Filed: Sep. 01, 2015
Latest Update: Sep. 01, 2015
Summary: MEMORANDUM AND ORDER JEAN C. HAMILTON , District Judge . This matter is before the Court on Plaintiff Ronald Jordan's Request for Damages Attributable to Defendant Paul Johnson, filed June 16, 2015. (ECF No. 221). The motion is fully briefed and ready for disposition. By way of background, Plaintiff filed his Complaint in this matter against several Defendants on November 2, 2012. With respect to Defendant Johnson, Plaintiff alleged that in late 2010, Defendant Johnson deliberately obstru
Summary: MEMORANDUM AND ORDER JEAN C. HAMILTON , District Judge . This matter is before the Court on Plaintiff Ronald Jordan's Request for Damages Attributable to Defendant Paul Johnson, filed June 16, 2015. (ECF No. 221). The motion is fully briefed and ready for disposition. By way of background, Plaintiff filed his Complaint in this matter against several Defendants on November 2, 2012. With respect to Defendant Johnson, Plaintiff alleged that in late 2010, Defendant Johnson deliberately obstruc..
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MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
JEAN C. HAMILTON, District Judge.
This matter is before the Court on Plaintiff Ronald Jordan's Request for Damages Attributable to Defendant Paul Johnson, filed June 16, 2015. (ECF No. 221). The motion is fully briefed and ready for disposition.
By way of background, Plaintiff filed his Complaint in this matter against several Defendants on November 2, 2012. With respect to Defendant Johnson, Plaintiff alleged that in late 2010, Defendant Johnson deliberately obstructed Plaintiff's right to seek redress of grievances, when he did not process and instead discarded Plaintiff's submitted Informal Resolution Request. Plaintiff further alleged that Defendant Johnson retaliated against Plaintiff in response to Plaintiff's exercise of his right to file grievances, by unduly prolonging Plaintiff's confinement in a restrictive housing unit, and by attempting to have Plaintiff fired from his prison job.
On September 11, 2014, in response to a series of Motions to Compel filed by Plaintiff, the Court ordered that Defendants' responses to all outstanding discovery requests were to be postmarked no later than Monday, October 6, 2014. The Court warned that "[a]ny Defendant's failure to comply with such directive may result in the imposition of sanctions against such Defendant, up to and including the striking of his pleadings." Defendant Johnson failed to respond to Plaintiff's discovery requests, and the Court therefore struck his pleadings on March 4, 2015. The Clerk of Court then entered default against Defendant Johnson on March 17, 2015.
As stated above, Plaintiff filed the instant Request for Damages Attributable to Defendant Paul Johnson on June 16, 2015. Assistant Attorney General Katherine Walsh filed a response to Plaintiff's motion on July 29, 2015, and Plaintiff filed his reply on August 10, 2015. The parties have now been afforded a full and fair opportunity to submit evidence on the issue of monetary relief, and so the Court may determine the relief to which Plaintiff is entitled pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 55(b)(2).2 See Taylor v. City of Baldwin, Mo., 859 F.2d 1330, 1333 (8th Cir. 1988) (quoting Pope v. United States, 323 U.S. 1, 12 (1944)) ("`[i]t is a familiar practice . . . for a court upon default, by taking evidence when necessary or by computation from facts of record, to fix the amount which the plaintiff is lawfully entitled to recover and to give judgment accordingly'"). Therefore, upon careful consideration of the record before it, the Court now awards Plaintiff damages against Defendant Johnson as follows:
Actual Damages: $186.00
Punitive Damages: $1,000.00
Costs: $454.50
Accordingly,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Plaintiff's Request for Damages Attributable to Defendant Paul Johnson (ECF No. 221) is GRANTED in part, in accordance with the foregoing.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiff is awarded damages in the amount of $1,186.00.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiff is awarded costs in the amount of $454.50.
