Opinion
Civil Action 20-221-BAJ-EWD
07-12-2023
SARAH PERRON, Tutrix on Behalf of Her Minor Child, MFJ v. JEFF TRAVIS, ET AL.
RULING AND ORDER
ERIN WILDER-DOOMES UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
Before the Court is the Reurged Motion to Substitute Party (“Motion”), filed by Plaintiff Sarah Perron, as tutrix and on behalf of her minor child, MFJ (“Plaintiff”). Plaintiff alleges in the Motion that she recently learned that Defendant Richard Baudoin (“Baudoin”) “passed away in 2021,” so Plaintiff seeks to substitute Baudoin's heirs-Madison Baudoin, Ashley Baudoin, and Marcella Alpha Baudoin-in his place as the proper party defendants in this matter. Defendant The Town of Clinton (“Clinton”) opposes the Motion. Because after filing the Motion, and in response to an order of the Court, Plaintiff filed a second Reurged Motion to Substitute Party (“Second Motion”) seeking the same relief at issue in the Motion, the Motion will be terminated as moot.
R. Doc. 111.
R. Doc. 112.
R. Doc. 120. Clinton also opposes Second Motion. R. Doc. 121.
Plaintiff filed this civil rights action on April 9, 2020, on behalf of her minor child, related to the death of Myron R. Flowers (“Flowers”), whom Plaintiff alleges “died at the hands of the East Feliciana Parish Sheriff's Office and the Town of Clinton and their Police Department on April 12, 2019.” Although Plaintiff alleges that Flowers was killed by Defendant Deputy Cullen Wilson (“Wilson”) after Wilson stopped Flowers' vehicle, Plaintiff named Baudoin as a defendant and asserted claims against him in his “individual and official capacit[y].”
R. Doc. 1, ¶ B(5).
Id. at ¶ C.
Id. at ¶ B(8). Plaintiff also names other defendants.
Relevant to the Motion, counsel for Baudoin and Clinton filed a Suggestion of Death Upon the Record pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 25(a)(1) on September 8, 2022, advising that Baudoin died on “May 17, 2021, during the pendency of this action.” Considering the Suggestion of Death, the Court ordered that “[c]onsistent with the requirements of Fed.R.Civ.P. 25(a)(1), any motion to substitute a party in the place of Defendant Richard Baudoin shall be made on or before December 7, 2022.” On December 7, 2022, Plaintiff filed a Motion to Substitute Party, which sought to substitute the “Richard Baudoin Estate” in place of Baudoin. Clinton opposed this motion on several grounds. The Court denied Plaintiff's motion without prejudice because the motion “fail[ed] to name a proper person to be substituted as a legal representative, and fail[ed] to meet the procedural requirements of Fed.R.Civ.P. 25.” However, Plaintiff was given until February 24, 2023 to file a reurged motion that “identifies the proper party to be substituted for Baudoin and that complies with Fed.R.Civ.P. 25.”
R. Doc. 74.
R. Doc. 76.
R. Doc. 106.
R. Doc. 107
R. Doc. 109.
On February 22, 2023, Plaintiff timely filed the Motion seeking to substitute Madison Baudoin, Ashley Baudoin, and Marcella Alpha Baudoin as proper party defendants in place of Baudoin. Clinton opposes the Motion, arguing that Plaintiff still failed to comply with the requirements of Fed.R.Civ.P. 25(a)(3) because she “did not serve this [Motion], together with a notice of hearing, on the non-parties pursuant to Rule 4.” The Motion was discussed in a March 22, 2023 telephone status conference with the Court. Plaintiff was instructed to reattempt service on Baudoin's legal heirs and to file notice into the record when service was effectuated. Because more than a month passed without Plaintiff filing any additional service information into the record, the Court ordered Plaintiff to “file notice of service on the legal heirs of [Baudoin] that complies with the requirements of Fed.R.Civ.P. 25” by no later than May 8, 2023, and warned Plaintiff that “[f]ailure to timely comply...may result in denial of Plaintiff's [Motion] without further notice.”
R. Doc. 112.
R. Doc. 118.
R. Doc. 118.
R. Doc. 119.
Instead of filing a notice of service on Baudoin's heirs as ordered, Plaintiff filed an entirely new motion (i.e., Second Motion), which contains information related to Plaintiff's additional efforts to effectuate service on Madison Baudoin, Ashley Baudoin, and Marcella Alpha Baudoin.Plaintiff's Second Motion seeks the same relief as the Motion-namely, an order substituting Baudoin's heirs for Baudoin as defendants in this case under Fed.R.Civ.P. 25.
R. Doc. 120. See also R. Doc. 120-1.
Because the Second Motion is more recently filed, seeks the same relief as the Motion, contains additional (and more recent) information than the Motion with respect to service and/or attempted service on Madison Baudoin, Ashley Baudoin, and Marcella Alpha Baudoin, and has already been opposed by Clinton, the Motion will be terminated as moot and the issues with respect to substitution under Fed.R.Civ.P. 25 will be considered in context of the Second Motion.
Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that the Reurged Motion to Substitute Party, filed by Plaintiff Sarah Perron, as tutrix and on behalf of her minor child, MFJ, is TERMINATED AS MOOT. All issues regarding substitution of Madison Baudoin, Ashley Baudoin, and Marcella Alpha Baudoin for Defendant Richard Baudoin under Fed.R.Civ.P. 25 will be considered in the context of Plaintiff's second Reurged Motion to Substitute Party, which will be decided in due course.
R. Doc. 111.
R. Doc. 120.