MEDINA v. TAYLOR

Filing 2

MEMORANDUM, ORDER Clerk shall open 41 new matters designating each of these individuals as "Plaintiff" and "Eric Taylor, Warden of Camden County Correctional Facility" as "Defendant". ORDERED Clerk shall docket an instan t complaint in each new matter with the Cause of Action as 42:1983 and the Jurisdiction as Federal Question. ORDERED Clerk shall administratively terminate each of these newly opened matters. ORDERED Clerk shall serve copies of this Order upon all Pl aintiffs by regular mail with a blank IFP application and a blank civil rights form. ORDERED each of the Clerk's mailings shall include a copy of the docket sheet of the new matter opened. Signed by Judge Jerome B. Simandle on 9/15/2011. (nz, )n.m.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY
LOUIE MOURATIDIS, et al.,
Plaintiff,
v.
ERIC M. TAYLOR, et al.,
Defendants.

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Civil No. 11-4359 (JBS)

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

It appearing that:
1.

On July 28, 2011, the Clerk docketed the instant Complaint.
The Complaint named forty-two persons as Plaintiffs in this
matter (with Louie Mouratidis (“Mouratidis”) being named
first), referring to Mouratidis as a seemingly selfdesignated representative of a seemingly self-certified
class of pre-trial detainees housed at the Camden County
Correctional Facility (“CCCF”).

See Docket Entry No. 1. The

Caption of the Complaint lists only Mouratidis and Javon
O’Neal (“O’Neal”) by name and notes other plaintiffs as
“‘Inmates’ in 3SB & 4SB in & at Camden County Correctional
Fasility [sic].”

See id. at 1.

The Complaint itself was

signed solely by Mouratidis, see id. at 30, but was
accompanied by a “Signed Petition,” see id. at 34, listing
the printed names of forty plaintiffs in addition to
Mouratidis and O’Neal.

2.

No filing fee was received from any plaintiff.

Mouratidis

submitted a deficient in forma pauperis application.
(Mouratidis’s application did not include a six-month
institutional account statement certified by an Authorized
Officer of the Institution as required by 28 U.S.C.
§ 1915(a)(2).)

No in forma pauperis application was

received from O’Neal or any of the additional plaintiffs.
3.

Plaintiffs’ application for class certification will be
denied.

Since only Mouratidis signed the Complaint, and

since no other Plaintiffs paid the filing fee or applied to
proceed in forma pauperis, this Court has no certainty that
all other named Plaintiffs intend to incur the financial
responsibility and legal consequences associated with
initiation of this action.

See Fed. R. Civ.

P.11(a)(requiring each plaintiff to sign the complaint); 28
U.S.C. § 1914(a)(the filing fee for a civil rights complaint
it $350.00); 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(if the prisoner is granted
permission to file the complaint in forma pauperis, then the
Court is required to assess the $350.00 filing fee against
the prisoner and collect the fee); Hagan v. Rogers, 570 F.3d
146 (3d Cir. 2009)(litigants proceeding as joint plaintiffs
are subject to $350.00 assessment each if they proceed in
forma pauperis); Hairston v. Gronolsky, 348 Fed. App’x 716
(3d Cir. 2009)(regardless of the litigant’s willingness or

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unwillingness to be assessed the filing fee, the litigant’s
“legal obligation to pay the filing fee [is automatically]
incurred by the initiation of the action itself”).
Moreover, the facts of the Complaint do not indicate that
the requirements of Rule 23 would be met since the Court
cannot establish numerosity from the allegations made
therein, as the limited factual allegations as presented
might be factually unique to some but not applicable to
other Plaintiffs.
4.

See Fed. R. Civ. P. 23.

The Court, however, cannot rule out the possibility that
Mouratidis and/or any/all other Plaintiff(s) named in the
document appended to the Complaint might wish to prosecute
his/their own claims and would be able to file amended
complaints detailing the specific facts which each Plaintiff
bona fide believes to be indicative of his rights being
violated.
THEREFORE, it is on this

15th

day of

September , 2011;

ORDERED that Plaintiffs’ application for class certification
is DENIED; and it is further
ORDERED that the Complaint, Docket Entry No. 1, is
DISMISSED.

Such dismissal is without prejudice to Plaintiffs’

filing of individual amended complaints which conform to the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; and it is further

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ORDERED that the Clerk shall terminate all Plaintiffs in
this matter, except for Louie Mouratidis; and it is further
ORDERED that the Clerk shall administratively terminate this
matter, subject to reopening in the event Louie Mouratidis
submits, within 45 days from the date of entry of this Order, his
amended complaint asserting his own challenges, together with his
filing fee of $350.00 or with his duly executed in forma pauperis
application; and it is further
ORDERED that the Clerk shall open forty-one new matters for
the additional Plaintiffs, listed as #2-15 and 17-43 on the
“Signed Petition,” see Complaint at 34:
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.

Angel Nieves AKA Angel Gomez #245741
Scott Taylor #248815
M. Douglas #253101
Stephen Hanssens #253020
William J. Henderson #252805
Thomas Arnone #246980
Eddie Satiago #250984
Robert Naumann #252432
Anevri Brito #247388
Anthony Mack #252821
Brad Moz
Gary Clark #252871
Eusebio Osorio #252902
Quameer Hence #252734
(Duplicate name of entry 15)
Javon O’Neal #251400
David Medina
Sanders Kendrick III #252434
Troy Rahn #249550
Keith Edelin #252427
John Nutt #251966
Joshua Campbell #252213
Steven Kekulak #246496
Otto Simpson #252888
Clarence Bluford #253141
Kenneth Minter #252699
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28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.

Alberto Perez #252639
Colin Hunter #251206
Jeffrey Carr #252857
Kenneth Collins #250870
Eric Durst #252403
Rixal Aozoa #253137
Bobby Williams #252247
Troy Hessert #251199
Jeremiah Medina #252944
Jaime Alvarez #246826
Joseph R. Pinto Jr. #25194
Joshua Adam O’Toole #253053
Travis Rastelli #252867
Shay Massey #253319
Kyle Johns #251721
Jameel Jefferson #253204

designating each of these individuals as “Plaintiff” in his
respective new matter and “Eric Taylor, Warden of Camden County
Correctional Facility” as “Defendant” in each of these new
matters; and it is further
ORDERED that the Clerk shall docket the instant Complaint,
Docket Entry No. 1, in each such new matter; and it is further
ORDERED that the Clerk shall designate, in each such new
matter, “Cause:42:1983 Prisoner Civil Rights” and “Jurisdiction:
Federal Question”; and it is further
ORDERED that the Clerk shall administratively terminate each
of these newly opened matters, subject to reopening in the event
the Plaintiff designated in the matter submits, within 45 days
from the date of entry of this Order, his amended complaint
stating the Plaintiff’s individual claims and designating
appropriate defendants with regard to those claims.

Each such

submission should be made together with the Plaintiff’s filing
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fee of $350.00 or his duly executed in forma pauperis
application; and it is further
ORDERED that the Clerk shall serve copies of this Order upon
all Plaintiffs by regular U.S. Mail.

Each such mailing shall

include a blank civil complaint form and blank in forma pauperis
application form for litigants seeking to file a civil complaint
for use by a prisoner; and it is further
ORDERED that each of the Clerk’s mailings to Plaintiffs
(excluding Mouratidis) shall also include a copy of the docket
sheet of the new matter opened for that particular Plaintiff; and
it is finally
ORDERED that no statement made in this Order shall be
construed as expressing this Court’s opinion about either
procedural or substantive validity (or invalidity) of the claims
that might be alleged by any Plaintiff referred to in this Order.

s/ Jerome B. Simandle
Jerome B. Simandle
United States District Judge

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