Esquire

I. BACKGROUND

In July 2020, plaintiff, on behalf of himself, the general public, and an unidentified class of similarly situated persons, sued seven grocery store enterprises, along with 15 executives and grocery store managers, for “vile” conduct. Other than general facts about the corporate defendants, plaintiff did not identify the specific conduct that allegedly caused damages. Plaintiff sought $999 million in compensatory damages and another $999 million in punitive damages. Although plaintiff did not allege any specific causes of action in his complaint, he stated on a preprinted Civil Case Cover Sheet form that there were 10 causes of action “give or take.” On that form, he also checked the box for “defamation” as the case type that best described his complaint. Plaintiff indicated his action should not be deemed “complex,” but he advised the case would involve a large number of separately represented parties, extensive motion practice, and a substantial amount of documentary evidence. After plaintiff failed to submit a case management statement or appear at a scheduled case management conference, the trial court in February 2021 issued an order to show cause why the case…