Abdikarim v. Fitzgibbons
- Katherine Menendez
- 0:24-cv-02012
- U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
- 2
In Abdikarim v. Fitzgibbons, Judge Menendez dismissed the case without prejudice, granted one motion, and denied or denied as moot others.
Zakariya Abdikarim, whose claims were dismissed without prejudice and who must pay the unpaid $350 filing-fee balance; Tim Brennan, Michelle Marie Eldien, and Barry Fitzgibbons, who were dismissed from the case.
What happened
In Abdikarim v. Fitzgibbons, the court reviewed a magistrate judge’s recommendation after no party filed objections. The opinion does not describe the underlying claims.
The court accepted the recommendation in full. It dismissed the claims against Tim Brennan and Michelle Marie Eldien voluntarily and without prejudice, and dismissed the claims against Barry Fitzgibbons without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a).
Judge Katherine M. Menendez granted Zakariya Abdikarim’s request to waive the initial partial filing fee, denied his motion to amend, and denied his applications to proceed without prepaying fees as moot. The court also ordered him to pay the remaining $350 filing fee through the statutory payment process.
The detailed version
- Abdikarim v. Fitzgibbons · No. 0:24-cv-02012
- Katherine Menendez
- Dec. 18, 2024
Background
Zakariya Abdikarim sued Barry Fitzgibbons, Tim Brennan, and Michelle Marie Eldien in their official and individual capacities. The opinion does not describe the claims or the events underlying the lawsuit.
The order addressed a Report and Recommendation issued by United States Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright on November 5, 2024. No objections were filed. Because there were no objections, Judge Menendez reviewed the recommendation for clear error, meaning an obvious mistake, and found none.
Rulings
The court accepted the Report and Recommendation in full and ordered that the matter be dismissed without prejudice. The claims against Tim Brennan and Michelle Marie Eldien were treated as voluntarily dismissed without prejudice. The claims against Barry Fitzgibbons were dismissed without prejudice under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a).
The court also:
- Granted Abdikarim’s motion to waive the initial partial filing fee. - Denied Abdikarim’s motion to amend. - Denied as moot Abdikarim’s applications to proceed without prepaying filing fees. - Ordered Abdikarim to pay the unpaid $350 balance of the statutory filing fee through the payment process required by 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2).
The Clerk of Court was directed to notify the authorities at the institution where Abdikarim is confined about the filing-fee requirement.
Effect of the Order
The case was dismissed without prejudice, so the order itself does not state that refiling is barred. The opinion does not explain the substantive basis for the claims’ dismissal beyond the statutory reference to § 1915(a) for the claims against Fitzgibbons.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.