WILLIAM S. DUFFEY, Jr., District Judge.
This matter is before the Court on pro se Plaintiff Dorothy Aaron's ("Plaintiff') Motion for Reconsideration of the Court's Order dismissing this action without prejudice for failure to perfect service of process [16], and Plaintiffs Motions for Leave to File Excess Pages [17, 19].
On November 8, 2013, Plaintiff filed her Complaint against the Gwinnett County School District ("GCSD") in the Superior Court of Gwinnett County, Georgia. In the action, she alleges that GCSD was liable for personal injuries sustained by her daughter in two school bus accidents that occurred on November 11, 2011, and November 14, 2011. Plaintiff contends that her daughter, a special needs child, was not restrained in a seat belt at the time of the accidents, and, as a result, Defendants are responsible for her daughter's injuries because they allegedly failed to enact policies or training programs to accommodate her daughter's disability.
On January 9, 2014, Plaintiff filed her Amended Complaint in the Superior Court to add the Gwinnett County Board of Education ("GCBE") and J. Alvin Wilbanks ("Wilbanks"), the Superintendent of the GCSD, as additional defendants. Plaintiff asserts claims against GCSD, GCBE and Wilbanks, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, 42 U.S.C. § 1985, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. § 2000d et seq.), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq.), Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. § 12131 et seq.), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq.), Title IX of the Civil Rights Act (20 U.S.C. § 1681, et seq.) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. § 794).
Plaintiff's original Complaint was served on Donna Parks, an "insurance specialist" employed by the GCSD. The Complaint was not served on GCSD's Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") or the Clerk of the School District. Plaintiff sought to serve the Amended Complaint on the CEO by delivering a copy of the Amended Complaint to the CEO's assistant. A copy of the summons was not delivered with the Amended Complaint. Neither the Amended Complaint nor the summons was served on GCBE or Wilbanks.
On February 11, 2014, the Defendants removed the state court action to this Court.
On August 19, 2014, the Court granted the Defendants' Motion to Dismiss for insufficient service of process. The Court concluded that Plaintiff failed to properly serve Defendant GCSD with the Amended Complaint because she did not serve a copy of the summons when the Amended Complaint was delivered to the CEO's assistant. The Court also concluded that Plaintiff did not personally serve Defendant Wilbanks in accordance with O.C.G.A. § 9-11-4(e)(2), and did not serve GCBE by delivering a copy of the summons and the Amended Complaint to its Chief Executive Officer or clerk, as required by O.C.G.A. § 9-11-4(e)(5). The Court dismissed the action without prejudice for failure to perfect service.
On September 9, 2014, Plaintiff moved for reconsideration of the Court's Order dismissing the action for failure to perfect service on the Defendants. Plaintiff claims that service on Defendant GCSD was sufficient because the Sheriff's entry of service shows that a "copy of the within action and summons" was left with Wilbanks' assistant. Plaintiff ultimately concedes that the summons was not, in fact, delivered to GCSD even though the entry of service represents that it was.
Plaintiff does not seek reconsideration of the Court's decision to dismiss Defendants GCBE and Wilbanks for failure to perfect service.
"A motion for reconsideration made after final judgment falls within the ambit of either Rule 59(e) (motion to alter or amend a judgment) or Rule 60(b) (motion for relief from judgment or order)."
A motion for reconsideration may not be used to present the Court with arguments already heard and dismissed, or to offer new legal theories or evidence that could have been presented in the previously-filed motion.
Courts "are to give liberal construction to the pleadings of pro se litigants," but pro se litigants are not excused from failing "to conform to procedural rules."
Under Georgia law, the summons and complaint must be served together.
On November 13, 2013, Plaintiff served the original Complaint on Donna Parks, an insurance specialist employed by GCSD. Plaintiff concedes that serving the original Complaint on Parks was not sufficient to perfect service because Parks is not the CEO or clerk of GCSD. See O.C.G.A. § 9-11-4(e)(5);
Plaintiff next argues that proper service was made on GCSD when the Amended Complaint was served before the action was removed to this Court. The Court disagrees. On January 13, 2014, a Gwinnett County Deputy Sheriff served the Amended Complaint on GCSD. The Amended Complaint that was delivered to the Deputy Sheriff was not accompanied by a summons.
Plaintiff admits that the original Complaint was not properly served on GCSD because she delivered the summons and the original Complaint only to GCSD's insurance specialist, and not the CEO or Clerk of GCSD. Plaintiff did not thereafter request that a summons be issued and served with the Amended Complaint filed on January 9, 2014. As a result, the Amended Complaint was not served with a summons and GCSD never received a summons in this action.
O.C.G.A. § 9-11-4(e) requires that a copy of the summons must be served along with a copy of the complaint to each defendant.
Plaintiff alleges that the Clerk of Court "tampered" with the summons or deliberately removed the summons from the Court file, but these conclusory and speculative allegations are contradicted by the admissions in Plaintiff's brief. According to Plaintiff, the Clerk of Court told her that a summons was not issued because it was not required to be sent with an Amended Complaint. Plaintiff was responsible for requesting the Clerk to issue a separate summons with her Amended Complaint, so that GCSD could be served properly.
Plaintiff failed to request that a summons be issued with a copy of the Amended Complaint, and the failure to serve a summons constitutes grounds for dismissal of this action without prejudice.
Accordingly, for the foregoing reasons,