Manning et al v. McDonald's USA, LLC et al
| Kenneth Manning, Christine Crawford, Keith Manning, Delores Crawford, Van Jakes, Annis Alston-Staley, Harry Staley, Robert Bonner, Larry Brown, Benny Clark, Eleanor Clark, Glenda Claypool, Juneth Daniel, Yves Dominique, Wise Finley, Jacqueline George, Anthony George, Wesley Hall, Al Harris, Kristen Harris, Lawrence Holland, Douglas Hollis, Glenna Hollis, Laetittia Johnson, Harold Lewis, Jeremy Lewis, Joseph Mbanefo, Scott Miller, Dwight Miller, Dawn Mussenden, William Rasul, Dwayne Richard Johnson, Jeffery Rogers, Carrie Salone, Jeremiah Simmons, Floyd Sims, Allen Stafford, Ronnie Thornton, Errol Thybulle, Lance Williams, Jacq Wynn, Mitchell McGuire, Lois McGuire, Gordon Thornton, Serge Tancrede, Karen Tancrede and William (Pete) Washington |
| McDonald's USA, LLC and McDonald's Corporation |
| 1:2023cv00210 |
| January 13, 2023 |
| US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois |
| Steven C Seeger |
| Civil Rights: Other |
| 28 U.S.C. ยง 1331 Federal Question |
| Both |
Docket Report
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| Filing 8 MINUTE entry before the Honorable Steven C. Seeger: The Court reviewed the joint status report about the statute of limitations, as well as the accompanying spreadsheets. (Dckt. No. #3 ). This Court directed the parties to "pin down" when each Plaintiff left the McDonald's system. In particular, this Court directed Plaintiffs' counsel to "serve a user-friendly table or spreadsheet that identifies, with specificity," the date "when each particular Plaintiff left the McDonald's franchise system." The spreadsheet offered by the Manning Plaintiffs was better than the spreadsheet offered by the Crawford Plaintiffs (20-cv-5132). The Manning Plaintiffs offered the months and years when they exited from the system. In a franchise context, it is usually easy to pin down when, exactly, the franchisor/franchisee relationship ended. It is not the sort of thing that is left up in the air or loosey-goosey. It presumably is written down in a franchise agreement, or some other contract. McDonald's offered more specifics than any of the Plaintiffs, in either case, by offering the specific dates and pointing to the "Defendants' Documented Exit Date." (Dckt. No. [3-3]). That's what this Court had in mind (and directed). By March 15, 2023, McDonald's must produce documents supporting the departure dates in its spreadsheet. Plaintiffs must serve a responsive spreadsheet by March 29, 2023. For each Plaintiff, if Plaintiffs has reason to dispute the dates in the spreadsheet by McDonald's, Plaintiffs must explain why. The parties must meet and confer, and must file an updated status report with the accompanying spreadsheets by April 5, 2023. The Court expects compliance in good faith. The Court offers one last observation. The parties stated that they "disagree over... whether such issues are ripe for resolution at the motion to dismiss stage prior to discovery." (Dckt. No. 90 ). The issue is ripe because the Court said that it is ripe. Or, at the very least, this Court will help it ripen on the vine. District courts have expansive authority to manage their dockets, streamline cases, and narrow the issues as they see fit. That power can include trimming cases of claims that do not belong, and that are destined to hit the exits of the courthouse. There is no point in having time-barred claims hang around, because they will simply add dead weight to the case. The Court wants to get to the bottom of this issue sooner rather than later, before consuming untold resources for potentially time-barred claims. It is true that the statute of limitations is an affirmative defense, and that the statute of limitations is not normally an issue at the motion-to-dismiss stage (unless the face of the complaint shows that it is time barred). Even so, the Federal Rules allow early motions for summary judgment. And, this Court has the discretion to authorize multiple rounds of summary judgment motions, including an early motion for summary judgment on the statute of limitations, and a later motion for summary judgment on everything else. Plaintiffs point to a possible argument about tolling, but that's neither here nor there. Step one is to figure out if something needs to be tolled in the first place. So, the Court directs all parties to engage in this process in good faith. A failure to comply will lead to appropriate relief. Emailed notice (cdh, ) |
| Filing 7 ATTORNEY Appearance for Plaintiffs Annis Alston-Staley, Robert Bonner, Larry Brown, Benny Clark, Eleanor Clark, Glenda Claypool, Christine Crawford, Delores Crawford, Juneth Daniel, Yves Dominique, Wise Finley, Anthony George, Jacqueline George, Wesley Hall, Al Harris, Kristen Harris, Lawrence Holland, Douglas Hollis, Glenna Hollis, Van Jakes, Dwayne Richard Johnson, Laetittia Johnson, Harold Lewis, Jeremy Lewis, Keith Manning, Kenneth Manning, Joseph Mbanefo, Lois McGuire, Mitchell McGuire, Dwight Miller, Scott Miller, Dawn Mussenden, William Rasul, Jeffery Rogers, Carrie Salone, Jeremiah Simmons, Floyd Sims, Allen Stafford, Harry Staley, Karen Tancrede, Serge Tancrede, Gordon Thornton, Ronnie Thornton, Errol Thybulle, William (Pete) Washington, Lance Williams, Jacq Wynn by Annie Davey Prossnitz (Prossnitz, Annie) |
| Filing 6 ATTORNEY Appearance for Plaintiffs Annis Alston-Staley, Robert Bonner, Larry Brown, Benny Clark, Eleanor Clark, Glenda Claypool, Christine Crawford, Delores Crawford, Juneth Daniel, Yves Dominique, Wise Finley, Anthony George, Jacqueline George, Wesley Hall, Al Harris, Kristen Harris, Lawrence Holland, Douglas Hollis, Glenna Hollis, Van Jakes, Dwayne Richard Johnson, Laetittia Johnson, Harold Lewis, Jeremy Lewis, Keith Manning, Kenneth Manning, Joseph Mbanefo, Lois McGuire, Mitchell McGuire, Dwight Miller, Scott Miller, Dawn Mussenden, William Rasul, Jeffery Rogers, Carrie Salone, Jeremiah Simmons, Floyd Sims, Allen Stafford, Harry Staley, Karen Tancrede, Serge Tancrede, Gordon Thornton, Ronnie Thornton, Errol Thybulle, William (Pete) Washington, Lance Williams, Jacq Wynn by Quinn Rallins (Rallins, Quinn) |
| Filing 5 ATTORNEY Appearance for Plaintiffs Annis Alston-Staley, Robert Bonner, Larry Brown, Benny Clark, Eleanor Clark, Glenda Claypool, Christine Crawford, Delores Crawford, Juneth Daniel, Yves Dominique, Wise Finley, Anthony George, Jacqueline George, Wesley Hall, Al Harris, Kristen Harris, Lawrence Holland, Douglas Hollis, Glenna Hollis, Van Jakes, Dwayne Richard Johnson, Laetittia Johnson, Harold Lewis, Jeremy Lewis, Keith Manning, Kenneth Manning, Joseph Mbanefo, Lois McGuire, Mitchell McGuire, Dwight Miller, Scott Miller, Dawn Mussenden, William Rasul, Jeffery Rogers, Carrie Salone, Jeremiah Simmons, Floyd Sims, Allen Stafford, Harry Staley, Karen Tancrede, Serge Tancrede, Gordon Thornton, Ronnie Thornton, Errol Thybulle, William (Pete) Washington, Lance Williams, Jacq Wynn by Daniel Moore Twetten (Twetten, Daniel) |
| Filing 4 ATTORNEY Appearance for Plaintiffs Annis Alston-Staley, Robert Bonner, Larry Brown, Benny Clark, Eleanor Clark, Glenda Claypool, Christine Crawford, Delores Crawford, Juneth Daniel, Yves Dominique, Wise Finley, Anthony George, Jacqueline George, Wesley Hall, Al Harris, Kristen Harris, Lawrence Holland, Douglas Hollis, Glenna Hollis, Van Jakes, Dwayne Richard Johnson, Laetittia Johnson, Harold Lewis, Jeremy Lewis, Keith Manning, Kenneth Manning, Joseph Mbanefo, Lois McGuire, Mitchell McGuire, Dwight Miller, Scott Miller, Dawn Mussenden, William Rasul, Jeffery Rogers, Carrie Salone, Jeremiah Simmons, Floyd Sims, Allen Stafford, Harry Staley, Karen Tancrede, Serge Tancrede, Gordon Thornton, Ronnie Thornton, Errol Thybulle, William (Pete) Washington, Lance Williams, Jacq Wynn by Steven Edwards Art (Art, Steven) |
| Filing 3 STATUS Report re Statute of Limitations Project, Filed Jointly by McDonald's Corporation, McDonald's USA, LLC (Attachments: #1 Exhibit A - Manning Spreadsheet, #2 Exhibit B - Manning Position Statement, #3 Exhibit C - Defendants' Spreadsheet)(Holmes, Patricia) |
| Filing 2 COMPLAINT filed by William Rasul, Dawn Mussenden, Harry Staley, Laetittia Johnson, Anthony George, Christine Crawford, Kenneth Manning, Wesley Hall, Scott Miller, Jacqueline George, Mitchell McGuire, Harold Lewis, Glenna Hollis, Jeremy Lewis, Ronnie Thornton, Yves Dominique, William (Pete) Washington, Douglas Hollis, Benny Clark, Dwight Miller, Jeffery Rogers, Eleanor Clark, Karen Tancrede, Lance Williams, Kristen Harris, Gordon Thornton, Juneth Daniel, Lawrence Holland, Joseph Mbanefo, Annis Alston-Staley, Allen Stafford, Carrie Salone, Keith Manning, Larry Brown, Errol Thybulle, Glenda Claypool, Serge Tancrede, Wise Finley, Floyd Sims, Robert Bonner, Delores Crawford, Dwayne Richard Johnson, Jeremiah Simmons, Lois McGuire, Jacq Wynn, Al Harris, Van Jakes; Jury Demand. (Attachments: #1 Exhibit A, #2 Exhibit B, #3 Exhibit C)(kl, ) |
| Filing 1 MINUTE entry before the Honorable Steven C. Seeger: The Court finds the filing fee is hereby waived. Mailed notice. (jjr, ) |
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