United States of America v. Butler

Filing 9

ORDER ADMINISTRATIVELY CLOSING CASE. Signed by Chief Judge S. Thomas Anderson on 4/5/17. (Anderson, S.)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE
EASTERN DIVISION
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff,
VS.
VIKI BUTLER,
Defendant.

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No. 16-1044-STA-egb

ORDER CLOSING CASE ADMINISTRATIVELY

On March 4, 2016, Plaintiff United States of America filed an application for writ of
garnishment. The writ of garnishment was issued that same day. The garnishee filed an answer on
April 11, 2016. No other action has been taken in this matter.
Administratively closing a case is a case-management tool used by district courts to obtain
an accurate count of active cases. Citifinancial Corp. v. Harrison, 453 F.3d 245 (5th Cir. 2006).
That is, the court may close a case administratively for statistical purposes. See Corion Corp. v.
Chen, 964 F.2d 55, 56-57 (1st Cir. 1992) (Administrative closings comprise a familiar, albeit
essentially ad hoc, way in which courts remove cases from their active files without making any
final adjudication.) See also Lehman v. Revolution Portfolio L.L.C., 166 F.3d 389 (1st Cir. 1999)
(AThis method is used in various districts throughout the nation in order to shelve pending, but
dormant, cases.@).

Lehman Aendorsed the judicious use of administrative closings in

circumstances in which a case, though not dead, is likely to remain moribund for an appreciable
period of time.@ Id. at 392 n. 3.

Consequently, the Clerk of Court is directed to close the case for statistical purposes.
Nothing contained in this order shall be considered as a dismissal or disposition of this action.
Should further proceedings become necessary, either party may initiate that proceeding in the
same manner as if this order had not been entered.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
s/ S. Thomas Anderson
S. THOMAS ANDERSON
CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Date: April 5, 2017

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