“

forward with the action in an efficient way, and also tend to
benefit the court accordingly). But in this instance Todd has
chosen to throw in a hodgepodge of assertions about his being the
victim of a wide-ranging conspiracy and other blunderbuss
assertions quite extraneous to his claim against Dominick’s.

This Court has no obligation to provide Todd with a cost-free
lawyer to facilitate his venting of general grievances against
everyone in sight. Accordingly the Motion is denied for now.
After Dominick’s has filed its responsive pleading, so that this
Court will be better advised as to the nature of the issues
properly within the scope of this action, this Court may be
prepared to take a fresh look at the appointment-of-counsel issue

on an appropriately limited basis.

Celle Miter

Milton I. Shadur
Senior United States District Judge

Date: December 26, 2000


Minute Order Porm (06/97) +

United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois

Name of Assigned Judge ‘ Sitting Judge if Other
or Magistrate Judge Milton I. Shadur than Assigned Judge
CASE NUMBER 00 cH 7840 DATE 12/26/00
CASE Thaddeus Todd Junior v. Dominicks Finer Food, et al
TITLE
[In the following box (a) indicate the party filing the motion, e.g., plaintiff, defendant, 3rd party plaintit®, and (b) state briefly the nature
f the motion bei .

MOTION: of the motion being presented.]

DOCKET ENTRY:

qd) Filed motion of [ use listing in “Motion” box above.] :

Q) Qo Brief in support of motion due

(3) O Answer brief to motion due. . Reply to answer brief due.

(4) Oo Ruling/Hearing on set for at :

(5) Status hearing held.

(6) Oo Pretrial conference[held/continued to] [set for/re-set for] on set for at .

(7) Oo Trial[set for/re-set for] on at

(8) o [Bench/Jury trial] [Hearing] held/continued to at

(9) Oo This case is dismissed [with/without] prejudice and without costs[by/agreement/pursuant to]

CFRCP4(m) (O General Rule 21 OFRCP41(a)(1) (1 FRCP41(a)(2).

(10) | (Other docket entry] Enter Memorandum Opinion and Order. Plaintiff's motion to proceed without prepayment of
fees is granted. (5-1) Plaintiff's motion for appointment of counsel is denied for the present. (4-1) After Dominick’s has
filed its responsive pleading, so that this Court will be better advised as to the nature of the issues properly within the scope
of this action, this Court may be prepared to take a fresh look at the appointment of counsel issue on an appropriately limited
basis.

ql) a [For further detail see order (on reverse side offattached to) the original minute order.]

No notices required, advised in open court.
No notices required, umber of notices
Notices mailed by judge’s staff. JAN! 0 3 nat
Notified counsel by telephone. de cochted
| Docketing to mail notices. eS) ’ ‘ (
Mail AO 450 form & YA initials
Copy to judge/magistrate judge.
Ce fd bt sled not:
coustroom 2 dae mailed notice
SN deputy’s
initials
Date/time received in
central Clerk’s Office mailing deputy initials



IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
EASTERN DIVISION
THADDEUS TODD JUNIOR,
Plaintiff,
No. 00 ¢ 7846

Vv.

DOMINICKS FINER FOOD, et al.,

Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Thaddeus Todd Junior (“Todd”) has submitted a self-prepared
Complaint of Employment Discrimination against his ex-employer
Dominick's Finer Food (“Dominick’s”) and the labor union that he
designates as “UFCW Local 1540” (“Union”), using the form of such
Complaint provided by the Clerk of this District Court for use by
unrepresented litigants, with the various blanks filled in by
Todd’s typewritten entries. Todd has accompanied his Complaint
with two other forms, each also furnished by the Clerk’s Office
and filled in by Todd:

1. his Application To Proceed Without Prepayment of

Fees (“Application”) and

2. his Motion for Appointment of Counsel (“Motion”).
For the reasons stated in this memorandum opinion and order, the
Application is granted (but with the limitation stated
hereafter), while the Motion is denied for the present.

Todd certainly qualifies in financial terms for in forma

pauperis treatment, and the Complaint and the attached Charge of

b


Discrimination that Todd filed with the EEOC discloses a non-
frivolous claim of race discrimination (for this purpose Todd’s
assertions must be accepted as true). That then entitles him to
proceed without payment of the filing fee.

But two aspects of Todd’s Complaint fail the non-
frivolousness test in the legal sense. First, as against
Dominick’s it is wholly implausible to credit the notion that
Todd, having been hired as a cashier in May 1999 at age 44 (when
he was already in the class protected by the Age Discrimination
in Employment Act), was discharged just 14 months later because
of his age (and hence in violation of ADEA). And second, because
Union was not his employer, his EEOC charge against it under
Title VII and ADEA, as well as his current effort to sue it under
those statutes, come up empty. Consequently Todd's lawsuit will
proceed only against Dominick’s and only on his claim of race
discrimination.

Todd’s Motion poses still other difficulties. To be sure,
he certainly qualifies for the appointment of pro bono counsel in
financial terms, and it is also true that this Court’s regular
practice is to appoint counsel in connection with complaints that
surmount a threshold hurdle of non-frivolousness in the legal
sense (such appointments most frequently prove better not only
for the lay plaintiff but also for defendants, whose counsel end

up dealing with someone who is more likely to facilitate going