Opinion ID: 2981562
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: procedural history and status of appeal

Text: The amended complaint alleged eleven counts: (1) failure to obtain proper and informed consent; (2) medical negligence; (3) negligent diagnosis/failure to diagnose; (4) medical malpractice and wrongful death; (5) negligent supervision; (6) violations of the Freedom of Information Act; (7) equitable estoppel; (8) violation of 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments; (9) conspiracy under 42 U.S.C. § 1985; (10) violation of the Declaration of Helsinki, and (11) negligence. The plaintiffs alleged the first nine counts against the VA, UCMC, and the individual defendants. They also alleged the first and ninth counts against the pharmaceutical defendants, Roche Molecular Systems, Inc.; Centocor Ortho Biotech Products, L.P., nka Janssen Products, L.P.; Merck, Sharp & Dohme Corporation fka Schering Corporation; Roche Pharmaceuticals, aka Hoffman-La Roche Inc.; Amgen Manufacturing Limited; Merck & Company, Inc., fka Schering-Plough Corporation; Pfizer, Inc.; and GlaxoSmithKline LLC. The eleventh count 5 was asserted only against the pharmaceutical defendants. Alleging that all of the defendants were jointly and severally liable, the plaintiffs sought $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages. The United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio certified under 28 U.S.C. § 2679 and 28 C.F.R. § 15.3 that all six individual defendants were employees of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and that they acted within the scope of their federal employment at the time of the incidents alleged in the amended complaint. Based on these certifications, the individual defendants asked the district court to substitute the United States as a party and dismiss them from the suit. All of the defendants moved to dismiss the amended complaint. The plaintiffs moved for leave to file a second amended complaint. At the conclusion of briefing on the motions, the magistrate judge issued a comprehensive Report and Recommendation (R & R). The magistrate judge recommended that the district court substitute the United States as the sole federal defendant and dismiss the individual defendants, dismiss all counts of the amended complaint against all defendants, and deny as futile the plaintiffs’ motion to file a second amended complaint. Counsel for the plaintiffs then withdrew from further representation. Sandy Sykes pro se filed lengthy objections, with attached exhibits, to the R & R, and responses to the objections were filed. After conducting de novo review, the district court adopted the R & R, substituted the United States as the sole federal defendant, dismissed the individual defendants, granted the motions to dismiss, and denied the plaintiffs’ motion for leave to file a second amended complaint. Judgment was entered the same day. Sandy Sykes pro se filed a timely notice of appeal from the final judgment. Although the notice of appeal purported to effectuate an appeal on behalf of all plaintiffs, including the estate of 6 David J. Muir, only Sandy Sykes signed the notice of appeal. Title 28 U.S.C. § 1654 provides that “[i]n all courts of the United States the parties may plead and conduct their own cases personally or by counsel,” but the statute does not allow a plaintiff to appear pro se where the interests of others are at issue. Shepherd v. Wellman, 313 F.3d 963, 970 (6th Cir. 2002). In addition, the administrator of an estate may not litigate claims on behalf of the estate pro se if the estate has beneficiaries other than the pro se litigant, as is the case here. See id. The same rule applies under Ohio state law because allowing a pro se litigant to represent others would constitute the unauthorized practice of law. See Williams v. Griffith, No. 09AP-28, 2009 WL 2469523, at  (Ohio Ct. App. Aug. 13, 2009). Therefore, the only appellant before us is Sandy Sykes in her individual capacity. In addition to the voluminous record below, we have reviewed Sykes’s pro se filings on appeal, including her initial appellate brief filed on September 21, 2011, her Amended Appeal filed on October 24, 2011, and her Amended Appeal filed on December 5, 2011. We have considered the nine briefs filed by Appellees, as well as Sykes’s two reply briefs. We have also considered Sykes’s Motion To Supplement Record On Appeal, filed December 16, 2011. We deny the motion to add additional exhibits to the record because our review is confined to the allegations of the amended complaint and the documents referenced in it.