Bradley v. Wisconsin Department of Children and Families et al

Filing 26

ORDER signed by Chief Judge Pamela Pepper on 3/5/2021. 25 Plaintiff's motion for leave to file exhibits CONSTRUED as motion to enlarge record on appeal and DENIED. (cc: all counsel and mailed to Elouise Bradley)(cb)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN

ELOUISE BRADLEY,
Plaintiff,
Case No. 20-cv-661-pp
v.
WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT
OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES, et al.,
Defendants.
ORDER CONSTRUING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO FILE EXHIBITS AS A
MOTION TO ENLARGE THE RECORD ON APPEAL AND DENYING MOTION
(DKT. NO. 25)

On April 24, 2020, the plaintiff, who is representing herself, filed this
lawsuit. Dkt. No. 1. On December 18, 2020, the court dismissed the case for
failure to state a claim. Dkt. No. 13. On February 3, 2021, the court denied the
plaintiff’s motion to alter or amend judgment or for relief from judgment. Dkt.
No. 20. The plaintiff since has filed an appeal to the Seventh Circuit Court of
Appeals. Dkt. No. 21.
On February 23, 2021, the plaintiff filed a “Motion to File Exhibits.” Dkt.
No. 25. The top of the first page of the motion lists the United States District
Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin—this court. Id. at 1. Under the title
of the motion, the plaintiff asks the court for permission to file the exhibits “in
this Court,” stating that she believes the exhibits will “help this Court to

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understand [her] case better.” Id. She attached thirty pages of proposed
exhibits. Dkt. No. 25-1.
Although the plaintiff has asked to file the exhibits with this court—the
district court—there currently is no case pending before this court. This court
dismissed the plaintiff’s case. Her case is now pending before the Seventh
Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. So the court will construe the plaintiff’s
motion as a motion to add the exhibits to the record before the Seventh Circuit.
Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 10(e)(1) states that “[i]f any difference
arises about whether the record truly discloses what occurred in the district
court, the difference must be submitted to and settled by that court and the
record conformed accordingly.” Fed. R. App. 10(e). Circuit Rule 10(b) of the
Circuit Rules of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit says
that a party seeking to correct or modify the appellate record must first present
her motion to the district court, and that the district court must include its
order on the motion in the appellate record and send the order to the court of
appeals.
Several of the pages the plaintiff wants to add to the record on appeal
already appear on this court’s docket, but the majority are new. These
documents include filings from other cases, pages of previous investigations by
the defendants, the docket in one of the plaintiff’s former cases, copies of email
communications among parties in this case and financial documents related to
the plaintiff’s former daycare business. Dkt. No. 25-1. The plaintiff does not
need to add to the appellate record any documents she filed with this court
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before this court dismissed her case, so her motion is unnecessary as to those
documents. Any documents that the plaintiff did not provide to this court
before it dismissed her case are irrelevant to the court of appeals, because that
court decides whether this court’s decision was wrong based only on the
evidence that was before this court when it dismissed the case. The court will
deny the plaintiff’s motion to add the exhibits to the appellate record.
The court CONSTRUES the plaintiff’s motion for leave to file exhibits as a
motion to enlarge the record on appeal under Fed. R. App. P. 10(e) and DENIES
the motion to enlarge the record. Dkt. No. 25.
The clerk will forward a copy of this order to the Seventh Circuit Court of
Appeals in Appeal No. 21-1251.
Dated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin this 15th day of March, 2021.
BY THE COURT:
_____________________________________
HON. PAMELA PEPPER
Chief United States District Judge

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