Shields v. Dane County Jail Mental Health Dept et al

Filing 30

ORDER denying plaintiff Cortez Willie Shields leave to proceed against any additional defendants described in his Amended Complaint filed October 15, 2019 (dkt. # 28 ). Plaintiff's deadline to identify defendants "Sarah April" and "Sarah L." in an amended complaint is extended to November 29, 2019. Signed by District Judge William M. Conley on 10/16/2019. (jef),(ps)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN
CORTEZ WILLIE SHIELDS,
Plaintiff,

ORDER

v.
17-cv-266-wmc
LT. TONY, BKB, SARAH L., Mental Health Director,
and SARAH APRIL,
Defendants.
The court granted pro se plaintiff Cortez Willie Shields leave to proceed on a claim
that “Sarah L., Lt. Tony, Sarah April and BBK,” all employees of the Dane County Jail,
violated his constitutional rights by requiring him to talk about his mental health needs
through a food slot within earshot of other inmates. The court directed the U.S. Marshals
to serve those four defendants, and they successfully served defendants BBK and Lt. Tony
(dkt. ##18, 19), but were unable to serve Sarah April or Sarah L. because the jail’s mental
health department has never employed a person of either name (dkt. #20). The deadline
for Shields to identify Doe defendants is November 1, 2019. On October 15, 2019, Shields
filed a document purporting to identify various defendants, including Sarah April and
Sarah L. Specifically, Shields writes “two women with name April not the one with black
curly hair, that’s light skin or bi racial, but the thin build short April or Sara white - black
brownish hair worked Oct 2016-2017 Jan.” (Dkt. #28.) He also describes a “Female,
Sarah or Sue Mental Health Director, [who] was pregnant at the time 2016-2017 heavy
set white lady.” (Id.) Finally, Shields describes other individuals that appear to have been
working at the jail during the time period relevant to his claims. Construing this document

as a motion to amend his complaint, the court is denying it.
While Shields’ filing provides additional information about the correct identities of
“Sarah April” and “Sarah L.,” it does not appear he followed the procedures the court
outlined in the Preliminary Pretrial Conference Order for the court to grant him leave to
amend his complaint (see dkt. #27 at 4-5), and instead he is relying on his own memory of
the relevant events. Indeed, as for “Sarah April,” it is apparent that Shields understands
that “Sarah April” either has the first name “Sara(h)” or “April,” is white-skinned, with
black brownish hair and worked in the mental health department at the jail in October
2016-January 2017. Similarly, it appears Shields intends to clarify that the mental health
director, “Sarah L.,” is actually “Sarah or Sue” and she was pregnant in 2016 and 2017.
These descriptions, while insufficient for the court to allow him to proceed against these
individuals, provide sufficient information for Shields to prepare discovery requests that
ask defendants to properly identify the “Sarah April” and “Sarah L.” described in his
amended complaint.
Shields should use this information, and the directions set forth in the Preliminary
Pretrial Conference Order (dkt. #27) 4-5), to prepare and serve discovery requests on
defendants to identify accurately “Sarah April” and “Sarah L.” The court will extend
Shields’ deadline to identify the Doe defendants until November 29, 2019, to
accommodate his need to conduct such discovery. As for the other individuals Shields
identifies in his amended complaint, since the court did not grant Shields leave to proceed
against any other defendant, the court will ignore these descriptions and Shields should
omit them from any renewed amended complaint.

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ORDER
IT IS ORDERED that:
1) Plaintiff Cortez Willie Shields is DENIED leave to proceed against any additional
defendants described in his Amended Complaint filed October 15, 2019 (dkt. #28).
2) Plaintiff’s deadline to identify defendants “Sarah April” and “Sarah L.” in an
amended complaint is extended to November 29, 2019.
Entered this 16th day of October, 2019.
BY THE COURT:
/s/
__________________________________
WILLIAM M. CONLEY
District Judge

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