Wayne v. Wiebel, Hennells & Carufe, PLLC et al

Filing 4

ORDER dismissing without prejudice 3 Plaintiff's Amended Complaint. Plaintiff may file a Second Amended Complaint within 14 days of this Order. See Order for details. Signed by Judge John E. Steele on 10/15/2014. (MAB)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
FORT MYERS DIVISION
SIMONE WAYNE, obo Blueline
Corporation,
Plaintiff,
v.

Case No: 2:14-cv-587-FtM-29DNF

WIEBEL, HENNELLS & CARUFE,
PLLC and DOUGLAS WIEBEL,
individually,
Defendants.

ORDER
This matter comes before the Court on review of plaintiff's
Amended Complaint (Doc. #3) filed on October 14, 2014. The Amended
Complaint incorporates by reference all of the allegations from
each count into each subsequent count.

(Doc. #3, ¶¶ 19, 25, 30,

36, 46.)
“The typical shotgun complaint contains several counts, each
one

incorporating

by

reference

the

allegations

of

its

predecessors, leading to a situation where most of the counts
(i.e., all but the first) contain irrelevant factual allegations
and legal conclusions.”

Strategic Income Fund, L.L.C. v. Spear,

Leeds & Kellogg Corp., 305 F.3d 1293, 1295 (11th Cir. 2002).

The

Eleventh Circuit has consistently frowned upon shotgun pleadings
such as the one presented herein, and shotgun pleadings “exact an

intolerable toll on the trial court’s docket.”
117 F.3d 1258, 1263 (11th Cir. 1997).

Cramer v. Florida,

See also Davis v. Coca-Cola

Bottling Co. Consol., 516 F.3d 955, 979 n.54 (11th Cir. 2008)
(collecting

cases).

Accordingly,

the

Eleventh

Circuit

has

established that when faced with a shotgun pleading, a district
court should require the parties to file an amended pleading rather
than allow such a case to proceed to trial.

Byrne v. Nezhat, 261

F.3d 1075, 1130 (11th Cir. 2001).
Accordingly, it is hereby
ORDERED:
Plaintiff's Amended Complaint (Doc. #3) is dismissed without
prejudice to filing a Second Amended Complaint within FOURTEEN
(14) DAYS of this Order.
DONE AND ORDERED at Fort Myers, Florida, this
October, 2014.

Copies:
Counsel of record

2

15th

day of