GOLUB v. UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE et al

Filing 36

ENTRY CONCERNING SELECTED MATTERS. For the reasons discussed in paragraph 1 of this Entry, the claims against the United States Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security are dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. Claims against several unident ified John and Jane Does are dismissed because it is pointless to include anonymous defendants in federal court (see paragraph 2 of Entry). No partial final judgment shall issue at this time as to the claims resolved in this Entry. The dismissal of John and Jane Doe defendants shall not include dismissal as to the other defendants (Diane Smith, Melanie Mackenzie, Special Agent Johnon and McKenzie). Plaintiff's motion to show cause and order to compel (dkt. 35) seeks developments of claims againt the agency defendants and is therefore denied. Motion to Stay (docket 29) is denied. Signed by Judge David Frank Hamilton on 7/16/2009. c/m. (LBK)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA

MARTIN C. GOLUB,

) ) v. ) ) UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE, ) et al., ) ) Defendants. )

No. 1:09-cv-380-DFH-DML

Entry Concerning Selected Matters The court, having considered the above action and the matters which are pending, makes the following rulings: 1. Two federal agencies are among the defendants in this action. Those agencies are the United States Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security. The fatal deficiency, for pleading purposes, in the inclusion of these agencies as defendants here is that the United States may not be sued without its consent, United States v. Dalm, 494 U.S. 596, 608 (1990); United States v. Sherwood, 312 U.S. 584, 586 (1941), and there is no indication that the United States has consented to be sued in the name of its agencies for the torts alleged in the claim in this case. An agency or employee of the United States is not a proper defendant in such an action. Banks v. Green, 2007 WL 4370306, *2 (M.D.Pa. 2007)(citing cases). "Federal agencies may not be sued eo nomine except as authorized by Congress in `explicit language.'" Castleberry v. Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms Div., 530 F.2d, 673 n.3 (5th Cir. 1976) (citing Blackmar v. Guerre, 342 U.S. 512, 515 (1952)). Accordingly, claims against the United States Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security are dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. 2. The complaint also asserts claims against several unidentified John and Jane Does. Such claims are dismissed, because "it is pointless to include [an] anonymous defendant[ ] in federal court; this type of placeholder does not open the door to relation back under Fed.R.Civ.P. 15, nor can it otherwise help the plaintiff." Wudtke v. Davel, 128 F.3d 1057, 1060 (7th Cir. 1997) (internal citations omitted). 3. this Entry. No partial final judgment shall issue at this time as to the claims resolved in

4. The dismissal of the John and Jane Doe defendants shall not include dismissal as to defendants also identified as Diane Smith, Melanie Mackenzie, Special Agent Johnson and McKenzie. 5. The plaintiff's motion to show cause and order to compel (dkt 35) seeks development of claims against the agency defendants and is therefore denied. 6. The motion to stay proceeding (dkt 29) is denied.

So ordered.

Date:

July 16, 2009

_____________________________________ DAVID F. F. HAMILTON, CHIEF JUDGE DAVID HAMILTON, Chief Judge UUnited States District Court nited States District Court Southern District of Indiana

Distribution: Martin C. Golub 8275 Craig Street, #140 Indianapolis, IN 46250 William Lance McCoskey UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE [e-mail]