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Justin Herrera v. Theresa Cleveland, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, No. 20-2076 · judgment August 6, 2021


Certiorari denied · March 28, 2022
Pre-decision estimate: 4% cert probability

Before the decision, roughly the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel with five or more prior petitions here, a circuit split argued in the petition, and a Seventh Circuit decision below.

Question presented

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(c)(1)(C) provides that when a plaintiff files an amended complaint changing the name of a defendant, that amendment relates back to the date of the original complaint if the newly named defendant (1) “received such notice of the action that it will not be prejudiced in defending on the merits” and (2) “knew or should have known that the action would have been brought against it, but for a mistake concerning the proper party’s identity.” The question presented is: Does Rule 15(c)(1)(C) categorically exclude relation back if the plaintiff initially used John Doe placeholders in the complaint due to inadequate knowledge regarding the defendants’ names?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Kelsi Brown Corkran
Institute for Constitutional Advocacy & Protection

For respondent
Jessica Megan Scheller
Office of the Cook County State's Attorney

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Amicus briefs
3 cert-stage

Linked docket
21A102

Proceedings

  1. Mar 28 2022
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Mar 09 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/25/2022.
  3. Mar 08 2022
    Reply of petitioner Justin Herrera filed. (Distributed)
  4. Feb 22 2022
    Brief of respondent Teresa Cleveland, et al. in opposition filed.
  5. Jan 20 2022
    Response Requested. (Due February 22, 2022)
  6. Jan 12 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/18/2022.
  7. Dec 27 2021
    Brief amici curiae of Civil Procedure Scholars filed.
  8. Dec 27 2021
    Brief amicus curiae of Howard University School of Law Civil Rights Clinic filed.
  9. Dec 20 2021
    Waiver of right of respondent Teresa Cleveland to respond filed.
  10. Dec 08 2021
    Brief amici curiae of Former Jailhouse Lawyers filed.
  11. Nov 19 2021
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 27, 2021)
  12. Oct 26 2021
    Application (21A102) granted by Justice Barrett extending the time to file until November 19, 2021.
  13. Oct 14 2021
    Application (21A102) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from November 4, 2021 to December 6, 2021, submitted to Justice Barrett.