Walker et al v. Detroit Public School District et al

Filing 43

ORDER granting as to Plaintiff Leon Merriweather and denying without prejudice as to Plaintiff Malik Slater 33 Plaintiffs' Motion for Default Judgment. Signed by District Judge Robert H. Cleland. (LWag)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN
SOUTHERN DIVISION

BRIDGET WALKER, et al.,
Plaintiffs,
v.

Case No. 10-12596

CARMEN EVANS, et al.,
Defendants.
/
ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING WITHOUT PREJUDICE IN PART
PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR DEFAULT JUDGMENT
The court held a continued hearing on Plaintiffs’ motion for default judgment on
August 23, 2011, after the initial hearing on August 10, 2011. On August 15, 2011, the
court granted the motion in part, with respect to two Plaintiffs who testified at the first
hearing, Bridget Walker and Kejuana McCants. Two Plaintiffs, Leon Merriweather and
Malik Slater, failed to appear at the first hearing, and the continued hearing was
scheduled so that the court could receive the testimony of these Plaintiffs before
resolving the motion. At that hearing, only Leon Merriweather appeared and offered his
testimony. Therefore, the court will grant the motion in part, as to Leon Merriweather,
and will deny it in part, as to Malik Slater. The denial will be without prejudice, and the
court will entertain a motion by Malik Slater if he can show good cause for his repeated
failure to appear and prosecute his motion.
At the continued hearing, the court also requested that Plaintiffs’ counsel submit
an additional supplemental brief. Observing that the first supplemental brief filed by
counsel reflects verdicts and settlement amounts from matters primarily involving state

actors who inflicted injuries on the plaintiffs in those cases, the court asked for counsel’s
assistance in identifying verdicts or settlement amounts in cases involving injuries more
closely analogous to those at issue here, that is, those of a similar kind inflicted by
private actors. The court requested that counsel file the brief within approximately two
or three weeks, along with a proposed form of default judgment. Following receipt of
the brief, the court will make a determination as to the amount of the judgment.
Accordingly,
IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiffs’ “Motion for Default Judgment” [Dkt. # 33] is
GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. It is GRANTED with respect to Plaintiff
Leon Merriweather. It is DENIED without prejudice with respect to Plaintiff Malik Slater.
Default judgment will be entered following a determination of the amount of the
judgment, as described above and in the court’s August 15, 2011, order.

s/Robert H. Cleland
ROBERT H. CLELAND
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Dated: August 25, 2011
I hereby certify that a copy of the foregoing document was mailed to counsel of record
on this date, August 25, 2011, by electronic and/or ordinary mail.

s/Lisa Wagner
Case Manager and Deputy Clerk
[phone]

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