Frederickson v. County of Will et al

Filing 15

WRITTEN Opinion entered by the Honorable Robert M. Dow, Jr on 7/26/2011: Plaintiffs motions for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction [10, 13] are respectfully denied. Notices Mailed by Judge's Staff (tbk, )

Order Form (01/2005)

United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois
Name of Assigned Judge
or Magistrate Judge

Robert M. Dow, Jr.

CASE NUMBER

11 C 3484

CASE
TITLE

Sitting Judge if Other
than Assigned Judge

DATE

July 26, 2011

Rex Allen Frederickson (#2011-0001562) vs. Officer McClendon, et al.

DOCKET ENTRY TEXT:

Plaintiff’s motions for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction [10, 13] are respectfully denied.

O [For further details see text below.]

Docketing to mail notices.

STATEMENT
Plaintiff, a detainee at the Will County Jail, has brought this pro se civil rights action pursuant to 42
U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff claims that Defendants, law enforcement officers for Will County, the City of Joliet, and
the Village of Bolingbrook, Illinois, have violated Plaintiff’s constitutional rights by conspiring to falsely arrest
him. More specifically, Plaintiff contends that the police have acted in concert to repeatedly prevent him from
registering as a child sex offender and then arrest him for non-compliance, in addition to other alleged
harassment. This matter is before the court for ruling on Plaintiff’s motions for a temporary restraining order
and preliminary injunction. For the reasons stated in this order, the motions [10, 13] are denied.
The prerequisites to the granting of a preliminary injunction are well established. “To prevail on a motion
for a preliminary injunction, the moving party must demonstrate (1) a likelihood of success on the merits; (2) a
lack of an adequate remedy at law; and (3) an irreparable harm will result if the injunction is not granted.”
Woods v. Buss, 496 F.3d 620, 622 (7th Cir. 2007) (quoting FoodComm Int’l. v. Berry, 328 F.3d 300, 303 (7th
Cir. 2003)). If the moving party meets the first three requirements, then the district court balances the relative
harms that could be caused to either party. Woods, 496 F.3d at 622 (citing Incredible Tech., Inc. v. Virtual Tech.,
Inc., 400 F.3d 1007, 1011 (7th Cir. 2005)). A preliminary injunction is an “extraordinary remedy” intended to
minimize the hardship to the parties and to preserve the status quo pending a more considered decision of the
merits when possible. Indiana Civil Liberties Union v. O’Bannon, 259 F.3d 766, 770 (7th Cir. 2001).
(CONTINUED)
mjm

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STATEMENT (continued)
Here, Plaintiff has not met his burden. Plaintiff seeks, essentially, a stay of his criminal prosecution and
other relief connected with the state criminal proceedings. However, the federal courts are largely prohibited from
intervening in state criminal prosecutions. “As a general rule, Younger abstention ‘requires federal courts to
abstain from taking jurisdiction over federal constitutional claims that involve or call into question ongoing state
proceedings.’” Village of DePue, Ill. v. Exxon Mobil Corp., 537 F.3d 775, 783 (7th Cir. 2008) (quoting
FreeEats.com v. Indiana, 502 F.3d 590, 595 (7th Cir. 2008)); see also Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37 (1971). The
rule in Younger “is designed to permit state courts to try state cases free from interference by the federal courts.”
Id. This court will not enjoin pending state criminal proceedings.
If Plaintiff can establish that he has been wrongfully arrested and prosecuted, then he may be able to recover
damages. But Plaintiff faces no irreparable harm in the interim.

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