Eddy Jean Philippeaux v. Miami Apartments Investors, LLC, et al.

[DO NOT PUBLISH]
In the
United States Court of Appeals
For the Eleventh Circuit
____________________
No. 22-11692
Non-Argument Calendar
____________________
EDDY JEAN PHILIPPEAUX,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
MIAMI APARTMENTS INVESTORS, LLC,
c/o United Corporate Services, lnc.,
JOHN DOE,
Owner of Monare At Met 3,
ZRS MANAGEMENT,
BARON RESIDENTIAL, BARON,
Property Management,
SHARON FOTHERGILL, et al.,
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2 Opinion of the Court 22-11692
Defendants-Appellees,
RKW RESIDENTIAL,
Defendant.
____________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Florida
D.C. Docket No. 1:21-cv-22981-PCH
____________________
Before W ILSON , L UCK and DUBINA , Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Appellant Eddy Philippeaux, proceeding
pro se, appeals the
district court’s order dismissing his
pro se second amended com-
plaint with prejudice as an impermissible shotgun pleading. Liber-
ally construed, Philippeaux argues on appeal that he properly al-
leged that the defendants, Miami Apartments Investors, John Doe,
ZRS Management, Baron Residential, Sharon Fothergill, and RKW
Residential, harmed him when they did not accommodate his dis-
ability and that he stated a plausible claim for relief in his second
amended complaint. After reviewing the record and reading the
parties’ briefs, we affirm the district court’s order of dismissal.
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22-11692 Opinion of the Court 3
I.
We review for abuse of discretion a district court’s order dis-
missing a complaint for failure to comply with the rules setting
forth requirements for form of pleadings.
Weiland v. Palm Beach
Cty. Sheriff’s Off., 792 F.3d 1313, 1320 (11th Cir. 2015). Under Fed-
eral Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2), a pleading that states a claim
for relief must contain “a short and plain statement of the claim
showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P.
8(a)(2). This short and plain statement must “give the defendant
fair notice of what the . . . claim is and the grounds upon which it
rests.”
Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S. Ct.
1955, 1964 (2007) (quotation marks omitted, alteration in original).
The complaint must contain more than labels and bare conclu-
sions.
Id., 127 S. Ct. at 1965. While
pro se pleadings are liberally
construed and held to less stringent standards than those drafted by
attorneys, they still must provide some factual basis for a claim.
Jones v. Fla. Parole Comm’n, 787 F.3d 1105, 1107 (11th Cir. 2015).
Once the district court gives a plaintiff fair notice of the specific de-
fects in his complaint and a meaningful chance to fix them, the dis-
trict court can properly dismiss with prejudice if the plaintiff files
an amended complaint afflicted with the same defects.
Jackson v.
Bank of Am., N.A., 898 F.3d 1348, 1358-59 (11th Cir. 2018).
II.
So-called “shotgun” pleadings do not provide a short and
plain statement of a claim under Rule 8.
Magluta v. Samples, 256
F.3d 1282, 1284 (11th Cir. 2001). We have “little tolerance for
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4 Opinion of the Court 22-11692
shotgun pleadings,” given that “[t]hey waste scarce judicial re-
sources, inexorably broaden[] the scope of discovery, wreak havoc
on appellate court dockets, and undermine[] the public’s respect
for the courts.”
Vibe Micro, Inc. v. Shabanets, 878 F.3d 1291, 1295
(11th Cir. 2018) (quotation marks omitted, second and third altera-
tions in original). “Shotgun” pleadings include complaints that: (1)
contain multiple counts where each count adopts the allegations of
all preceding counts; (2) are “replete with conclusory, vague, and
immaterial facts not obviously connected to any particular cause of
action”; (3) do not separate each cause of action or claim for relief
into separate counts; or (4) assert multiple claims against multiple
defendants without specifying which of the defendants are respon-
sible for which acts or omissions.
Weiland, 792 F.3d at 1321-23. All
these types of “shotgun” pleadings are characterized by their failure
“to give the defendants adequate notice of the claims against them
and the grounds upon which each claim rests.”
Id. at 1323.
Like other litigants, a
pro se appellant abandons an issue by
failing to address it in his opening brief.
Sapuppo v. Allstate Florid-
ian Ins., 739 F.3d 678, 681-83 (11th Cir. 2014). An appellant fails to
brief a claim when he does not “plainly and prominently” raise it,
such as by devoting a discrete section of his argument to the
claim.
Id. at 681.
III.
As an initial matter, to the extent that Philippeaux raises new
allegations of retaliation by the defendants that have taken place
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22-11692 Opinion of the Court 5
since he filed this appeal, those allegations are outside the scope of
the appeal before us. Thus, we decline to consider them.
As to the remaining allegations, the record demonstrates
that Philippeaux does not specifically address on appeal the district
court’s finding that his second amended complaint was a shotgun
pleading, abandoning any such challenge. Even if we considered
the claim, however, the record demonstrates that the district court
did not abuse its discretion in dismissing Philippeaux’s second
amended complaint with prejudice as a shotgun pleading. The sec-
ond amended complaint did not meet the requirements of Federal
Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a) because Philippeaux did not give the
defendants notice of his claims and did not state the grounds upon
which each claim rests. While Philippeaux made some specific al-
legations against specific defendants regarding some claims within
some counts, he asserted most of his claims against all the defend-
ants generally. He did not specify which claims he was asserting
against which defendant, and he did not identify which defendant
was responsible for which alleged claim. The district court in-
structed him to provide more specificity, but he failed to do so. Ac-
cordingly, for the aforementioned reasons, we affirm the district
court’s order dismissing the complaint with prejudice.
AFFIRMED.1
1 Philippeaux’s motion for judicial notice and to supplement the rec-
ord on appeal is DENIED because the documents at issue are not relevant to
this appeal.
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