Reed v. Shannon et al

Filing 16

ENTER MEMORANDUM Signed by the Honorable Milton I. Shadur on 4/9/2014. Mailed notice by judge's staff. (srb,)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
EASTERN DIVISION

THOMAS REED,
Plaintiff,
v.
SERGEANT TIM SHANNON, Individually
and VILLAGE OF WOODRIDGE,
Defendants.

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Case No. 13 C 8176

MEMORANDUM
Both defendants in this action that invokes federal jurisdiction under 42 U.S.C.
§ 1983 -- Village of Woodridge ("Village") and its police Sergeant Tim Shannon -- are
represented by the same law firm, which has just chosen to file a separate Answer on behalf of
each of them to the Complaint brought against them by Thomas Reed. This memorandum is
issued not to require a do-over in that respect, but rather to point out to defense counsel that such
practice is both wasteful and inconsiderate of the reader (who is then compelled to go paragraph
by paragraph through two complaints rather than one to see where if at all the different
defendants part company in their responses), and it can also -- as one aspect of the dual pleadings
here illustrates -- lead to errors on counsel's part.
As for the second of those factors, reading and comparing the two pleadings reveals
(unsurprisingly) that they are essentially identical, so that it would have been simpler and less
time-consuming for counsel to prepare a single joint responsive pleading. And as for the last
factor, Village Answer ¶ 5 "denies that they are being sued in an individual capacity," even

though nothing in Complaint ¶ 5 says a word about that so as to call for any denial. That is
careless at best, and it illustrates the thoughtlessness of the practice employed by defense
counsel.
This memorandum began by disclaiming any need for defense counsel to prepare and
substitute a more sensible single response for the two Answers that they have placed on file. All
the same, if counsel's fee arrangement with the clients is based on the hours spent multiplied by
counsel's hourly rate, counsel would do well to take a sharp pencil to the time calculation to
avoid any inappropriate overcharge to the clients.

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Milton I. Shadur
Senior United States District Judge
Date: April 9, 2014

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