FI L ED U.S. COURT OF APPEAL S EL EVENTH CI RCUI T Oct. 23, 2009
THOMAS K. KAH

N CL ERK [ D O N O T P U B L I S H ]

I N T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S C O U R T O F A P P E A L S

F O R T H E E L E V E N T H C I R C U I T

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

N o

. 0 9

- 1 2 9 4 7 N o n

- A r g u m e n t C a l e n d a r

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D

. C

. D o c k e t N o

. 0 8

- 0 2 4 1 9

- C V

- R L V

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B

. L

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. , b y a n d t h r o u g h h e r n e x t f r i e n d a n d

c o u n s e l
, S h e r r i J e f

f e r s o n ; o n h e r o w n b e h a l f

a n d o n b e h a l f o f t h o s e s i m i l a r l y s i t u a t e d
,

P l a i n t i f f

- A p p e l l a n t , v e r s u s

T H E S T A T E O F G E O R G I A
, e t a l

. ,

D e f e n d a n t s ,

S O N N Y P E R D U E
, i n h i s o f f i c i a l c a p a c i t y a s G o v e r n o r o f t h e S t a t e o f G e o r g i a , A L B E R T M U R R A Y
, i n h i s i n d i v i d u a l c a p a c i t y

a n d i n h i s o f

f i c i a l c a p a c i t y a s C o m m i s s i o n e r o f t h e D e p a r t m e n t o f J u v e n i l e J u s t i c e , A M Y H O W E L L
, i n h e r i n d i v i d u a l a n d o f f i c i a l

c a p a c i t y a s t h e L e g a l S e r v i c e s D i r e c t o r a n d i n h e r o f f i c i a l c a p a c i t y w i t h t h e D e p a r t m e n t o f J u v e n i l e J u s t i c e , R O B R O S E N B L O O M
, i n h i s o f f i c i a l c a p a c i t y

w i t h t h e D e p a r t m e n t o f J u v e n i l e J u s t i c e ,

D e f e n d a n t s

- A p p e l l e e s

._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

A p p e a l f r o m t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s D i s t r i c t C o u r t f o r t h e N o r t h e r n D i s t r i c t o f G e o r g i a

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ( O c t o b e r 2 3
, 2 0 0 9 )

B e f o r e B I R C H
, H U L L a n d H I L L
, C i r c u i t J u d g e s

.

P E R C U R I A M :

T h i s i s a n a p p e a l f

r o m a n o r d e r o f t h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t g r a n t i n g t h e d e f e n d a n t s

a p p e l l e e s ’ m o t i o n t o d i s m i s s t h e p l a i n t i f f

- a p p e l l a n t ’ s a c t i o n f

i l e d p u r s u a n t t o 4 2

U

. S

. C

. § 1 9 8 3 ( S e c t i o n 1 9 8 3 )

. T h e c o m p l a i n t w a s s e e k i n g r e l i e f o f s o m e k i n d w i t h

r e s p e c t t o G e o r g i a s t a t u t e s r e l a t i n g t o t h e a d j u d i c a t i o n o f m i n o r s a s d e l i n q u e n t b y

j u v e n i l e c o u r t s , a n d c o m m i t t i n g t h e m t o t h e c u s t o d y o f t h e G e o r g i a D e p a r t m e n t o f

J u v e n i l e J u s t i c e

. 1

O n N o v e m b e r 1 0
, 2 0 0 8
, D i s t r i c t J u d g e R o b e r t L

. V i n i n g , J r

. g r a n t e d t h e

p l a i n t i f f

- a p p e l l a n t ’ s m o t i o n f

o r p e r m i s s i o n t o f

i l e a m o r e d e f

i n i t e s t a t e m e n t

. I n h i s

o r d e r , h e i n s t r u c t e d a p p e l l a n t ’ s c o u n s e l t o f i l e a c o m p l a i n t s u c c i n c t l y a n d c l e a r l y

The plaintiff- appellant is sty led as “ B.L .E., by and throug h her ne x t friend a nd counsel, 1 Sherri Jeffer son; on her own be half a nd on behalf

of those similarly

situated.” While the State of Geor g ia was a

n orig inal defe ndant, the sty led def endants-a ppellees a re f our per sons, Sonny Perdue, in his offic ial capa city as Gove rnor of

the State of Ge org ia; Albert Murr ay , in his individual capac ity

and in his officia l capa city as Commissi oner of

the Depa rtment of Juvenile J ustice; Amy

Howell, in her

individual and officia l capa city as the L eg al Service s Direc tor and in her off icial ca pacity with the Depa

rtment of Juvenile J ustice; and Rob Rosenbloom, in his officia l capa city

with the Depa

rtment of Juvenile J ustice.

2s e t t i n g f

o r t h s p e c i f

i c f a c t s g i v i n g r i s e t o e a c h s p e c i f i c a l l e g e d c o n s t i t u t i o n a l

v i o l a t i o n , w i t h o u t a n y e x t r a n e o u s m a t t e r

. A p p e l l a n t ’ s c o u n s e l t h e n f i l e d t h e s i x t h

( 6 ) e f f o r t t o s t a t e a p p e l l a n t ’ s c o m p l a i n t

. th

O n M a y 6
, 2 0 0 9
, t h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t g r a n t e d t h e d e f e n d a n t s

- a p p e l l e e s ’ m o t i o n

t o d i s m i s s o n t h e b a s i s t h a t t h e p l a i n t i f f

- a p p e l l a n t , i n h e r p r o p o s e d s i x t h a m e n d e d

c o m p l a i n t , h a d s t i l l f

i l e d n o t h i n g m o r e t h a n a q u i n t e s s e n t i a l “ r a m b l i n g , p r o l i x ”

p l e a d i n g , c o n d e m n e d b y t h i s c o u r t

. I n f a c t , w e h a v e s p e c i f

i c a l l y i n s t r u c t e d d i s t r i c t

c o u r t s t o p r o h i b i t , a s f

a t a l l y d e f

e c t i v e , s h o t g u n p l e a d i n g s s i m i l a r t o t h e o n e f i l e d i n

t h i s a c t i o n

. S e e , e

. g

. , D a v i s v

. C o c a

- C o l a B o t t l i n g C o

. C o n s o l

. , 1 5 6 F

. 3 d 9 5 5
, 9 7 9

( 1 1 C i r

. 2 0 0 8 ) ; B

y r n e v

. N e z h a t , 2 6 1 F

. 3 d 1 0 7 5
, 1 1 3 0 n

. 1 0 8 ( 1 1 C i r

. 2 0 0 1 )

. th th

W e h a v e c a r e f

u l l y r e v i e w e d t h e r e c o r d a n d t h e t o r t u r e d p r o c e d u r a l h i s t o r y o f

t h i s c a s e

. W e c o m m e n d t h e d i s t r i c t j u d g e f o r h i s d i l i g e n t e f

f o r t s i n t r y i n g t o o b t a i n

c o m p l i a n c e w i t h t h e r e q u i r e m e n t s f o r d r a f t i n g a p r o p e r p l e a d i n g

. F i n d i n g n o e r r o r ,

w e a f f i r m t h e j u d g m e n t o f t h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t

. 2

A F F I R M E D

.

Neither the district court or this cour t has bee n able to disce rn fr om the plaintiff’s 2 filings the substanc e of a

ny complaints and neither

court ha s passed upon a

ny issues that might have be en conta ined in adequate and pr oper ple ading

.
3