Opinion

Washington v. Oklahoma City City of

Court
District Court, W.D. Oklahoma
Filed
Sep 20, 2023
Cited by
0 cases
Authority
More cited than 28.6%

The opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF OKLAHOMA

MICHAEL C. WASHINGTON, )

)

Plaintiff, )

)

v. ) Case No. CIV-20-266-D

)

)

CITY OF OKLAHOMA CITY, ET AL., )

)

Defendants. )

JUDGMENT

Pursuant to the Court’s Order granting summary judgment to Defendants BFL-

MLK, LLC, Hank Binkowski, and Susan Binkowski on Plaintiff’s claims, the Court enters

judgment in favor of BFL-MLK, LLC, Hank Binkowski, and Susan Binkowski against

Plaintiff.

Pursuant to the Court’s prior Orders dismissing Plaintiff’s claims against other

Defendants without prejudice, the Court enters judgment in favor of the following

Defendants against Plaintiff:

• Doc. No. 114: Esperanza Real Estate, LLC

• Doc. No. 115: Mike Beckwith

• Doc. No. 117: Municipal Court of Oklahoma City

• Doc. No. 118: Kenneth Jordan (as to all claims in his official capacity)

• Doc. No. 120: Wade Gourley

• Doc. No. 121: Sean McDaniel, Jason Brown, Jessica Sherrill, Paula Lewis,

Tim Coleman, Ben Steffer

• Doc. No. 122: Oklahoma City Public School District 89

• Doc. No. 153: Kenneth Jordan (as to all non-Section 1983 claims)

• Doc. No. 154: Mitchell McCoy

• Doc. No. 156: Wade Spence, Justin Reynolds (as to all non-Section 1983

individual-capacity unlawful arrest claims), Aaron Richards, George Goss

• Doc. No. 157: City of Oklahoma City

Pursuant to the Court’s prior Orders dismissing Plaintiff’s claims against other

Defendants with prejudice, the Court enters judgment in favor of the following Defendants

against Plaintiff:

• Doc. No. 153: Kenneth Jordan (as to Section 1983 claims)

• Doc. No. 156: Justin Reynolds (as to Section 1983 individual-capacity

unlawful arrest claim)

Pursuant to the Court’s inherent authority, the Court sua sponte dismisses Plaintiff’s

claims against the Oklahoma County Jail without prejudice and enters judgment in favor

of the Oklahoma County Jail against Plaintiff.1

1 Plaintiff’s Supplemental Petition [Doc. No. 60], which was filed on June 17, 2020, named

the Oklahoma County Jail as a defendant. FED. R. CIV. P. 4(m) required Plaintiff to serve

the Jail within 90 days—i.e., by September 15, 2020. There is no evidence in the record

that, in the over three years since filing his Supplemental Petition, Plaintiff served process

on the Jail. Additionally, there is no evidence in the record that Plaintiff has pursued any

claims against the Jail. The Court will, pursuant to FED. R. CIV. P. 41(b) and the Court’s

inherent authority, dismiss Plaintiff’s claims against the Jail without prejudice. See Shotkin

v. Westinghouse Elec. & Mfg. Co., 169 F.2d 825, 826 (10th Cir. 1948) (“A district court of

the United States is vested with power to dismiss an action for failure of plaintiff to

prosecute it with reasonable diligence. The power is inherent and independent of any

statute or rule. And where plaintiff has failed to prosecute the action with reasonable

diligence, the court may dismiss it on motion of the defendant or on its own motion.”); see

also Taub v. Hale, 355 F.2d 201, 202 (2d Cir. 1966) (per curiam) (affirming district court’s

dismissal of case with prejudice, noting that Rule 41(b) “and the inherent power of a court

to dismiss for failure to prosecute” allow a district court to “sua sponte, and without notice

to the parties, dismiss a complaint for want of prosecution, and such dismissal is largely a

matter of the judge's discretion”).

Entered this 20" day of September, 2023.

\ i 0 Ot

TIMOTHY D. DeGIUSTI

Chief United States District Judge

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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