Short v. Immokalee Water & Sewer District et al

Filing 47

ORDER dismissing Plaintiff's Amended Complaint without prejudice to filing a Second Amended Complaint within 14 days of this Order; denying as moot 31 Defendant Immokalee Water & Sewer District's Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Amen ded Complaint and Strike Plaintiff's Claims for Punitive Damages; denying as moot 32 Defendant Fred N. Thomas, Jr.'s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Amended Complaint; denying as moot 33 Defendant Eva Deyo's Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Amended Complaint and Strike Plaintiff's Claims for Punitive Damages and Attorney's Fees. See Order for details. Signed by Judge John E. Steele on 9/17/2015. (MAB)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
FORT MYERS DIVISION
JOHN SHORT,
Plaintiff,
v.

Case No: 2:15-cv-136-FtM-29MRM

IMMOKALEE
WATER
&
SEWER
DISTRICT,
as
a
govern
entity, EVA J. DEYO, in her
individual
capacity
as
executive
director
of
Immokalee
Water
&
Sewer
District,
and
FRED
N.
THOMAS,
JR.
,
in
his
individual capacity as board
member of Immokalee water &
sewer district,
Defendants.

ORDER
This matter comes before the Court on review of plaintiff’s
Amended Complaint (Doc. #30) filed on June 18, 2015.

The Amended

Complaint incorporates by reference all of the allegations from
each Count into each subsequent count. 1

(Doc. #30, ¶¶ 91, 103,

107, 112, 116, 122, 127.)
A shotgun pleading is a pleading that “incorporate[s] every
antecedent allegation by reference into each subsequent claim for

1On

June 4, 2015, the Court entered an Order dismissing
plaintiff’s original Complaint as a shotgun pleading. (Doc. #24.)

relief or affirmative defense.”

Wagner v. First Horizon Pharm.

Corp., 464 F.3d 1273, 1279 (11th Cir. 2006).

As a result, most of

the counts in a typical shotgun complaint “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.”

Cramer v. Florida, 117 F.3d 1258, 1263 (11th Cir. 1997).

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:
1.

Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint (Doc. #30) is dismissed

without prejudice to filing a Second Amended Complaint within
FOURTEEN (14) DAYS of this Order.
2.
Dismiss

Defendant Immokalee Water & Sewer District’s Motion to
Plaintiff’s

Amended

Complaint

and

Strike

Plaintiff’s

Claims for Punitive Damages (Doc. #31) is DENIED as moot.

2

3.

Defendant

Fred

N.

Thomas,

Jr.’s

Motion

to

Dismiss

Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint (Doc. #32) is DENIED as moot.
4.
Amended

Defendant
Complaint

Eva
and

Deyo’s
Strike

Motion

to

Plaintiff’s

Dismiss
Claims

Plaintiff’s
for

Punitive

Damages and Attorney’s Fees (Doc. #33) is DENIED as moot.
DONE AND ORDERED at Fort Myers, Florida, this
September, 2015.

Copies:
Counsel of record

3

17th

day of