Opinion
Case No. 14 C 1323
02-27-2014
PAUL WEBB, Plaintiff, v. COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS; et al., Defendants.
MEMORANDUM ORDER
Paul Webb ("Webb") has employed a Clerk's-Office-supplied printed form, made available for use by persons in custody who seek to advance claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ("Section 1983"), to sue a number of defendants based on their claimed deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs. Although Webb alleges that he has satisfied the 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a) precondition to such a lawsuit (that statute calls for a prisoner plaintiff's exhaustion of such administrative remedies as are available), other problems posed by his self-prepared pleading used to be addressed.
To begin with, neither Cook County nor its Board President Toni Preckwinkle nor the Cook County Board of Commissioners bears any legal responsibility for the harm about which Webb complains, and consequently all are dismissed as defendants without prejudice. Cook County Sheriff Dart, however, will be retained as a defendant to permit Webb to proceed with the identification of the "several John Doe Defendants" referred to in the case caption.
Next, even though Webb has adapted and signed a printed form "Motion and Affidavit To Proceed in District Court Without Prepaying Fees or Costs," that motion has not complied with the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 1915 ("Section 1915"), for he has omitted the required printout of his transactions in his trust fund account at the institution or institutions where he has been in custody for the six-month period immediately preceding the filing of his complaint (Section 1915(a)(2)). Because Webb is now in custody at Vandalia Correctional Center ("Vandalia"), that may require trust fund printouts from more than one institution.
This Court stands ready to permit Webb to proceed with his substantive claim as soon as he addresses the matter raised here. But for the present no immediate action will be taken.
___________________
Milton I. Shadur
Senior United States District Judge