.” None of
the Plaintiffs has signed the Second Amended Complaint with an original signature, and only
Plaintiffs Dean, Marr, and Alton have filed motions to proceed without prepayment of fees
and costs in this action. None of these motions to proceed without prepayment of fees and
costs, however, has been signed with an original signature.
Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11, “[e]very pleading, written motion, and other
paper must be signed . . . by a party personally if the party is unrepresented.” Further, Local
Rule 2.11 recognizes a “person’s name on a signature block” as a signature only if that person
made “[a]n authorized filing . . . through [that] person’s electronic filing account.” Here, the
parties provided “signatures” only through typed names in the signature blocks. See, e.g.,
Docs. [2], [4], [7], [9], [10], [15], & [17]. Yet, none of them filed using an electronic filing
account. See id. As such, their typed names fail to satisfy the Federal Rules of Civil
Procedure and the Local Rules. See Dean v. Stobie, 4:24-cv-00184-SRC, ECF No. 5 (E.D.
Mo. March 1, 2024).
Additionally, under Local Rule 2.01(B), the Court requires a filing fee before a party
proceeds with an action—except when a party files a motion to proceed without prepayment
of fees or costs. Here, no party has paid a filing fee, and only Plaintiffs Dean, Marr, and
Alton have filed motions to proceed without prepaying the fee. These motions, like the other
filings, do not include signatures as required by the Federal and Local Rules.
Because Plaintiffs Marr, Shire, Brown, Alton, and Dickerson have not signed the
Complaint and have neither paid the filing fee nor filed appropriately signed motions to
proceed without paying fees, and because Dean cannot assert their claims, see Warth v. Seldin,
422 U.S. 490, 499 (1975) (explaining a party “generally must assert his own legal rights and
interests, and cannot rest his claim to relief on the legal rights or interests of third parties.”),
the Court drops them as Plaintiffs from this action. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 21 (“On motion or on
its own, the court may at any time, on just terms, add or drop a party.”). If these Plaintiffs
wish to maintain a civil action, they shall file their own signed complaint in a new matter and
either pay the filing fee or file a signed application to proceed without prepayment of fees and
costs.
Because Dean has failed to sign the Second Amended Complaint and the Motion to
Proceed Without Prepayment of Fees and Costs, the Court orders her to submit a third amended
complaint and a new motion to proceed without prepayment in this action. Although
customarily, pursuant to Federal Rule 11, the Court would return the unsigned documents to
Dean for her to sign and return, the Court requires a new pleading because the Second
Amended Complaint contains claims from other plaintiffs and fails to set forth Dean’s claims
in a concise manner. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(d)(1).
The Court will require Dean to file a third amended complaint on the Court’s Civil
Complaint form in accordance with the instructions set forth in this Memorandum and Order.
She must include all claims in the action in one, centralized complaint form. See Fed. R. Civ.
P. 7(a)(1), 8(a). The Court cautions Dean that the filing of her third amended complaint
replaces the original and amended complaint and all pleadings she previously filed; so she
must include each one of the claims she wishes to pursue in the third amended complaint.
See, e.g., In re Wireless Tele. Fed. Cost Recovery Fees Litig., 396 F.3d 922, 928 (8th Cir.
2005). Any claims from the prior complaints, supplements, and other filings that are not
included in the third amended complaint will be deemed abandoned and will not be considered.
Id.
The allegations in the complaint may not be conclusory. Instead, Plaintiff must plead
facts that show how each defendant she names is personally involved in or directly responsible
for the alleged harm. The Court admonishes Plaintiff that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure
11 requires that any claims or legal contentions she makes must be “warranted by existing law
or by a nonfrivolous argument for extending, modifying, or reversing existing law or for
establishing new law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(b)(2). And any factual contentions she makes
must “have evidentiary support.” Id. at 11(b)(3). “Even self-represented litigants are
obligated to abide by these Rules.” See Moore v. Mo. State, 4:20-cv-00377-SRC, 2020 WL
2556907, at *2 (E.D. Mo. May 20, 2020). The Court is authorized to sanction parties who
fail to comply with Rule 11, including by ordering the party to pay a penalty into the Court.
Id. at 11(c)(4).
If plaintiff fails to file a third amended complaint on the Court’s form, as well as a
motion to proceed without prepayment of fees and costs, by Wednesday, June 26, 2024, the
Court will dismiss this action without prejudice and without further notice.
Accordingly,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Plaintiffs Brooke J. Marr, Justin E. Shire, Ryan
Nicholas Brown, Ariel Alton, and Michelle-Maryann Dickerson are DROPPED from this
action. The Clerk of Court shall terminate them as parties on the Court’s docket.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiffs Ariel Alton and Brooke J. Marr’s
Applications to Proceed in the District Court without Prepaying Fees and Costs, Doc. [4], [9],
& [10], are DENIED.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiffs’ “Notice of Predicate Acts,” filed on
April 10, 2024, prior to the filing of the Second Amended Complaint, and docketed as a
“Motion for Relief,” Doc. [15], is DENIED.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiff’s Motion to Consolidate Cases, Doc. [7],
and Amended Motion to Consolidate Cases, Doc. [17], are DENIED.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiff Dean’s Motion to Proceed Without
Prepayment of Fees and Costs, Doc. [2], is DENIED without prejudice.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Clerk shall provide Plaintiff Dean with a Civil
Complaint form and an Application to Proceed in District Court without Prepaying Fees or
Costs.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, no later than Wednesday, June 26, 2024, Plaintiff
Dean shall file a third amended complaint on the Court-provided form and file a new
application to proceed without prepayment of fees and costs. If Plaintiff Dean fails to comply
with this Memorandum and Order, the Court will dismiss this action without further notice.
Dated this 5th day of June 2024. |) □□
al THEW T. SCHELP
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE