Ngrime v. Mosaic

Filing 14

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER that the clerk of the court shall send one summons form and one USM-285 form to plaintiff, together with a copy of this Memorandum and Order. Plaintiff shall, as soon as possible, complete the forms and send the completed forms b ack to the clerk of the court who will sign the forms and forward to the U.S. Marshal for service. The clerk of the court is directed to set a pro se case management deadline in this case with the following text: "May 9, 2014: Check for completion of service of summons." Ordered by Senior Judge Lyle E. Strom. (Copy mailed to pro se party with 1 summons and 1 USM-285 Form)(ADB)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEBRASKA
MICHAEL NGRIME,

)
)
Plaintiff,
)
)
v.
)
)
MOSAIC,
)
)
Defendant.
)
______________________________)

8:13CV194

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

This matter is before the Court on its own motion.

On

October 3, 2013, the Court entered a Memorandum and Order
requiring plaintiff to show cause why this case should not be
dismissed for a failure to file suit within 90 days of receipt of
a right-to-sue letter from the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (“EEOC”) or the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission
(“NEOC”) (Filing No. 7).

In response, plaintiff filed a copy of

a right-to-sue letter from the EEOC dated March 26, 2013 (Filing
No. 8 at CM/ECF p. 3).

Plaintiff alleged that he received the

notice on April 6, 2013, and filed suit less than 90 days later,
on July 1, 2013.

(Id. at CM/ECF pp. 1-3.)

The Court finds that, at this early stage of the
proceedings, plaintiff’s allegations that he filed suit within 90
days of his receipt of the notice are sufficient to survive
initial review.

In addition, in light of plaintiff’s pro se

status, the Court finds that plaintiff’s Amended Complaint

(Filing No. 13) alleges facts showing plausibly that defendant
has discriminated against plaintiff based on his race.
Accordingly, the Court finds that service on defendant is now
warranted.

However, the Court cautions plaintiff that this is a

preliminary determination based only on the allegations of the
Amended Complaint and is not a determination of the merits of
plaintiff’s claims or potential defenses thereto.
IT IS ORDERED:
1.

To obtain service of process on defendant,

plaintiff must complete and return the summons form that the
clerk of the court will provide.

The clerk of the court shall

send one summons form and one USM-285 form to plaintiff, together
with a copy of this Memorandum and Order.

Plaintiff shall, as

soon as possible, complete the forms and send the completed forms
back to the clerk of the court.

In the absence of the forms,

service of process cannot occur.
2.

Upon receipt of the completed forms, the clerk of

the court will sign the summons forms, to be forwarded with a
copy of the Amended Complaint to the U.S. Marshal for service of
process.

The Marshal shall serve the summons and the Amended

Complaint without payment of costs or fees.

Service may be by

certified mail pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4 and
Nebraska law in the discretion of the Marshal.
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The clerk of the

court will copy the Amended Complaint, and plaintiff does not
need to do so.
3.

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4 requires service

of the complaint on a defendant within 120 days of filing the
complaint.

However, because in this order plaintiff is informed

for the first time of these requirements, plaintiff is granted an
extension of time until 120 days from the date of this order to
complete service of process.
4.

Plaintiff is hereby notified that failure to

obtain service of process on a defendant within 120 days of the
date of this order may result in dismissal of this matter without
further notice as to such defendant.

A defendant has 21 days

after receipt of the summons to answer or otherwise respond to a
complaint.
5.

The clerk of the court is directed to set a pro se

case management deadline in this case with the following text:
“May 9, 2014:
6.

Check for completion of service of summons.”
The parties are bound by the Federal Rules of

Civil Procedure and by the Local Rules of this Court.

Plaintiff

shall keep the Court informed of his current address at all times

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while this case is pending.

Failure to do so may result in

dismissal.
DATED this 9th day of January, 2014.
BY THE COURT:
/s/ Lyle E. Strom
____________________________
LYLE E. STROM, Senior Judge
United States District Court

* This opinion may contain hyperlinks to other documents or Web sites.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska does not endorse,
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they provide on their Web sites. Likewise, the Court has no agreements with
any of these third parties or their Web sites. The Court accepts no
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the fact that a hyperlink ceases to work or directs the user to some other
site does not affect the opinion of the Court.

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