Ghetto Dope Records LLC and it's subsidiaries et al v. Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Services

Filing 9

ORDER signed by Judge Brett H Ludwig on 9/15/22 adopting 7 Report and Recommendations. The case is therefore DISMISSED.. (cc: all counsel and mailed to pro se party)(jad)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN
GHETTO DOPE RECORDZS LLC and it’s
Subsidiaries and SPOT KINGZ LLC, 1
Plaintiff,
v.

Case No. 22-cv-0229-bhl

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY and
INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICES,
Defendants.
______________________________________________________________________________
ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION
______________________________________________________________________________
On February 7, 2022, Plaintiffs Ghetto Dope Recordzs, LLC and Spot Kingz, LLC filed a
bemused complaint against the United States Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue
Service (IRS). (ECF No. 1.) Plaintiffs appear to assert that the United States has failed to pay
taxes to them. (Id. at 2.) Dubitable merits aside, the real issue is that no attorney signed the
complaint, and limited liability companies may not appear pro se. (Id. at 3); See 1756 W. Lake St.
LLC v. Am. Chartered Bank, 787 F.3d 383, 385 (7th Cir. 2015). On February 11, 2022, the Clerk
of Court alerted Plaintiffs to this defect. (ECF No. 3-1 at 1.) Plaintiffs responded a week later
with a new complaint “signed” by the “Law Offices of: The Other Side UH Entertainment LLC,”
a “representative and pro se attorney.” (ECF No. 3 at 1, 4.)
On April 5, 2022, Magistrate Judge Nancy Joseph issued an Order to Show Cause, giving
Plaintiffs two-and-a-half weeks to file a copy of their complaint signed by an actual attorney. (ECF
No. 4.) In response, Plaintiffs submitted even more defective papers. (ECF No. 5.) Thus, on April
25, 2022, Judge Joseph issued a Report and Recommendation, recommending that the Court
dismiss the case. (ECF No. 7 at 3.) Two weeks later, Plaintiffs filed a document—stylized as an
appeal to the Seventh Circuit—that one might generously construe as objections to the Report and

1

The Court has updated the caption to reflect the proper name of the LLCs.

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Recommendation. (ECF No. 8.) Because none of the objections has merit, the Court will adopt
Judge Joseph’s Report and Recommendation and dismiss the case.
ANALYSIS
A district court reviews, de novo, any part of a magistrate judge’s disposition to which a
party properly objects. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b)(3). Where no objection is raised, the magistrate’s
report is reviewed only for clear error. Johnson v. Zema Sys. Corp., 170 F.3d 734, 739 (7th Cir.
1999) (citing Goffman v. Gross, 59 F.3d 668, 671 (7th Cir. 1995); Campbell v. U.S. Dist. Ct. for
N. Dist. of California, 501 F.2d 196, 206 (9th Cir. 1974)).
Plaintiffs’ “objections” are almost impossible to parse. For example, they write: “Judge
Nancy Joseph challenged law citations cross examinations of corporations and not the law of the
courtroom and constitution when a private pro se attorney and the corporation is all separate of
each other with the constitutional right of legal practices.” (ECF No. 8 at 2.) To the extent that
this is Plaintiffs’ attempt to invoke a constitutional right to appear pro se, that attempt is misguided.
“[A] limited liability company, like a corporation, cannot litigate pro se or be represented in []
litigation by a nonlawyer.” 1756 W. Lake St. LLC, 787 F.3d at 385. Even if The Other Side UH
Entertainment LLC is a law office, it cannot sign a complaint in the corporate form; one of the
actual attorneys must take that action.
Nothing else in Plaintiffs’ “objections” remotely approximates a challenge to any of Judge
Joseph’s conclusions.

The Court will, therefore, adopt Judge Joseph’s Report and

Recommendation in full.
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that, after consideration of Plaintiffs’ objections, the Court
adopts Judge Joseph’s Report and Recommendation in full. The case is therefore DISMISSED.
The Clerk of Court is directed to enter judgment accordingly.
Dated at Milwaukee, Wisconsin on September 15, 2022.
s/ Brett H. Ludwig
BRETT H. LUDWIG
United States District Judge

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