von Germeten v. Planet Home Lending LLC
Filing
59
ORDER signed by Judge Pamela Pepper on 2/26/2018. By end of day 3/23/2018, plaintiff to pay $200 partial filing fee in form accepted by clerk's office. Failure to do so will result in dismissal for failure to pay fee. (cc: all counsel, via mail to Dean VonGermeten-with copy of instructions for making payments)(cb)
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN
______________________________________________________________________________
DEAN VON GERMETEN,
Case No. 17-cv-167-pp
Plaintiff,
v.
PLANET HOME LENDING, LLC, et al.,
Defendants.
______________________________________________________________________________
ORDER REQUIRING PLAINTIFF TO PAY PARTIAL FILING FEE
IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE COURT BY THE END
OF THE DAY ON MARCH 23, 2018
______________________________________________________________________________
On January 29, 2018, the court issued an order requiring, among other
things, that the plaintiff pay a partial filing fee of $200 by the end of the day on
March 23, 2018. Dkt. No. 52.
On February 12, 2018, the court received from the plaintiff a document
entitled amended complaint. Dkt. No 56. With this document, the plaintiff sent
an undated letter, addressed to Judge Pepper. Dkt. No. 56-2. The letter
contained a series of statements about Federal Reserve notes and mortgages
and negotiable instruments and currency and full faith and credit. At the end
of this string of statements, the plaintiff stated that he “would like to tender the
below payment instrument to the court to cover fees & charges as may be due,
which the court may monetize through those channels it may have access to,
without creating further obligations by or to the United States of America or
injury to [himself].” Id.
1
On the same sheet of paper, under the text of the letter and the plaintiff’s
typed name, there appears a rectangle. At the top of the rectangle, the words
“MONEY ORDER” appear, and to the right of those words is a twelve-digit
number. The information inside the rectangle is laid out the way one might
expect a check or money order to be laid out—there is a field for the date (in
which the plaintiff wrote “Feb. 10, 2018,” a field for the payee (whom he listed
as the clerk of court), a field for the amount (both in words and in numerals—
the plaintiff put “Two-hundred dollars and zero cents” and “$200.00” in these
fields, respectively), a memo field and a signature line. Id. At the bottom of the
rectangle appear the initials “EIN/SSN,” and to the right of those initials, a
black rectangle which looks as if it was used to redact information. Id.
This document does not constitute a form of payment acceptable by the
office of the clerk of court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. The clerk’s
office lists on the court web site the forms of payment it accepts: cash; personal
and business checks, money orders, cashier’s checks; credit cards; bank
account ACH transfers; and Fedwire Wire transfers. See
http://www.wied.uscourts.gov/making-payments. In order for the clerk’s office
to accept checks, money orders or cashier’s checks, they must be drawn on
bank accounts holding funds; the clerk’s office charges a fee of $53 for
returned or NSF checks.
If the plaintiff wishes to use the court system to pursue his claims, then
he must pay the required filing fee in a form accepted by the court in order to
proceed. The court’s February 12, 2018 order gave the plaintiff a deadline of
2
March 23, 2018 by which to pay the $200 partial filing fee. If the clerk’s office
does not receive a filing fee of $200 in legal tender—U.S. dollars, or a check or
money order drawn on a valid bank account—by the end of the day on March
23, 2018, the court will dismiss the plaintiff’s case for failure to pay the
required filing fee.
In the event that the plaintiff does pay the filing fee in a form the court
can accept, the court notes some other issues. First, the amended complaint
that the court received from the plaintiff on February 12, 2018 is not signed.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(a) requires that “[e]very pleading, written
motion, or other paper must be signed by at least one attorney of record in the
attorney’s name—or by a party personally if the party is unrepresented.” The
rule also requires the signer to include his address, e-mail address and
telephone number. The rule states, “The court must strike an unsigned paper
unless the omission is promptly corrected after being called to the attorney’s or
party’s attention.” Even if the court receives the filing fee in a form which the
court can accept, the court still may strike the plaintiff’s amended complaint if
he does not file a signed version, containing his address, email address and
telephone number.
Second, in its February 12, 2018 order, the court instructed the plaintiff
to submit the amended complaint on the court’s form. Dkt. No. 52 at 10. The
court even sent the plaintiff a blank copy of the form, and gave him
instructions on how to complete that form. The plaintiff ignored both the form
3
and the court’s instructions, instead filing twenty-one typewritten pages of his
own creation. Dkt. No. 56.
Third, the February 12, 2018 order told the plaintiff that the court could
not figure out what federal laws the plaintiff thought the defendants had
violated. It instructed the plaintiff to tell the court, in the amended complaint,
what laws or constitutional provisions he believed the defendant had violated.
In the (unsigned) amended complaint, the plaintiff does list four statutes. He
starts with 18 U.S.C. §1005. Id. at 2. That is a criminal statute. Only the
government—specifically, the Department of Justice—can bring criminal
charges. There is no private right of action under 18 U.S.C. §1005. The same is
true for several other statutes the plaintiff cites: 18 U.S.C. §§42, 371, 1341,
1346, 1349 and 1961. The court has not reviewed, or “screened,” the other,
non-criminal causes of action the plaintiff has alleged. It will do so after it
receives the filing fee from the plaintiff, and after it receives an amended
complaint that complies with Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(a).
The court ORDERS that, in time for the court to receive it by the end of
the day on March 23, 2018, the plaintiff shall pay the $200 partial filing fee, in
a form that the clerk’s office accepts. The court ORDERS that if the plaintiff
4
does not pay the $200 filing fee by the end of the day on March 23, 2018 in a
form the clerk’s office can accept, the court will dismiss the case for failure to
pay the required fee.
Dated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin this 26th day of February, 2018.
BY THE COURT:
______________________________________
HON. PAMELA PEPPER
United States District Judge
5
Disclaimer: Justia Dockets & Filings provides public litigation records from the federal appellate and district courts. These filings and docket sheets should not be considered findings of fact or liability, nor do they necessarily reflect the view of Justia.
Why Is My Information Online?