Larael-Karris Owens v. Florida Department of Revenue, et al

[DO NOT PUBLISH]
In the
United States Court of Appeals
For the Eleventh Circuit
____________________
No. 22-10550
Non-Argument Calendar
____________________
LARAEL-KARRIS OWENS,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
K. L. O.
a minor child,
L. Z. O.
a minor child,
Plaintiffs,
versus
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE,
FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL,
in her official capacity,
Defendants-Appellees.
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2 Opinion of the Court 22-10550
____________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Florida
D.C. Docket No. 3:21-cv-00510-MMH-MCR
____________________
Before J ORDAN, ROSENBAUM , and J ILL PRYOR , Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Larael-Karris Owens, proceeding
pro se, appeals the district
court’s dismissal with prejudice of his second amended complaint.
The district court dismissed the complaint
sua sponte as an imper-
missible shotgun pleading, in violation of Federal Rules of Civil
Procedure 8(a)(2) and 10(b), after Mr. Owens failed to remedy the
pleading deficiencies identified by the district court on two separate
occasions. After review, we affirm.
I
We review the dismissal of a shotgun pleading for failure to
comply with Rules 8(a)(2) and 10(b) for abuse of discretion.
See
Weiland v. Palm Beach Cty. Sheriff's Off., 792 F.3d 1313, 1320 (11th
Cir. 2015). Although we construe
pro se complaints more liberally
than complaints drafted by attorneys, we nevertheless require that
pro se litigants comply with the same governing rules and proce-
dures as litigants represented by attorneys.
See Albra v. Advan,
Inc., 490 F.3d 826, 829 (11th Cir. 2007).
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22-10550 Opinion of the Court 3
As relevant here, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure re-
quire that a complaint contain “a short and plain statement of the
claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief,” Fed. R. Civ. P.
8(a)(2), and that the claims therein be made “in numbered para-
graphs, each limited as far as practicable to a single set of circum-
stances,” Fed. R. Civ. P. 10(b). A shotgun pleading typically vio-
lates at least one of these two rules and as a result, fails “to give the
defendants adequate notice of the claims against them and the
grounds upon which each claim rests.”
Weiland, 792 F.3d at 1323.
We have identified four categories of shotgun pleadings: (1)
“a complaint containing multiple counts where each count adopts
the allegations of all preceding counts;” (2) a complaint that is “re-
plete with conclusory, vague, and immaterial facts not obviously
connected to any particular cause of action;” (3) a complaint that
does “not separate[e] into a different count each cause of action or
claim for relief;” and (4) a complaint that “assert[s] multiple claims
against multiple defendants without specifying which of the de-
fendants are responsible for which acts or omissions, or which of
the defendants the claim is brought against.”
Id. at 1321–23.
Where a complaint falls under any one or more of these four
categories, we generally require that the district court allow the lit-
igant at least one chance to remedy the deficiencies.
See Wagner
v. First Horizon Pharm. Corp., 464 F.3d 1273, 1280 (11th Cir. 2006).
Here, Mr. Owens was given two opportunities.
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4 Opinion of the Court 22-10550
II
In May of 2021, Mr. Owens filed a civil action on behalf of
himself and his two minor children against the Florida Department
of Revenue and Attorney General Ashley Moody in her official ca-
pacity. In his complaint, Mr. Owens appeared to challenge certain
child support enforcement and wage garnishment laws, while re-
questing that he be given full custody of his children and that his
family be removed from the Social Security Program. Mr. Owens’
complaint was far from clear, spanning 24 pages of unnumbered,
lengthy paragraphs and 43 pages of exhibits not addressed in the
complaint.
Mr. Owens sought leave to proceed
in forma pauperis. A
magistrate judge reviewed the complaint under 28 U.S.C. §
1915(e)(2)(B) and determined, in relevant part, that it failed to com-
ply with Rules 8 and 10. Finding the complaint to be “a rambling
discourse [of] legal articles, cases, statutes, and texts” that included
“voluminous exhibits with no reasonable explanation as to their
relevancy,” the magistrate judge instructed Mr. Owens to file an
amended complaint in accordance with the Federal Rules.
See
D.E. 3 at 5. In doing so, the magistrate judge highlighted the re-
quirements that the complaint contain “a short and plain state-
ment” of the claims being raised and that each paragraph be num-
bered and “limited as far as practicable to a single set of circum-
stances.”
See id. at 7–8 (citing Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2) & 10(b)). The
magistrate judge further noted that Mr. Owens failed to raise any
allegations that specifically implicated the defendants in the case
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22-10550 Opinion of the Court 5
and instructed Mr. Owens to “state the constitutional or federal law
that each defendant violated” in his amended complaint.
See id.
Mr. Owens filed an amended complaint in July of 2021. But
like the original complaint, the amended complaint failed to sepa-
rate each claim or cause of action into different counts and failed to
state the claims in an intelligible manner.
In its dismissal order, the district court described the
amended complaint as “a confusing combination of facts, legal
analysis, and bare accusations” that failed to give the defendants
adequate notice of the claims against them.
See D.E. 20 at 5. The
district court further explained that this manner of pleading failed
to comply with Rules 8 and 10 and the requirements outlined in
the magistrate judge’s order.
See id. Accordingly, the district court
struck the amended complaint but allowed Mr. Owens another op-
portunity to draft a proper complaint.
The instruction to Mr. Owens was the same: he needed to
“separate each claim into distinct counts” and “utilize separate par-
agraphs, with simple, concise, and direct allegations.”
See id. at 5.
The district court also warned Mr. Owens that failure to comply
with the rules of procedure and its order could result in a
sua
sponte dismissal of his action.
In December of 2021, Mr. Owens filed a second amended
complaint. Upon review, the district court concluded that Mr. Ow-
ens failed to correct any of the previously identified deficiencies and
noted that the pleading issues had instead, only worsened.
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6 Opinion of the Court 22-10550
After three failed attempts to draft a complaint in conform-
ance with Rules 8(a)(2) and 10(b), the district court
sua sponte dis-
missed Mr. Owens’ second amended complaint with prejudice.
Mr. Owens now appeals.
III
Mr. Owens argues that the district court erred in dismissing
his second amended complaint because he added two labels, gave
extensive details, and attached numerous exhibits. But even gen-
erously construed, the second amended complaint remains a quin-
tessential shotgun pleading.
The second amended complaint is difficult to comprehend.
It consists of 20 pages of long strings of conclusory sentences and
lengthy, unnumbered paragraphs that fail to show any connection
to a particular claim or cause of action. The second amended com-
plaint also includes 65 pages of exhibits with no explanation as to
their relevance.
Although Mr. Owens added the labels “Count 1” and
“Count 2” in an apparent attempt to comply with the district
court’s directives, they are of little to no help. As the district court
noted, because Mr. Owens repeats the same two labels throughout
the second amended complaint, the labels fail to “actually desig-
nate any distinct claim or claims.”
See D.E. 28 at 3 (citing D.E. 24
at 2, 6, 7, 15, 19).
Additionally, the information Mr. Owens includes under the
labels fails to shed any light on the claims he attempts to raise.
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22-10550 Opinion of the Court 7
Throughout the second amended complaint, Mr. Owens mainly
provides a regurgitation of case law and statutes, with only a few
discernable facts with no clear nexus to an identifiable claim or
cause of action. The added labels thus fail to serve their intended
purpose. That is, the defendants are still left with the arduous task
of deciphering Mr. Owens’ claims and the extent to which they are
allegedly responsible for them with no real guidance from the
plaintiff himself.
We conclude, therefore, that the district court did not abuse
its discretion in dismissing Mr. Owens’ second amended complaint
with prejudice. Mr. Owens was given fair notice of the specific de-
fects in his complaint and a meaningful opportunity to fix them on
two separate occasions. Other than the addition of the labels
“Count 1” and “Count 2”—which fail to provide any clarity on the
claims Mr. Owens raises—the second amended complaint remains
substantially the same as before. A dismissal with prejudice was
thus well within the district court’s discretion and therefore, not
erroneous
. See Jackson v. Bank of Am., N.A., 898 F.3d 1348, 1358–
59 (11th Cir. 2018) (concluding that if the plaintiff is given the
chance but fails to remedy the defects of his previous complaint,
“the district court does not abuse its discretion in dismissing the
case with prejudice on shotgun pleading grounds”).
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8 Opinion of the Court 22-10550
IV
We affirm the district court’s order dismissing Mr. Owens’
second amended complaint with prejudice.
AFFIRMED.
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