Wilson v. International Longshoreman Association et al

Filing 4

ORDER of Instruction to Plaintiff. Signed by Magistrate Judge G. R. Smith on 1/9/2014. (loh)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
SAVANNAH DIVISION
MONICA WILSON,

)
)
Plaintiff,
)
)
v.
)
)
INTERNATIONAL LONGSHOREMAN )
ASSOCIATION, et al. ,
)
)
Defendants.
)

Case No. CV413-277

ORDER
Having paid this Court’s $400 filing fee, plaintiff Monica Wilson
brings this Title VII employment discrimination case against the
International Longshoreman Association and others. Doc. 1. She is
responsible for serving her complaint under Fed. R. Civ. P. 4.1 and is
warned that she faces dismissal if she violates Rule 4(m)’s 120-day limit.

I. FURTHER INSTRUCTION
The Court ORDERS plaintiff to serve upon any Rule-4 served
The Court is not informed whether the union entities she seeks to sue are
incorporated. In any event, “A plaintiff may serve process on a corporation by
delivering the summons and complaint to an officer, managing or general agent, or
other agent who is authorized to receive service of process. Fed.R.Civ.P. 4(h)(1)(B).
The plaintiff must make proof of service to the court by submitting the server’s
affidavit. Fed.R.Civ.P. 4(l)(1).” White v. Americas Servicing Co ., 461 F.Appx. 841, 842
(11th Cir. 2012).
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defendants or, if appearance has been entered by counsel, upon their
attorney(s), a copy of every further pleading or other document submitted
for consideration by the Court. Plaintiff shall include with the original
paper to be filed with the Clerk of Court a certificate stating the date a
true and correct copy of any document was mailed to defendant or its
counsel. Fed. R. Civ. P. 5.

"

Every pleading must have a caption with the

court s name, a title, [and] a file number. Fed. R. Civ. P. 10(a). Any
'

"

paper received by a district judge or magistrate judge which has not been
filed with the Clerk and which fails to include a caption or a certificate of
service will be disregarded by the Court and returned to the sender.
Plaintiff is charged with the responsibility of immediately informing
this Court of any change of her address during the pendency of this action.
Local Rule 11.1. Failure to do so may result in dismissal of this case.
Local Rule 41.1.
Plaintiff is responsible for pursuing this case. For example, if she
wishes to obtain facts and information about the case from defendants,
she must initiate discovery.

See generally Fed. R. Civ. P. 26, et seq .

Plaintiff does not need the permission of the Court to begin discovery.
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However, under Rule 26(f), plaintiff is under a duty to confer with
opposing counsel to develop a plan of discovery and must do so before

See Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(d), (f). If

seeking discovery from any source.

plaintiff does not press the case forward, the Court may dismiss it for
want of prosecution. Fed. R. Civ. P. 41; Local Rule 41.1.
Interrogatories and requests for the production of documents
provide a practical method of discovery for pro se litigants. Fed. R. Civ. P.
33, 34. Interrogatories and requests for production may be served only
on a party to the litigation, and, for the purposes of the instant case, this
means that interrogatories should not be directed to persons or
organizations who are not named as defendants. Interrogatories and
requests for production shall not be filed with the court . Interrogatories
are not to contain more than twenty-five questions. Fed. R. Civ. P.
33(a)(1). If plaintiff wishes to propound more than twenty-five
interrogatories to a party, she must have permission of the Court.

Id.

In a request for production, plaintiff may request the opposing party to
produce any designated documents for the purpose of inspection and
copying. The request must set forth the items to be inspected either by
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individual item or by category, and describe each item and category with
reasonable particularity. Fed. R. Civ. P. 34(b)(1). The request should
specify a reasonable time and place (such as a defendant's place of
business) for making the inspection. Id.
Should it become necessary to file a motion to compel discovery
under Fed. R. Civ. P. 37, plaintiff should first contact the attorney for each
defendant to try to work out the problem; if the problem cannot be
resolved, plaintiff must file a statement certifying that opposing counsel
has been contacted in a good faith effort to resolve any dispute about
discovery. Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c); 37(a)(1). Plaintiff has the responsibility
for maintaining her own records of the case. If plaintiff loses papers and
needs new copies, she may obtain them from the Clerk of Court at the
standard cost of fifty cents ($.50) per page, or retrieve them online
through PACER.
It is the plaintiff's duty to cooperate fully in any discovery which
may be initiated by a defendant. Evasive or incomplete responses to
discovery will not be tolerated and may subject plaintiff to severe
sanctions, including dismissal of this case . Should any defendant
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endeavor to take plaintiff's deposition, plaintiff shall permit her
deposition to be taken and shall answer, under oath or solemn
affirmation, any question which seeks information relevant to the subject
matter of the pending action.

II. ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS
Under this Court's Local Rules, a party opposing a motion to dismiss
shall file and serve his response to the motion within fourteen days of its
service.

"

Failure to respond shall indicate that there is no opposition to a

motion. Local Rule 7.5. Therefore, if plaintiff fails to respond to a
"

motion to dismiss, the Court will assume that plaintiff does not oppose
defendant's motion.
A response to a motion for summary judgment must be filed within
twenty-one days after service of the motion. Local Rules 7.5, 56.1. The
failure to respond to such a motion shall indicate that there is no
opposition to the motion. Furthermore, each material fact set forth in a
defendant's statement of material facts will, if evidentially supported, be
deemed admitted unless specifically controverted by an opposing
statement. Should a defendant file a motion for summary judgment,
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plaintiff is advised that she will have the burden of establishing the
existence of a genuine issue as to any material fact in this case. That
burden cannot be met by reliance upon the conclusory allegations
contained within the complaint. Should a defendant's motion for
summary judgment be evidentially supported (e.g., by affidavit(s)),
plaintiff must show lack of such support, if not file counter-affidavits, if
she desires to contest defendant's statement of the facts. Should plaintiff
fail to rebut the defendant’s showing (e.g, illuminate the lack of
evidentiary support if not also file opposing affidavits setting forth specific
facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial), the consequences are
these: any factual assertions made in defendant's affidavits will be
accepted as true and summary judgment will be entered against her
pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 56.

SO ORDERED this 9th day of January, 2014.

UNiTED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA

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