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D. Minn.Procedural orderFiled Apr. 19, 2024

Smith v. City of Duluth

Judge
Jeffrey Bryan
Docket
0:23-cv-02196
Court
U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
Pages
2
Civil ProcedureSection 1983
In one sentence

In Smith v. City of Duluth, Judge Bryan dismissed Smith’s civil-rights complaint without prejudice for failure to prosecute.

Who this affects

The ruling dismissed Eric Smith’s complaint against the City of Duluth and the other named defendants without prejudice.

What happened

In Smith v. City of Duluth, Eric Smith filed a complaint under a federal civil-rights law against the City of Duluth and other defendants. The opinion does not describe the underlying allegations.

A magistrate judge recommended dismissing the complaint without prejudice because Smith failed to prosecute the case. Smith did not object to that recommendation before the deadline.

Judge Jeffrey M. Bryan found no clear error, adopted the recommendation, and dismissed the case without prejudice under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) for failure to prosecute.

The detailed version

For law students, journalists, and other readers who want the full reasoning

Case
Smith v. City of Duluth · No. 0:23-cv-02196
Judge
Jeffrey M. Bryan
Date
Apr. 19, 2024

Background

Eric Smith filed a complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the City of Duluth and other defendants. The opinion does not provide the substance of Smith’s claims. United States Magistrate Judge Leo I. Brisbois issued a Report and Recommendation on February 21, 2024, recommending dismissal under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) because Smith failed to prosecute the case.

Review of the Recommendation

Smith did not file objections to the Report and Recommendation, and the deadline for doing so had passed. Because there were no timely objections, the court reviewed the recommendation for clear error, meaning an obvious mistake in the recommendation’s factual or legal conclusions. The court found no clear error.

Ruling

Judge Jeffrey M. Bryan adopted the Report and Recommendation. The court dismissed the matter without prejudice under Rule 41(b) for failure to prosecute and directed that judgment be entered accordingly. The opinion does not address the merits of Smith’s underlying civil-rights claims.

The authoritative version

Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.

Open opinion PDF →
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