Oatis v. Citizen Bar

Filing 10

MEMORANDUM Order: For the reasons stated in this memorandum order, unless Oatis delivers to this Court's chambers on or before April 28, 2017 a paper Judge's Copy of a filing that he has made in the Clerk's Office explaining what steps he has taken toward moving this action forward, this action will be dismissed for want of prosecution. Signed by the Honorable Milton I. Shadur on 4/18/2017:Mailed notice(clw, )

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

Plaintiff,
v.
CITIZEN BAR,
364 W. Erie
Chicago, IL 60654,
Defendant.

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Case No. 17 C 0570

MEMORANDUM ORDER
This Court has always paid prompt attention to pro se filings in cases assigned to its
calendar, both because of the lesson taught by Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519 (1972)
and because it is well aware of the difficulty faced by nonlawyer litigants who are unfamiliar
with litigation generally and with federal litigation in particular. This case is illustrative of that
solicitude – just two days after the delivery to its chambers of the Judge's Copy of the Complaint
of Employment Discrimination brought by Taj Oatis ("Oatis"), which was accompanied by two
other Clerk's-Office-supplied forms, 1 this Court issued the attached January 27, 2017
memorandum order that granted Oatis' Application because of his demonstrated inability to pay
the filing fee, but then went on to explain the deficiency in Oatis' Motion and, indeed, apprised
him "of a Chicago-based organization that seeks to provide access to legal services for people
who cannot afford to pay a lawyer -- its acronym is CARPLS, and it lists its free legal aid hotline
telephone number as 312-738-9200."
1

Those other forms comprised an In Forma Pauperis Application ("Application") and a
Motion for Attorney Representation ("Motion").

Despite this Court's effort to assist Oatis in that respect, including the transmittal of a set
of new Motion forms for him to fill out properly, Oatis has done nothing whatever to advance his
lawsuit. In fact, just a few days after this Court's issuance of the January 27 order the Clerk's
Office mailed him the USM 285 forms that were needed to enable the United States Marshals
Service to execute the service of summons on Oatis' targeted defendant, his ex-employer Citizen
Bar -- yet Oatis has obviously disregarded that, for the only ensuing docket entry in the case is
dated fully two months later (Dkt. No. 9, entered April 3), in which the Marshals Service filed a
return stating that it was unable to execute service without the USM 285 forms.
As desirous as this Court is to assist pro se litigants, 2 it has no responsibility to play
nursemaid to a plaintiff who does not exercise reasonable diligence to pursue his own action.
Accordingly, unless Oatis delivers to this Court's chambers on or before April 28 a paper Judge's
Copy of a filing that he has made in the Clerk's Office explaining what steps he has taken toward
moving this action forward, this action will be dismissed for want of prosecution.

__________________________________________
Milton I. Shadur
Senior United States District Judge
Date: April 18, 2017

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It should of course be understood that this Court has expressed no view as to the
substantive viability or nonviability of Oatis' lawsuit.
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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
EASTERN DIVISION
TAJ OATIS,
Plaintiff,
v.
CITIZEN BAR
364 W. Erie
Chicago, IL 60654,
Defendant.

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Case No. 17 C 570

MEMORANDUM ORDER
Taj Oatis ("Oatis") has just utilized the Clerk's-Office-supplied form of "Complaint of
Employment Discrimination" to bring an action charging his ex-employer Citizen Bar with
having terminated him in June 2014 based on his race (Oatis is African-American) and color.
Because Oatis has brought suit within 90 days after his receipt of an EEOC right-to-sue letter, it
poses no question of timeliness. Instead this sua sponte memorandum order is issued because of
some other problems with Oatis' submitted documents.
To begin with, Oatis has misunderstood or misread some portions of the Complaint form.
In that respect he mistakenly completed Complaint ¶ 7.2, which deals with defendants that are
federal governmental agencies, although the information filled in there should have been
provided in Complaint ¶ 8(b), which calls for the date of receipt of EEOC's right-to-sue letter.
That hiccup will be ignored by this Court, which as already stated accepts the Complaint as
timely filed.
Next, Oatis has accompanied his Complaint with two other Clerk's-Office-supplied
forms: an In Forma Pauperis Application ("Application") and a Motion for Attorney

ATTACHMENT

Representation ("Motion"). Because the Application confirms Oatis' inability to pay the filing
fee for his action, it is granted. But the Motion is flawed, because Oatis has left blank the most
important component of that form -- the answer to its Paragraph 2, which requires a movant to
identify whatever attorneys or organizations he has attempted to obtain as his counsel, as well as
the reason for his inability to find such an attorney (that information is required by our Court of
Appeals as a precondition to a District Court's determination whether to grant such a motion). In
that respect, although this Court does not involve itself directly in such requests, it has been
made aware of a Chicago-based organization that seeks to provide access to legal services for
people who cannot afford to pay a lawyer -- its acronym is CARPLS, and it lists its free legal aid
hotline telephone number as 312-738-9200.
This Court is transmitting to Oatis, contemporaneously with a copy of this memorandum
order, triplicate copies of the Motion form to be completed by him. Oatis must make the
required effort to seek counsel, and if he is unsuccessful he should return two filled-out
counterparts of the Motion to the District Court on or before February 17, 2017 -- one directed to
the Clerk's Office 1 and the other to this Court's chambers. 2

Date: January 27, 2017
1

Office of the Clerk
United States District Court
219 South Dearborn Street
Chicago, Illinois 60604.

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__________________________________________
Milton I. Shadur
Senior United States District Judge

Honorable Milton Shadur
United States District Court
219 South Dearborn Street
Suite 2388
Chicago, Illinois 60604.
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