Mills v. Anoka County Jail

Background

Plaintiff Shelley Jane Mills filed this lawsuit on June 5, 2025 against Anoka County Jail, Sheila Larson, and Brad Wise. The opinion does not describe the underlying claims. No proof of service was filed after the complaint was submitted.

Procedural History

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(m) requires that a defendant be served within 90 days of the filing of a complaint; if not, the court must dismiss the action without prejudice against that defendant, either on motion or on its own initiative after providing notice to the plaintiff.

On September 29, 2025 — well after the 90-day service deadline — the magistrate judge issued an order giving Mills 20 days to do one of four things: (1) file proof of service or a waiver of service on the court's electronic filing system (CM/ECF); (2) immediately notify defendants' counsel of the obligation to appear or seek an extension of time; (3) file an application for entry of default if defendants failed to appear within 10 days; or (4) advise the court in writing of any good cause for not taking those steps.

Analysis and Recommendation

As of October 28, 2025, Mills had done none of the four items listed in the September 29, 2025 order. Magistrate Judge Wright cited Eighth Circuit authority approving of the court's own initiative (called "sua sponte" action) in dismissing a case for failure to serve a defendant, provided the dismissal is without prejudice. Specifically, the court cited Hoffmann v. United States, 21 F. App'x 528 (8th Cir. 2001), and Sterling v. United States, 985 F.2d 411 (8th Cir. 1993), for the propositions that failure to serve within the required period and failure to prosecute both independently support such a dismissal.

Disposition

Magistrate Judge Wright issued a Report and Recommendation — a non-final proposal to the presiding district judge — recommending that Mills's complaint be DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE for failure to prosecute.

Next Steps for the Parties

This is a Report and Recommendation, not a final order, and it is not directly appealable to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. Under District of Minnesota Local Rule 72.2(b)(1), any party may file written objections within 14 days of being served a copy of the Report and Recommendation. The opposing party then has 14 days to respond to those objections. If no objections are filed, the district judge may adopt the recommendation. If the recommendation is adopted, the case would be dismissed without prejudice — meaning Mills is not automatically barred from refiling, though other legal rules and deadlines may independently limit that option.