Crump v. Minnesota Department of Corrections
- Jerry Blackwell
- 0:23-cv-03208
- U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
- 3
In Crump v. Minnesota Department of Corrections, Judge Blackwell accepted the recommendation, dismissed the claims without prejudice, and struck an unauthorized amended complaint.
Willie James Crump and the defendants named in the order: the Minnesota Department of Corrections, Paul Schnell, and Ann Blanchard. The order also addresses Crump’s requests to proceed without paying fees and to have counsel appointed.
What happened
In Crump v. Minnesota Department of Corrections, Willie James Crump represented himself in a case against the Minnesota Department of Corrections and other defendants. A magistrate judge recommended dismissing his Third Amended Complaint, and Crump did not object; instead, he filed a Fourth Amended Complaint.
The court accepted the recommendation. It dismissed without prejudice the claims against the Minnesota Department of Corrections and against Paul Schnell and Ann Blanchard in their official capacities for lack of jurisdiction. It also dismissed without prejudice the claims against Schnell and Blanchard in their individual capacities for failure to state a claim, and dismissed without prejudice any state-law claims. The court denied Crump’s application to proceed without paying fees and his two requests for appointed counsel as moot, and struck the Fourth Amended Complaint because he filed it without court permission.
Judge Jerry W. Blackwell reviewed the recommendation for clear error, found none, accepted it, and ordered these dispositions.
The detailed version
- Crump v. Minnesota Department of Corrections · No. 0:23-cv-03208
- Jerry W. Blackwell
- Aug. 1, 2024
Background
Willie James Crump proceeded without a lawyer. United States Magistrate Judge Leo I. Brisbois issued a Report and Recommendation on May 15, 2024. Crump did not object to it. Instead, he filed a Fourth Amended Complaint.
The court explained that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a) allowed Crump to amend his pleading once without court permission. Because he did not ask for or receive permission to file the Fourth Amended Complaint, the court ordered that pleading stricken from the record.
Rulings
The court reviewed the Report and Recommendation for clear error because no objection had been filed. It found no clear error and accepted the recommendation.
The court ordered the following:
- Crump’s claims against the Minnesota Department of Corrections and against Paul Schnell and Ann Blanchard in their official capacities were dismissed without prejudice for lack of jurisdiction. - Crump’s claims against Paul Schnell and Ann Blanchard in their individual capacities were dismissed without prejudice for failure to state a claim. - The court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction, meaning authority over related state-law claims after disposing of the federal claims, and dismissed Crump’s state-law claims without prejudice. - Crump’s application to proceed without paying filing fees was denied as moot. - Crump’s motion to appoint counsel and his second motion to appoint counsel were each denied as moot. - Crump’s Fourth Amended Complaint was stricken because it was filed without leave of court.
The court directed that judgment be entered accordingly.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.