Opinion
No. 07 C 482
08-03-2011
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ex rel. ALAN GRAVETT, Plaintiff, v. McKESSON CORPORATION, et al., Defendants.
MEMORANDUM ORDER
With the lawyer for qui tarn plaintiff Alan Gravett ("Gravett") having withdrawn from representing him, this Court's July 14, 2011 memorandum order notified Gravett that no nonlawyer can proceed pro se in such a qui tarn lawsuit. It accordingly set the next status hearing for August 26, 2011 to give Gravett time to obtain new counsel, failing which this action would be dismissed.
By way of a response, Gravett has tendered a self-prepared 3-1/2 page submission captioned "Motion for petitioning DOJ to reopen Medicare fraud/abuse case." There he identifies other lawsuits that he has brought, essentially portraying himself as a Don Quixote tilting at more than one windmill.
This figure of speech should not be mistaken as a pejorative comment on the validity of any of Gravett's claims, a subject as to which this Court has no basis for judgment. What matters in this case is whether Gravett does or does not obtain counsel by the August 26 deadline.
Because Gravett's current submission does not conform to any appropriate standard, this Court would be well within its rights if it were to return the document to Gravett without filing it. But because he has labeled it as a "Motion," it will simply be filed and immediately denied—after all, this Court has no jurisdiction to second-guess the United States' decision not to pursue this litigation itself.
Milton I. Shadur
Senior United States District Judge