Thayer v. Landmark Event Staffing and Services

Background

Zachary Thayer filed a complaint against Landmark Event Staffing and Services and represented himself. After the court granted his application to proceed without paying the filing fee, Magistrate Judge Corley notified him that the complaint’s attachments were not legible and directed him to refile them. Thayer later submitted a legible filing. The opinion also states that Magistrate Judge Corley had issued a report and recommendation concerning dismissal.

Legal standard

The court reviewed the complaint under 28 U.S.C. § 1915. That statute requires the court to screen a complaint filed by someone proceeding without paying the filing fee and dismiss it if it fails to state a claim for relief. The court applied the same standard used for a motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6): the complaint must provide a short and plain statement of the legal claims and enough factual matter to make relief plausible. Because Thayer represented himself, the court read his complaint liberally, while not accepting conclusory statements or unsupported inferences as sufficient facts.

Court’s analysis

The court said Thayer appeared to be trying to bring an employment-discrimination action, but the complaint contained no specific allegations concerning Landmark. The filing included attachments, including orders from other cases, that did not help the court evaluate his legal claim. The court concluded that the complaint was insufficient under § 1915 and Rule 8 because it did not adequately state the claims or provide the facts supporting them.

The court nevertheless determined that it could not say amendment would be futile. It instructed Thayer that an amended complaint must identify, for each claim, the defendant responsible for the alleged violation, the legal provision that was violated, and the actions or failures to act that allegedly violated that provision. It also stated that attachments could not substitute for those allegations.

Disposition

Judge Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr. DISMISSED the complaint WITH LEAVE TO AMEND. Thayer was ordered to file an amended complaint and a motion to proceed without paying the filing fee within 28 days of the order. The court stated that failing to meet the deadline could result in dismissal of the action in its entirety without further leave to amend, and that an amended complaint would be dismissed if it did not correct the identified deficiencies.