Kromrey v. U.S. Department of Justice

Filing 13

ORDER denying 7 Motion to Dismiss ; granting 10 MOTION for to Re-serve Summons. Plaintiff to serve the signed and sealed summonses and his complaint with its attachments on defendant in accordance with Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(i) and file proof of service as soon as service has been accomplished. Signed by Chief Judge Barbara B. Crabb on 8/26/09. (elc),(ps)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FO R THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - M A R K KROMREY, ORDER Plaintiff, 0 9 - cv -3 7 6 - b b c v. U .S . DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, D efendan t. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - In this civil action brought under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 522, p lain tiff Mark Kromrey, who is proceeding pro se, alleges that defendant U.S. Department o f Justice violated this statute by failing to comply with plaintiff's requests for information regarding an investigation he believes he helped to launch. Defendant has moved to dismiss plaintiff's complaint for insufficient process and lack of personal jurisdiction. In response, plaintiff has moved to re-file the summons in this case. Defendant moves to dismiss this case for two reasons. First, the summons that plaintiff served on defendant was not signed and sealed by the clerk of court. Second, p lain tiff did not serve the attachments to his complaint on defendant. On June 19, 2009, I explained to plaintiff that he needed to serve the complaint on the defendant. I enclosed w ith my order a copy of a document titled "Serving the United States, Its Agencies, 1

Co rporations, Officers, or Employees." The procedures explain how he needs to serve a copy of the complaint and the summons on defendant. Also, I told him I was enclosing the forms, including summonses, he would need to send to the defendant in accordance with the pro cedures set out in the memorandum on service. Unfortunately, the summonses included w i t h the order sent to plaintiff were not signed and sealed by the clerk of court as they should have been. However, plaintiff proceeded according to the procedures and served the sum m on ses, not knowing that they were deficient. Because plaintiff followed the procedures h e was given, the insufficiency of process was not his fault. defendan t's motion to dismiss the case. I will have the clerk issue signed and sealed summonses and enclose them with this o r d er . Plaintiff shall re-serve defendant with the new summonses and his complaint Therefore, I will deny

acco rdin g to the procedures under Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(i), a copy of which was previously p ro vid ed to him. He shall also include the attachments to his complaint with the complaint he serves. Plaintiff has until September 16, 2009 to serve the defendants pursuant to Fed. R . Civ. P. 4(m). However, if for some reason he is not able to serve the defendants by that date he may request an extension of time.

OR DER IT IS ORDERED that: 1. Defendant's motion to dismiss plaintiff's case, dkt. #7, is DENIED; 2

2. Plaintiff's motion to re-serve defendant with proper summonses, dkt. #10, is G R AN T ED ; 3. Plaintiff shall serve the signed and sealed summonses and his complaint with its attachm ents on defendant in accordance with Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(i) and file proof of service of his complaint as soon as service has been accomplished. Enclosed with this order are the sum m onses signed and sealed by the clerk. E n tered this 26 t h day of August, 2009. B Y THE COURT: /s/ _ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ B AR B AR A B. CRABB D istrict Judge

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