Opinion
3:23-CV-80-DRL-MGG
09-27-2023
RANDY RUSSELL YBARRA, Plaintiff, v. WEXFORD OF INDIANA LLC DIRECTOR, DIANE THEWS, RON NEAL, ROBERT MEHL, DANIEL ALTMAN, ROBERT CARTER, JR., and NANCY MARTHAKIS, Defendants.
OPINION AND ORDER
Damon R. Leichty United States District Court Judge
Randy Russell Ybarra, a prisoner without a lawyer, filed a motion asking to file an amended complaint to add state law claims. ECF 5. The court explained the motion was unnecessary because Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a)(1) permitted him to amend as a matter of course. ECF 8. The amended complaint was docketed, but it does not include state law claims. ECF 9. It appears Mr. Ybarra wants to incorporate his Verified Notice of Small Claims into the amended complaint. This court's local rules do not permit that. N.D. Ind. L.R. 15-1(b) (“Amendments to a pleading: must reproduce the entire pleading as amended [and] must not incorporate another pleading by reference.”).
This is not the only problem with the amended complaint. Mr. Ybarra is raising claims about glass in his right foot dating back to 2018. “Indiana's two-year statute of limitations . . . is applicable to all causes of action brought in Indiana under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.” Snodderly v. R.U.F.F. Drug Enforcement Task Force, 239 F.3d 892, 894 (7th Cir. 2001). He does not explain how his current claims are timely. He declares under penalty of perjury he has never sued anyone for this exact same event, but in Ybarra v. Wexford, et al., 3:18-cv-404 DRL-MGG (N.D. Ind. filed May 30, 2018), he sued Dr. Marthakis for denying him adequate medical treatment for glass in his right foot. He now also alleges she conspired with others to conceal his medical condition, but the Rule 60(b) motion filed more than a year ago in that prior case raised the same argument. That case was dismissed on summary judgment and the Rule 60(b) motion denied.
The amended complaint in this case adds new parties, but it does not clearly explain what he believes each of them did or why he believes he can relitigate those untimely issues in this case. The amended complaint also raises claims based on events that happened after the prior lawsuit ended. It is possible these new events might be the basis for a claim if Mr. Ybarra provided more facts about what defendants were involved and how each of them (if more than Dr. Marthakis was involved) denied him his federally protected constitutional rights.
For these reasons, the court:
(1) DIRECTS the clerk to place this cause number on a blank Pro Se 14 (INND Rev. 2/20) Prisoner Complaint form and send it to Randy Russell Ybarra; and
(2) GRANTS Randy Russell Ybarra until October 28, 2023, to file an amended complaint on that form.
SO ORDERED.