Wisconsin Cases August 25, 2022: Griffin v. Milwaukee Election Comm'n
Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Wisconsin
Date: Aug. 25, 2022
Case Description
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IESHUH GRIFFIN, Plaintiff,
v.
MILWAUKEE ELECTION COMMISSION, MILWAUKEE ELECTION COMMISSIONERS, CLAIRE WOODALL-VOGG, CAVALIER JOHNSON, ROBERT DONOVAN, SHERWIN HUGHES, JERAMEY JANNENE, and JANE/JOHN DOES, Defendants.
No. 22-cv-140-jdp
United States District Court, W.D. Wisconsin
August 25, 2022
ORDER
JAMES D. PETERSON, DISTRICT JUDGE
Pro se plaintiff Ieshuh Griffin, who ran as a candidate in the 2022 Milwaukee mayoral primary, filed this lawsuit alleging that various defendant election officials manipulated the results to prevent her from advancing to the general election. I screened her case and dismissed it because her allegations stated no plausible claim to relief. Dkt. 2. After the clerk's office entered judgment against her, Griffin moved for relief from judgment. Dkt. 4. I denied the motion because she offered no reason justifying relief. Dkt. 5.
Plaintiff now moves for entry of default. Dkt. 6. She says that she considers my prior rulings to be void, and that despite my dismissal of her case, she served defendants with a summons and complaint anyway. She says that defendants have not answered her complaint or otherwise defended in the case, so she is entitled to default judgment in her favor.
That's not how it works. Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(b), a valid summons must be issued by the court. The clerk of court didn't issue a summons in Griffin's case because her case was dismissed at screening. It is not clear what Griffin served on defendants, but it
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was not a valid summons, and defendants had no obligation to participate or appear in this lawsuit. The motion is DENIED.