Opinion
04-C-273-C
May 12, 2004
ORDER
Plaintiff Kenneth Sarauer has submitted a letter in this case in which he asks that the court replace "the present Table of Contents with this new one, and add the [attached] parole reports as page numbers indicated." Plaintiff states that he already has made the changes to the copies of the complaint that he is serving on the defendants.
I construe plaintiff's submission as a motion to amend his complaint to add a table of contents and additional exhibits. The motion will be denied.
Plaintiff's complaint is well over 200 pages long. If there is a table of contents somewhere in it, it is not apparent. The page numbers listed next to the various entries on the new table of contents do not match the numbered exhibits in the court's file. Perhaps this is because there are two sets of exhibits numbered 1-81, and one set numbered 82-217. Plaintiff's "table of contents" ends at page 94. The additional exhibits he wants to file are numbered 82 and 88, but they are entirely different from the exhibits already in the file marked 82 and 88. Therefore, plaintiff's table of contents is not useful.
Moreover, plaintiff should be aware that ordinarily, a complaint should not be accompanied by evidentiary materials that may be useful to prove the claims raised in the complaint. The submission of evidentiary materials is proper in relation to motions for a preliminary injunction or summary judgment, or at trial.
In his complaint, plaintiff states on page 8 at paragraph "f," "There is much more. See ICIs in 217 pages of documentation." On page 10, he states, "These are the mayor [sic] claims. There are multiple minor ones. Please be sure to read the 217 pages of documentation carefully." These attempts to incorporate the content of the exhibits into the complaint are contrary to the dictates of Fed.R.Civ.P. 8. Rule 8 requires that a complaint 1) set forth a "short and plain statement of the grounds upon which the court's jurisdiction depends. . . .; 2) a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief; and 3) a demand for judgment for the relief the pleader seeks." Pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(e), "each averment of a pleading shall be simple, concise and direct." In other words, plaintiff's complaint, without the exhibits, is all that plaintiff should have filed at this early stage. That he chose to attach more than 200 pages of exhibits to the complaint and pull then into the complaint by making general statements such as "See ICIs in 217 pages of documentation," means that defendants may well move to dismiss this action for plaintiff's failure to comply with Rule 8. If defendants were to file such a motion, I would stay a decision to allow plaintiff a chance to amend his complaint to remove the exhibits and eliminate the vague references to them. Nevertheless, I do not intend to allow plaintiff to continue to muddy the waters by amending his complaint to add more confusing documentation.
ORDER
Plaintiff's motion to amend his complaint to exchange a table of contents for one that may already exist in the complaint and to add exhibits to the complaint is DENIED.