HIGGS v. MYERS et al

Filing 243

MEMORANDUM and ORDER denying without prejudice 231 Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment. Defendants may file a renewed motion for summary judgment within thirty (30) days of the date of this order. Signed by Judge Brian R. Martinotti on 6/6/2023. (NM) (dam)

Case 2:15-cv-02900-BRM-JSA Document 243 Filed 06/06/23 Page 1 of 2 PageID: 1856

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY
DONALD HIGGS,
Plaintiff,
v.
MICHAEL MYERS, et al.,
Defendants.

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Civil No. 15-2900 (BRM)(JSA)
MEMORANDUM and ORDER

Before the Court is the motion for summary judgment filed by Defendants Michael Myers
and Mark Green (“Defendants”), seeking judgment in their favor on Plaintiff Donald Higgs’s
(“Plaintiff”) Section 1983 and New Jersey Civil Rights claims against them. (ECF No. 231.)
The Court finds Defendants’ motion for summary judgment is deficient. Under Federal
Rule of Civil Procedure 56(c)(1)(A), any party asserting that a fact is or is not in dispute must
support that assertion by “citing to particular parts of material in the record, including depositions,
documents, electronically stored information, affidavits or declarations, stipulations . . . ,
admissions, interrogatory answer, or other materials.” (emphasis added). New Jersey Local Civil
Rule 56.1(a) supplements the federal rule and provides in relevant part:
On motions for summary judgment, the movant shall furnish a
statement which sets forth material facts as to which there does not
exist a genuine issue, in separately numbered paragraphs citing to
the affidavits and other documents submitted in support of the
motion. A motion for summary judgment unaccompanied by a
statement of material facts not in dispute shall be dismissed.
Here, Defendants have failed to comply with Local Civil Rule 56.1(a). Defendants have
failed to submit a statement of material facts in separately numbered paragraphs citing to affidavits

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and other documents submitted in support of the motion. Additionally, Defendants’ brief in support
of its motion for summary judgment fails to provide the Court with any substantive statement of
facts. Rather, Defendants submit only that Plaintiff alleges Defendants wrongfully arrested
Plaintiff and falsified police reports. The brief is devoid of any description of the facts pled by
Plaintiff or what Defendants assert are undisputed facts.
Accordingly,
IT IS on this 6th day of June 2023,
ORDERED Defendants’ motion for summary judgment (ECF No. 231) is DENIED
WITHOUT PREJUDICE for failure to comply with New Jersey Local Civil Rule 56.1(a); and it
is further
ORDERED that Defendants may file a renewed motion for summary judgment within
thirty (30) days of the date of this order that cures the above noted deficiencies; and it is further
ORDERED that the Clerk of the Court shall serve a copy of this Order on Petitioner by
regular mail and upon Defendants electronically.

/s/Brian R. Martinotti
HON. BRIAN R. MARTINOTTI
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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