Lee v. Eller, et al.,

Filing 151

ORDER denying 146 Motion to Show Cause; denying 147 Motion to Show Cause; denying 148 Motion for Order to Show Cause; denying 149 Motion for Order to Show Cause. Signed by Judge Algenon L. Marbley on 6/3/2019. (cw)(This document has been sent by regular mail to the party(ies) listed in the NEF that did not receive electronic notification.)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO
EASTERN DIVISION
ANTIONE S. LEE,
Plaintiff,
vs.

Civil Action 2:13-cv-087
JUDGE ALGENON L. MARBLEY
Magistrate Judge King

BRAD ELLER, et al.,
Defendants.
OPINION AND ORDER
Plaintiff, a state prisoner who is transgender, filed this civil
rights action in 2013, alleging that she was denied medically
necessary hormone treatment while incarcerated at the Belmont
Correctional Institution. The parties eventually agreed to all terms
of settlement and, on July 28, 2015, the case was dismissed with
prejudice. Order, ECF No. 144; Judgment, ECF No. 145. In dismissing
the lawsuit, the Court did not retain jurisdiction, nor did it
incorporate the terms of the parties’ settlement. See id. This matter
is now before the Court on plaintiff’s Motion to Show Cause, ECF No.
146, Motion to Show Cause, ECF No. 147, Motion: Show Cause Order, ECF
No. 148, and Motion for Order to Show Cause, ECF No. 149, all filed in
October 2018.
In her current motions, plaintiff – who is now incarcerated at
the Warren Correctional Institution – alleges that she has missed a
number of doses of her hormone medication, that she has been denied
“femanine [sic] items,” and that she has been subjected to name
calling in retaliation for having “won her civil suit.” Motion: Show
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Cause Order, ECF No. 148, at PageID# 2030. Plaintiff asks that this
Court enforce the settlement agreement and “order[] the Ohio
Department of Corrections to stop with all retaliation against”
plaintiff. Id. at PageID# 2028.
This Court lacks jurisdiction to enforce the parties’ settlement
agreement. The United States Supreme Court has held that
“[e]nforcement of [a] settlement agreement . . . is more than just a
continuation or renewal of the dismissed suit, and hence requires its
own basis for jurisdiction.” Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of
America, 511 U.S. 375, 378 (1994). A simple order of dismissal based
on the settlement of an action is insufficient to invoke federal
jurisdiction over a claim seeking enforcement of terms of settlement
unless the court either retained jurisdiction over the settlement
agreement or incorporated the terms of the settlement agreement in the
order of dismissal. Id. at 381; Moore v. U.S. Postal Serv., 369 F.
App'x 712, 716 (6th Cir. 2010).

As noted supra, the order dismissing

this case neither retained jurisdiction over the parties’ settlement
agreement nor incorporated the terms of settlement in the dismissal
order. Under these circumstances, this Court lacks jurisdiction to
enforce the terms of settlement. See Kokkonen, 511 U.S. 375.1
To the extent that plaintiff now seeks to assert a claim of
retaliation – a claim that was not asserted against any of the
defendants in the original action – his proper recourse is to initiate
a new lawsuit against the defendants who are alleged to have engaged
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Where, as here, the federal court has not retained jurisdiction over
enforcement of the settlement agreement, a claimed breach of the settlement
agreement “is for state courts, unless there is some independent basis for
federal jurisdiction.” Kokkonen, at 382.

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in the retaliation. See Perris v. Cuyahoga County Board of
Developmental Disabilities, 620 Fed. Appx. 386 (6th Cir. July 15,
2015)(A motion to amend a judgment or for relief from judgment is
properly denied where movant seeks to assert a new claim not presented
in the original action).
Accordingly, plaintiff’s Motion to Show Cause, ECF No. 146,
Motion to Show Cause, ECF No. 147, Motion: Show Cause Order, ECF No.
148, and Motion for Order to Show Cause, ECF No. 149, are DENIED. This
denial, however, is without prejudice to the filing of another lawsuit
in an appropriate forum.

s/Algenon L. Marbley
Algenon L. Marbley
United States District Judge

DATED:

June 3, 2019

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