In the

United States Court of Appeals

For the Seventh Circuit ____________________ 

No. 20-2076 

JUSTIN HERRERA, 

Plaintiff-Appellee, 

v.

TERESA CLEVELAND, 

SAMUEL DIAZ, and ENRIQUE MARTINEZ, 

Defendants-Appellants. 

____________________ 

Appeal from the United States District Court for the

Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.

No. 18-CV-6846 — Thomas M. Durkin, Judge. 

____________________ 

ARGUED DECEMBER 1, 2020 — DECIDED AUGUST 6, 2021 

____________________ 

Before SYKES, Chief Judge, and BRENNAN and SCUDDER,

Circuit Judges. 

BRENNAN, Circuit Judge. Justin Herrera, an Illinois state 

prisoner, filed a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action against three correctional officers of the Cook County Jail for failing to protect 

him from assault and denying him prompt medical care. In 

his timely filed original complaint, Herrera named each of the 

defendants “John Doe” as a nominal placeholder until he 
2 No. 20-2076 

could ascertain the proper identities of the officers. Herrera 

then twice amended his complaint to include their actual 

names—but did so outside of the two-year limitations period. 

The officers moved to dismiss Herrera’s claim as time

barred, and the district court denied that motion. Reasoning 

that suing “John Doe” defendants constituted a “mistake” under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(c)(1)(C)(ii), the district 

court concluded that Herrera’s amended complaint “related 

back” to his original complaint. The officers then filed this interlocutory appeal. Because knowingly suing a John Doe defendant is not a “mistake” within the meaning of Rule 15(c), 

we reverse the district court’s judgment.

I

On October 25, 2016, Herrera—then a pretrial detainee at 

the Cook County Jail in Chicago—was physically assaulted 

by a group of detainees while temporarily placed together in 

a holding cell.1 A fellow detainee accosted Herrera, accused 

him of affiliation with a rival gang, and threatened him. As 

the situation intensified, Herrera alerted the correctional officers by banging on the door and calling for help. A correctional officer approached the cell to observe the situation, 

brushed off Herrera’s warnings, and walked away. Shortly after, the aggressive detainee and eight others attacked Herrera, 

severely injuring him. Only after the assault did a correctional 

officer open the door and remove Herrera from the holding

cell. Herrera then waited two hours before correctional 

1 We gather these facts from Herrera’s second amended complaint 

filed on December 10, 2019. 
No. 20-2076 3

officers took him to the jail’s health service facility and an additional six hours before they transported him to a hospital. 

On October 9, 2018, seventeen days before the limitations 

period was set to expire,2 Herrera filed a pro se complaint 

against three correctional officers assigned to monitor the 

holding cell on the day of his assault. He claimed the officers 

deliberately ignored his calls for help and denied him prompt 

medical care, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s 

Due Process Clause. Not knowing the proper identities of the 

officers, Herrera named each of the three defendants “John 

Doe” as a nominal placeholder. Two months later, the district 

court published an order, adding Cook County Sheriff 

Thomas Dart as a nominal defendant and directing the U.S. 

Marshal to serve Dart. In that order, the district court denied 

Herrera’s motion for attorney representation and urged him 

to “identify and name the real parties in interest as soon as 

possible in order to avoid potential statute of limitations problems.” After Dart waived service in January 2019, Herrera 

moved for an extension of time to complete service. The district court responded with an order informing Herrera that 

Dart had waived service and that “[a]t this time, no action on 

the part of Plaintiff is required.” 

In April 2019, Herrera sent two letters to Dart, with copies

to the court, seeking information about the identities of the 

correctional officers on duty on the day of his assault. He requested the “name, badge number, and the rank” of the 

2 Section 1983 provides a federal cause of action, but the forum state’s 

personal injury law determines the length of the statute of limitations. 

Wallace v. Kato, 549 U.S. 384, 387–88 (2007); see Lewis v. City of Chicago, 914 

F.3d 472, 478 (7th Cir. 2019). In Illinois, the limitations period for personalinjury torts is two years. 735 ILL. COMP. STAT. 5/13-202.
4 No. 20-2076 

officers assigned to supervise the holding cell “on 10/25/16 

during the 7am–3pm shift.” Dart subsequently provided information that allowed Herrera to identify the last names of 

two officers listed in the incident report containing information about Herrera’s assault. The district court appointed 

counsel to represent Herrera on May 28, 2019. Then on October 3, 2019, Herrera amended his complaint, naming Teresa 

Cleveland and Samuel Diaz as two of the three John Doe defendants. After further discovery, Herrera identified Enrique 

Martinez as the third John Doe officer and added him as a defendant in the second amended complaint on December 10, 

2019. 

The officers moved to dismiss the complaint, asserting 

that Herrera’s claims were time barred. Although the officers 

acknowledged that Herrera filed his original complaint 

within the applicable limitations period of two years, they argued that Herrera did not identify all three defendants until 

more than a year after the limitations period had run. 

Herrera’s amended complaint, the officers continued, did not 

“relate back” to the date when he filed his original complaint 

because naming John Doe defendants is not a “mistake” under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(c)(1)(C)(ii). What is 

more, the officers contended that equitable tolling cannot save 

Herrera’s § 1983 action because he failed to exercise reasonable diligence in pursuing his claims. 

The district court disagreed. It explained that Herrera’s 

second amended complaint related back to his timely filed 

original complaint because naming a John Doe defendant 

constituted a mistake within the meaning of Rule 15(c). In doing so, the district court recognized circuit precedent observing that naming a John Doe defendant is not a mistake. See
No. 20-2076 5

Hall v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co., 469 F.3d 590, 596 (7th Cir. 

2006). But Hall, the district court emphasized, stood “inconsistent” with the Supreme Court’s more recent holding in 

Krupski v. Costa Crociere S.p.A., 560 U.S. 538, 555–57 (2010), in 

which the Court concluded that suing a similarly named (but 

wrong) corporate entity was a “mistake.” Then citing other 

unpublished decisions in our circuit, the district court here

concluded that Krupski “serve[d] to overrule Hall” and that 

“amendments identifying previously unidentified defendants relate back to the timely filed original complaint.” So it 

denied the officers’ motion to dismiss without addressing the 

equitable tolling question. 

Following that decision, the officers moved to certify an 

interlocutory appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b) on the question 

of whether naming a John Doe defendant in lieu of an actual 

defendant constitutes a “mistake” under Rule 15(c). The district court granted the motion, and this court accepted the officers’ interlocutory appeal. We review de novo the district 

court’s denial of a motion to dismiss on statute of limitations 

grounds. Smith v. City of Chicago, 3 F.4th 332, 335 (7th Cir. 

2021). 

II

Under Rule 15(c)(1)(C), an amendment to a pleading that 

“changes the party or the naming of the party against whom 

a claim is asserted” relates back to the date of the original 

pleading so long as: (1) the amendment asserts a claim or defense arising out of the same conduct, transaction, or 

occurrence as the original complaint; (2) “within the period 

provided by Rule 4(m),” the party added by amendment “received such notice of the action that it will not be prejudiced 

in defending on the merits”; and (3) the added party “knew 
6 No. 20-2076 

or should have known that the action would have been 

brought against it, but for a mistake concerning the proper party’s 

identity.” (emphasis added). This appeal concerns the third 

point—whether naming a John Doe defendant constitutes a 

mistake concerning the identity of the proper party.

This court has previously recognized that Rule 15(c)’s 

“mistake” clause does not apply when the plaintiff “simply 

lacks knowledge of the proper defendant.” Hall, 469 F.3d at 

596. In Hall, a plaintiff timely sued the wrong corporation and 

later moved to amend the complaint to add the proper defendant. Id. at 593. By the time he filed a motion to amend, the 

limitations period had expired, so the plaintiff could amend 

the complaint only if it related back to his original pleading. 

Id. The plaintiff argued that his failure to name the correct corporation was a mistake concerning the proper party’s identity

under Rule 15(c). Id. 

Not so, said this court. We rejected the plaintiff’s argument and concluded that “[a] plaintiff’s ignorance or misunderstanding about who is liable for his injury” does not satisfy 

Rule 15(c)’s mistake requirement. Id. at 596. This court analogized the plaintiff’s case with John Doe cases, noting that in 

both scenarios the parties “did not know who to name as 

defendants before the limitations periods expired.” Id. Elaborating on this point, this court emphasized that a plaintiff 

naming a John Doe defendant “because he does not know 

who harmed him” is not a mistake under Rule 15(c). Id. Our 

circuit has long adhered to this “John Doe rule.” See, e.g., 

Gomez v. Randle, 680 F.3d 859, 864 n.1 (7th Cir. 2012) (noting 

that in a John Doe case, a “plaintiff’s lack of knowledge about 

a defendant’s identity is not a ‘mistake’ within the meaning of

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(c)”); Worthington v. Wilson, 
No. 20-2076 7

8 F.3d 1253, 1257 (7th Cir. 1993) (explaining that a plaintiff’s 

“lack of knowledge” as to the defendants’ identities does not 

amount to “a mistake in their names”); Wood v. Worachek, 618 

F.2d 1225, 1230 (7th Cir. 1980) (stating that Rule 15(c) “does 

not permit relation back where ... there is a lack of knowledge 

of the proper party”).

Herrera argues Krupski undermined this longstanding 

rule. Other courts in this circuit—including the district court 

here—have done the same, suggesting Krupski essentially 

overruled our circuit precedent implicating the John Doe scenario. See, e.g., Miller v. Panther II Transp., Inc., No. 17-cv04149-JMS-TAB, 2018 WL 3328135, at *6 (S.D. Ind. July 6, 2018)

(concluding that “inadequate knowledge can constitute a mistake”); Haroon v. Talbott, No. 16-cv-04720, 2017 WL 4280980, 

at *7 (N.D. Ill. Sept. 27, 2017) (same); White v. City of Chicago, 

No. 14-cv-3720, 2016 WL 4270152, at *15–17 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 15, 

2016) (reasoning that Krupski applies in the John Doe context); 

Brown v. Deleon, No. 11 C 6292, 2013 WL 3812093, at *6 (N.D. 

Ill. July 18, 2013) (“Krupski supports that inadequate 

knowledge and lack of full information regarding a defendants’ identity satisfies the mistake requirement for Rule 

15(c)(1)(C).”).

In Krupski, the Supreme Court examined whether Rule 

15(c)(1)(C) allowed amended pleadings to relate back when

the plaintiff mistakenly sued a subsidiary, only to later realize 

that she meant to sue its parent corporation. 560 U.S. at 543–

44. Holding that the plaintiff made a “mistake” allowing her 

pleadings to relate back, the Court explained that whether an 

amended pleading relates back depends on “what the prospective defendant knew or should have known” and “not 

what the plaintiff knew or should have known.” Id. at 548. In 
8 No. 20-2076 

reaching this conclusion, the Court defined mistake as “[a]n 

error, misconception, or misunderstanding; an erroneous belief,” id. (alteration in original) (quoting BLACK’S LAW 

DICTIONARY 1092 (9th ed. 2009)), and further described the 

word to include “‘a misunderstanding of the meaning or 

implication of something’; ‘a wrong action or statement proceeding from faulty judgment, inadequate knowledge, or 

inattention’; ‘an erroneous belief’; or ‘a state of mind not in 

accordance with the facts.’” Id. (quoting WEBSTER’S THIRD 

NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY 1446 (2002)). 

The Court in Krupski then delineated the scope of “mistake” for purposes of Rule 15(c). A plaintiff’s “deliberate but 

mistaken choice,” the Court noted, does not entirely foreclose 

an amendment from relating back under Rule 15(c)(1)(C). Id. 

at 549. That is because “a plaintiff might know that the 

prospective defendant exists but nonetheless harbor a misunderstanding about his status or role,” leading that plaintiff to 

mistakenly “sue a different defendant based on that misimpression.” Id. Still, the Court made clear that a plaintiff’s 

deliberate choice to sue one party over another while “fully 

understanding factual and legal differences” between them is 

“the antithesis of making a mistake concerning the proper 

party’s identity.” Id.

Contrary to several district courts in our circuit, we do not 

read Krupski as a sea change in the handling of John Doe 

claims. True, it is difficult to reconcile the result in Hall (not a 

John Doe case) with Krupski, but that does not change Hall’s 

persuasiveness in its discussion of John Doe cases. Krupski

simply did not alter the definition of mistake under Rule 

15(c). For three reasons, we hold that naming a John Doe 
No. 20-2076 9

defendant does not constitute a “mistake” within the meaning 

of Rule 15(c)(1)(C)(ii).

First, naming a defendant as John Doe in the complaint is 

not based on an error, misconception, misunderstanding, or 

erroneous belief. Nor is it “a mere slip of the pen.” Joseph v. 

Elan Motorsports Techs. Racing, 638 F.3d 555, 560 (7th Cir. 2011) 

(internal quotation marks omitted). Rather, it is a deliberate 

choice. As the officers point out, a plaintiff naming a John Doe 

defendant sues “a fictitious individual in lieu of a real 

person.” That is, the plaintiff names a John Doe defendant 

knowing full well the factual and legal differences between 

the nominal defendant and the proper defendant. Such an intentional and informed decision cannot amount to a mistake.

Second, a John Doe case and Krupski are different in kind.

Whereas the plaintiff in Krupski had no idea she lacked 

knowledge of the proper defendant’s identity, Herrera sued 

John Doe defendants fully aware that he lacked adequate information to ascertain the correctional officers’ identities. Put 

differently, the plaintiff in Krupski did not know what she did 

not know; Herrera did know what he did not know. The Court 

in Krupski did not address the John Doe scenario presented in 

this case. 

Third, the definition of “mistake” under Rule 

15(c)(1)(C)(ii) does not extend to a John Doe scenario. The district court here relied on its previous decision in White, 2016 

WL 4270152, at *15–20, to conclude that a plaintiff’s inadequate knowledge of the defendant’s identity constitutes a 

mistake. In that case, the district court pointed to the secondary definition cited in Krupski, which defined mistake as “a 

wrong action or statement proceeding from faulty judgment, 

inadequate knowledge, or inattention.” Krupski, 560 U.S. at 
10 No. 20-2076 

548–49 (quoting WEBSTER’S THIRD NEW INTERNATIONAL 

DICTIONARY 1446 (2002)). Highlighting that portion of Krupski, 

the district court in White reasoned that “[b]y referencing ‘inadequate knowledge’ the Supreme Court implied that its reasoning applied to a John Doe pleading.” 2016 WL 4270152, at 

*16. 

But this reading isolates the phrase “inadequate 

knowledge” from its context and misconstrues Krupski by 

omitting the first half of the Webster’s definition. Krupski does 

not treat “inadequate knowledge” and “mistake” as the same. 

Based on the full secondary definition cited in that case, it is 

the “wrong action” stemming from “inadequate knowledge” 

that amounts to a mistake. Krupski, 560 U.S. at 548–49. The 

district court’s selective reading elides the difference between 

a lack of knowledge and an action undertaken due to a lack 

of knowledge. This distinction is critical. Naming a John Doe 

defendant as a nominal placeholder is not a wrong action proceeding from inadequate knowledge; it is a proper action on 

account of inadequate knowledge. 

In sum, suing a John Doe defendant is a conscious choice, 

not an inadvertent error. Krupski neither overruled nor undermined our circuit’s treatment of the John Doe issue. And

many of our sister circuits share our position post-Krupski. 

See, e.g., Ceara v. Deacon, 916 F.3d 208, 213 (2d Cir. 2019) (observing that Krupski did not abrogate or reconfigure the 

court’s previous decision in which it held “an amendment to 

replace a John Doe defendant is made not to correct a mistake 

but to correct a lack of knowledge and is therefore not a mistake under Rule 15(c)(1)(C)” (internal quotation marks omitted)); Winzer v. Kaufman Cnty., 916 F.3d 464, 471 (5th Cir. 2019) 

(affirming a grant of summary judgment on statute of
No. 20-2076 11

limitations grounds because “[f]ailing to identify individual 

defendants cannot be characterized as a mistake”); Heglund v. 

Aitkin Cnty., 871 F.3d 572, 579 (8th Cir. 2017) (concluding that 

naming a John Doe defendant is not a “mistake”). Because 

Herrera’s second amended complaint cannot relate back to 

the date of his original complaint under Rule 15(c)(1)(C), it is 

untimely.

Herrera’s case does not necessarily end here. As he argued 

in the district court and does so again on appeal, the doctrine 

of equitable tolling may apply. Equitable tolling halts the limitations clock “when a litigant has pursued his rights diligently but some extraordinary circumstance prevents him 

from bringing a timely action.” Xanthopoulos v. United States 

Dep’t of Lab., 991 F.3d 823, 831 (7th Cir. 2021) (internal quotation marks omitted); see Farzana K. v. Indiana Dep’t of Educ., 473 

F.3d 703, 705 (7th Cir. 2007) (noting that equitable tolling

“deals with situations in which timely filing is not possible 

despite diligent conduct”). And it is the plaintiff’s burden to 

show “he diligently pursued the claim and some extraordinary circumstances prevented him from filing his complaint 

within the statute of limitations.” Sparre v. United States Dep’t 

of Lab., 924 F.3d 398, 402–03 (7th Cir. 2019) (internal quotation 

marks omitted).

To be sure, equitable tolling is rare. See Irwin v. Dep’t of 

Veterans Affs., 498 U.S. 89, 96 (1990) (“Federal courts have typically extended equitable relief only sparingly.”). But it remains available here. Whether Herrera satisfies this test is a

factual inquiry beyond the scope of this interlocutory appeal, 

so we leave this issue for the district court to consider on remand.
12 No. 20-2076 

III

We therefore REVERSE the district court’s judgment and 

REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.