Williams v. Fort Zumwalt School District

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI EASTERN DIVISION PATRICIA WILLIAMS, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) vs. ) Case No. 4:23-cv-01517-MTS ) FORT ZUMWALT SCHOOL DISTRICT, ) ) Defendant. ) MEMORANDUM OPINION The Court repeatedly has admonished Plaintiff about the requirement to follow all Court rules and directives. Nevertheless, Plaintiff has continuously failed to do so. Defendant informed the Court that Plaintiff failed to provide her required initial disclosures and failed to respond to proper discovery requests, and it asked the Court to dismiss this action as a sanction. Doc. [44] (Defendant’s Motion for Sanctions). Plaintiff filed a response to the Motion for Sanctions, but her response was largely unintelligible and in no way excused her failure to provide her initial disclosures and discovery responses. See Doc. [46]. Nevertheless, the Court issued an Order to Show Cause giving Plaintiff still another opportunity to show cause why this action should not be dismissed for her repeated failures to participate in discovery and prosecute this action. Doc. [47]; see also DiMercurio v. Malcom, 716 F.3d 1138, 1140 (8th Cir. 2013) (noting an involuntary dismissal with prejudice is a drastic sanction). Plaintiff’s response to the Show Cause Order was largely unintelligible and did not show cause for her failure to participate in the discovery process. As the Court warned it would do if Plaintiff failed to show adequate cause, the Court will enter herewith an Order of Dismissal dismissing this action with prejudice. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(b)(2)(A)(v). Dated this 9th day of April 2025. Th al THEW T. SCHELP UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE _2-