Heggs v. Olmsted County
- Wilhelmina Wright
- 0:21-cv-00756
- U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
- 3
In Heggs v. Olmsted County, Judge Wright overruled Heggs’s objections, adopted the recommendation, granted both dismissal motions, and dismissed the complaint with prejudice.
Terry Heggs’s complaint was dismissed with prejudice; R.P.D., Olmsted County, and Mr. Hill prevailed on their motions to dismiss.
What happened
In Terry Heggs v. Olmsted County, Mr. Hill, and R.P.D., the defendants asked the court to dismiss Heggs’s complaint. A magistrate judge recommended granting those motions and dismissing the complaint with prejudice.
Heggs responded with two nearly identical letters. The court treated them as late objections, but found that they were not specific enough to require a fresh review of the magistrate judge’s recommendations. The court instead reviewed the recommendations for clear error and found none.
Judge Wilhelmina M. Wright overruled Heggs’s objections, adopted the recommendation in full, granted both motions to dismiss, and dismissed Heggs’s complaint with prejudice.
The detailed version
- Heggs v. Olmsted County · No. 0:21-cv-00756
- Wilhelmina Wright
- June 23, 2022
Background
The court reviewed United States Magistrate Judge John F. Docherty’s March 24, 2022 report and recommendation. The report recommended granting the defendants’ motions to dismiss and dismissing Terry Heggs’s complaint with prejudice.
Objections and standard of review
Heggs, who was representing himself, filed two nearly identical one-paragraph letters responding to the report and recommendation. The court treated the letters as untimely objections but decided that it could consider them. Because the objections were not specific, the court reviewed the report and recommendation for clear error rather than conducting a fresh review of the disputed issues. The court construed Heggs’s objections liberally because he was representing himself.
Ruling
The court found no clear error, overruled Heggs’s objections, and adopted the report and recommendation in its entirety. It granted R.P.D.’s motion to dismiss and granted Olmsted County and Mr. Hill’s motion to dismiss. The court dismissed Heggs’s complaint with prejudice and directed that judgment be entered.
This order does not describe the underlying claims or explain the reasons for dismissal beyond adopting the report and recommendation.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.