Opinion
Case No. 17-cv-4151-DWF-KMM
10-11-2017
STEVEN JACOB GOLDMANN, Plaintiff, v. JANELL MEHLHOFF, CNP, Medical Provider Sherburne Co.; DIANA VANDERBEEK, RN CCHP-RN, Sherburne County Sheriff's Department; BRIAN FRANK, Jail Administrator; THOMAS ZERWAS, Jail Captain; JOEL L. BROTT, Sheriff Sherburne County; SHERBURNE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT; and PAT CARR, Jail Commander, Defendants.
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION
Plaintiff Steven Jacob Goldmann brings this action for alleged deliberate indifference to his medical needs by officials at the jail where he was incarcerated at the time he initiated this action. By separate order, this Court will grant Mr. Goldmann's application to proceed in forma pauperis ("IFP") and direct that service be effected as to all but one of the defendants named in the complaint.
Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A, however, this Court is authorized to review complaints in which a prisoner seeks redress from a governmental entity, and the Court may dismiss any portion of the complaint that fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. Among the defendants named in the complaint is the Sherburne County Sheriff's Department. But sheriff's departments — as opposed to the persons employed by those departments — are not amenable to suit. See De La Garza v. Kandiyohi Cnty. Jail, Correctional Institution, 18 Fed. App'x 436, 437 (8th Cir. 2001) (per curiam). Accordingly, Mr. Goldmann cannot maintain his claims against the Sherburne County Sheriff's Department itself, and it will be recommended that the department be dismissed from this action at the outset.
RECOMMENDATION
Based on the foregoing, and on all of the files, records, and proceedings herein, IT IS HEREBY RECOMMENDED THAT defendant Sherburne County Sheriff's Department be SUMMARILY DISMISSED pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915A. Date: October 11, 2017
s/Katherine Menendez
Katherine Menendez
United States Magistrate Judge
NOTICE
Filing Objections: This Report and Recommendation is not an order or judgment of the District Court and is therefore not appealable directly to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. Under Local Rule 72.2(b)(1), "a party may file and serve specific written objections to a magistrate judge's proposed finding and recommendations within 14 days after being served a copy" of the Report and Recommendation. A party may respond to those objections within 14 days after being served a copy of the objections. LR 72.2(b)(2). All objections and responses must comply with the word or line limits set forth in LR 72.2(c).