Winkle v. Loranger et al

Filing 27

DECISION AND ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE A SECOND AMENDED COMPLAINT AND TO ADD AND DELETE PARTIES. Signed by Magistrate Judge Michael R Merz on 5/16/2014. (kpf1)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO
WESTERN DIVISION AT DAYTON
MARK R. WINKLE,
Plaintiff,

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vs

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Case No. 3:14-cv-020
District Judge Thomas M. Rose
Magistrate Judge Michael R. Merz

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CAROL S. LORANGER, et al.,

Defendants.

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DECISION AND ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN
PART PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE A SECOND
AMENDED COMPLAINT AND TO ADD AND DELETE PARTIES

This case is before the Court on Plaintiff=s Motion for Leave to File a Second Amended
Complaint, Motion for Leave to Dismiss Claims Against Certain Defendants, [and] Motion for
Leave to Add Additional Defendants (Doc. No. 23).
Plaintiff’s request to remove Defendants Wright State University Graduate School, Amy
Johnson, Jason Champagne, Sol Solomon, Amy Barnhart, Michael Griest, John Haught, the
Office of the Registrar of Wright State University, the Financial Aid Department of Wright State
University, Wright State University College of Education and Humanities, and Wright State
University College of Liberal Arts is GRANTED and all claims against those Defendants are
DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.

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Winkle seeks to add Assistant Attorney General Michael McPhillips as a defendant on a
claim of tortious interference with business, i.e., a claim that he “directly interfered in the
negotiations by and between the plaintiff and the defendants in April 2014” and violated the
Rules of Professional Conduct. (Proposed Second Amended Complaint, Doc. No. 23-1, PageID
479). Mr. McPhillips is counsel for all Defendants in this case except the federal Secretary of
Education and the United states Department of Education Granting leave to amend to add this
claim would be futile because it would be subject to dismissal for failure to state a claim upon
which relief can be granted.

Winkle’s recital about the Rules of Professional Conduct is

completely conclusory. It is not tortious interference for an attorney representing clients to stand
between them and the opposing party. The requests to add McPhillips as a party and to add the
claim purportedly made against him in the Proposed Second Amended Complaint of May 9,
2014, are DENIED.
Winkle seeks to add claims for breach of contract against the Columbus City School
District and Mosaica Education. The Proposed Second Amended Complaint of May 9, 2014,
does not show any way in which these two claims are related to the claims already made in this
case. Plaintiff has not shown that they are properly joined in this action under Fed. R. Civ. P. 20
and the request to add them as defendants is DENIED. The Court also notes that claims against
the Columbus, Ohio, school district should be filed in the Eastern Division of this Court and the
Proposed Second Amended Complaint of May 9, 2014, does not plead any act by Mosaica
Education which would subject them to the personal jurisdiction of an Ohio court.
Winkle seeks to add claims against the State of Ohio, the Ohio Board of Regents, and the
Ohio Board of Education for failure “to provide equitable treatment to Teacher Education
students seeking teaching endorsements under the Graduate Loan programs of the United States

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Department of Education, and the spirit and intent of the No Child Left Behind Act Elementary
and Secondary Education Act, which includes Title I.” (Doc. No. 23-1, PageID 480). Damages
claims against these three Defendants are barred by the Eleventh Amendment. Winkle also
apparently seeks to have Chapter 3319 of the Ohio Revised Code declared unconstitutional, but
there are well over one hundred sections in that chapter, added and amended on many different
occasions, and Winkle has not pleaded which sections violate the United States Constitution.
For the foregoing reasons, Winkle’s Motion for Leave to File a Second Amended
Complaint and Motion to Add Additional Defendants are DENIED.
May 16, 2014.
s/ Michael R. Merz
United States Magistrate Judge

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