Loggins v. Burleigh County et al

Filing 30

ORDER granting 29 MOTION for Hearing/Status Conference; granting 27 MOTION for Leave to File Second Amended Complaint. Status Conference set for 3/25/2025 at 9:00 AM by telephone before Magistrate Judge Clare R. Hochhalter. By Magistrate Judge Clare R. Hochhalter (BG) Distributed on 3/11/2025. (jb)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF NORTH DAKOTA
Jonathan David Loggins,
Plaintiff,
vs.
Burleigh County, et al.,
Defendant.

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ORDER

Case No. 1:24-cv-106

On January 24, 2025, Plaintiff Jonathan David Loggins (“Logins”) filed what the court
construes as a motion for leave to file a second amended complaint. (Doc. No. 27).1 Therein he
names several new defendants.
On February 7, 2025, Defendant Burleigh County filed a response to Loggins’s motion.
(Doc. Nos. 28 and 29). It initially points out that the deadline to file motions to amend has expired.
However, it recognizes that the new defendants Loggins has named may be the “Unknown Officers
1-20” that he enumerated in his earlier pleadings and that he may have been able to ascertain the
identity of these new defendants through discovery it has provided. Consequently, it does not object
to Loggins’s motion with the understanding that Loggins is proceeding against these newly named
defendants in their official capacity.2 However, it requests that the court schedule a status
conference and scheduling conference to amend the current scheduling order.

1

The document filed by Loggins is not a motion or brief, but rather a proposed second amended complaint.

2

Loggins does not specify the capacity in which is suing the newly named Defendants. The brightline rule in
the Eighth Circuit has long been that when a plaintiff's complaint is silent about the capacity in which he is suing the
defendant, the complaint is interpreted as including only official-capacity claims. However, the Eighth Circuit has
recently abandoned this rule in favor of the course of proceedings test. S.A.A. v. Geisler, 127 F.4th 1133, 1140 (8th
Cir. 2025) (“[W]e join our sister circuits in rejecting the clear statement rule in favor of the course of proceedings test
for determining the capacity in which a § 1983 defendant is sued.”).

1

The court GRANTS Loggins’s motion for leave to file a second amended complaint (Doc.
No. 27). The document filed by Loggins at Doc. No. 27 shall be re-filed as Loggins’s second
amended complaint. The court GRANTS Burleigh County’s request for a status conference. (Doc.
No. 29). The court shall hold a status conference with the parties’ by telephone on March 25, 2025,
at 9:00 AM by telephone. To participate, the parties should call 571-353-2301 and enter 292466149
followed by # when prompted for “Call ID.”
IS SO ORDERED.
Dated this 11th day of March, 2025.
/s/ Clare R. Hochhalter
Clare R. Hochhalter, Magistrate Judge
United States District Court

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