Moore v. Shipley et al

Filing 120

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER: IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Plaintiff's motion for default judgment as to liability against Defendant Anthony Wayne Perry is DENIED without prejudice. (Doc. No. 111 .) Signed by District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on June 3, 2015. (BRP)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI
EASTERN DIVISION
ELIJAH MOORE,
Plaintiff,
vs.
DAVID SHIPLEY, et al.,
Defendants.

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Case No. 4:13CV01928 AGF

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
This action is before the Court on Plaintiff’s motion (Doc. No. 111) for default
judgment as to liability against Anthony Wayne Perry, who is one of several Defendants.
Plaintiff, a prisoner of the State of Missouri, brought this action1 seeking declaratory relief,
injunctive relief, and damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violation of his Eighth
Amendment rights and for conspiracy to violate those rights. Plaintiff alleges that
Defendants, employees of the Missouri Department of Corrections, participated in beating
and injuring him in retaliation for a relationship he had with a female staff member. On
May 19, 2015, Clerk’s Entry of Default was entered as to Perry.
Plaintiff now seeks default judgment as to liability against Perry, in an amount to be
determined, as well as the entry of declaratory and injunctive relief against him. The
Court will deny without prejudice this motion for default judgment to avoid the possibility
of inconsistent results in the case. As the Court explained in denying without prejudice a
similar motion with respect to another defaulting Defendant in this case, “[w]hen there are

1
Plaintiff filed this action pro se, but counsel entered on Plaintiff’s behalf on August 1,
2014.

multiple defendants who may be jointly and severally liable for damages alleged by
plaintiff, and some but less than all of those defendants default, the better practice is for the
district court to stay its determination of damages against the defaulters until plaintiff's
claim against the nondefaulters is resolved.” Pfanenstiel Architects, Inc. v. Chouteau
Petroleum Co., 978 F.2d 430, 433 (8th Cir. 1992); Edwards v. Dwyer, No. 1:06-CV-1
CAS, 2008 WL 222514, at *1-2 (E.D. Mo. Jan. 25, 2008) (denying motion for default
judgment without prejudice as to one defendant in a multiple defendant case, where the
claims against similarly situated nondefaulting defendants were not yet resolved).
Accordingly,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Plaintiff’s motion for default judgment as to
liability against Defendant Anthony Wayne Perry is DENIED without prejudice. (Doc.
No. 111.)

AUDREY G. FLEISSIG
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Dated this 3rd day of June, 2015.

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