Opinion
No. 09 C 371.
March 18, 2010
MEMORANDUM ORDER
This Court has just received three separate Answers (one on behalf of each defendant) to the First Amended Complaint ("FAC") that advances FLSA and comparable state law claims, brought by Luis Enrique Rodriguez both individually and as a representative plaintiff. In candor, that multiple filing is really inexcusable, for the same lawyer represents all three defendants, and common sense (if nothing else) would call for a single responsive pleading.
With the advent of electronic filing, any concerns about the wasteful bulking-up of the Clerk's Office court files have been eliminated. But that is obviously not so as to a judge who continues to maintain chambers files. Far more importantly, such multiple filings are inconsiderate of the fact that the assigned judge has a responsibility to review pleadings to determine the extent to which parties in a multiparty case are on the same page or have differences among them — and there is no justification at all for forcing the judge to read, as would be true here, three 20-page Answers for that purpose.
For the reasons stated here, all three of the present Answers are stricken. Leave is of course granted to file a single Amended Answer on behalf of all three defendants on or before March 29, 2010. No charge is to be made to defendants by their counsel for the added work and expense incurred in such preparation. Defense counsel is ordered to apprise his clients to that effect by letter, with a copy to be transmitted to this Court's chambers as an informational matter (not for filing).