Edwards v. THURMER et al

Filing 51

ORDER denying 38 Motion for Summary Judgment by plaintiff for failure to comply with court procedures. Signed by Chief Judge Barbara B. Crabb on 3/26/2009. (llj),(ps)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FO R THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN --------------------------------------------TERRANCE EDWARDS, P la i n t i f f , v. JER EM Y STANIEC, JOE BEAHM, T R AV IS CAUL, J. HAWKINS, Sgt. ERIC KRUEGER, and BRIAN GREFF, Lt. D efendan ts. --------------------------------------------Plaintiff has filed a motion for summary judgment in this case, in which he alleges that defendants used excessive force against him on April 19, 2008, in violation of his Eighth Am endm ent rights. Unfortunately, plaintiff's motion does not substantially comply with this court's Procedures to be Followed on Motions for Summary Judgment, a copy of which w as sent to the parties with the magistrate judge's September 19, 2008 preliminary pretrial conference order. Therefore, it must be denied. P lain tiff has filed a single document in which he lists proposed findings of fact and m akes legal arguments and to which he has attached purported evidentiary materials. As the co urt's procedures make clear, a party's proposed findings of fact are to be set forth in a ORDER 0 8 - cv -3 5 2 - b b c

docum ent separate from the party's legal arguments. In addition, to be admissible as evidence, exhibits must be authenticated. This means they must be attached to an affidavit in which a person who has personal knowledge of what the exhibits are declares under penalty of perjury or swears under oath that the exhibits are true and correct copies of the d ocu m e nts they appear to be. For example, if plaintiff wants to submit copies of incident repo rts written by the defendants following the April 19, 2008 incident that is the subject of this lawsuit, and he obtained the incident reports from the defendants during the discovery phase of this proceeding, he should prepare an affidavit in which he declares under p en alty of perjury that those exhibits (identified by the numbers he gave them) are true and correct copies of the incident reports he received from the defendants during discovery. Likew ise, if plaintiff wants to submit copies of his medical records, he must obtain an affid avit from the custodian of the records in which the custodian declares under penalty of perjury or swears under oath that the records are true and correct copies of plaintiff's medical records maintained by the Department of Corrections. Because plaintiff failed to comply with this court's summary judgment procedures and b ecau se none of his exhibits are admissible as evidence in light of the fact that they have not been authenticated, plaintiff's motion for summary judgment will be denied. However, the d en ial of plaintiff's motion does not prejudice plaintiff. I note that on March 25, 2009, d efen dan ts filed their own motion for summary judgment. In response to that motion, 2

p lain tiff will have an opportunity to explain his version of the facts, submit evidence and raise any legal arguments he wishes to raise relating to the matter at issue in this case. H o w e ver, plaintiff is encouraged to pay strict attention to the court's summary judgment pro cedures in preparing his response so that his submissions may be considered by the court. T o allow plaintiff to properly authenticate his exhibits, I am returning them to plaintiff with a copy of this order.

ORDER IT IS ORDERED that plaintiff's motion for summary judgment is DENIED for his failure to comply with the court's Procedures to be Followed on Motions for Summary Judgm ent. E n tered this 26t h day of March, 2009. B Y THE COURT: /s/ _ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ B AR B AR A B. CRABB D istrict Judge

3