Williams, Joseph v. Werlinger, Robert et al

Filing 23

ORDER that plaintiff Joseph Williams may have two weeks, until September 26,2014, to explain to the court whether and how he will attempt to locate defendant for the purpose of serving the complaint in this action. Failure to respond to this order will result in dismissal of the case. Signed by Magistrate Judge Stephen L. Crocker on 9/12/2014. (nln),(ps)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN

JOSEPH A. WILLIAMS,
ORDER
Plaintiff,
v.

13-cv-819-bbc

ROBERT WERLINGER,
Defendant.

On August 20, 2014 the court directed the United States Marshals Service (USMS) to
make a second attempt to serve defendant Werlinger in this pro se case. Now the USMS has
submitted a second “process receipt and return” form indicating that no forwarding information
is available and they were not able to locate defendant Werlinger using internet database
searches. Based on this information, I conclude that the USMS has made reasonable efforts to
locate the defendant. See Sellers v. United States, 902 F.2d 598, 602 (7th Cir. 1990) (once
defendant is identified, marshal must make reasonable effort to obtain current address). As this
court has stated many times, the USMS is not required to be a private investigator for civil
litigants or to use software available only to law enforcement officers to discover addresses for
defendants whose whereabouts are not discoverable through public records. See, e.g., Mosby v.
Doe, 2009 WL 278967 (W.D. Wis. Feb. 5, 2009).
A plaintiff cannot maintain a lawsuit against a defendant who has not received notice of
the claims against him. However, before the court dismisses the case for this problem, plaintiff
will be given a short deadline to explain whether he would like to pursue serving defendant
himself by conducting his own search or by hiring someone to do so.1

1

Even if the court ultimately dismissed the case for failure to serve defendants, such a dismissal would
be without prejudice, which means that in the right circumstances, plaintiff could refile this lawsuit.

ORDER
It is ORDERED that plaintiff Joseph Williams may have two weeks, until September 26,
2014, to explain to the court whether and how he will attempt to locate defendant for the
purpose of serving the complaint in this action. Failure to respond to this order will result in
dismissal of the case.

Entered this 12th day of September, 2014.
BY THE COURT:
/s/
STEPHEN L. CROCKER
Magistrate Judge

2