California Coalition for Families & Children v. San Diego County Bar Ass'n

MEMORANDUM

Plaintiffs Colbern Stuart and California Coalition for Families and Children appeal the district court’s dismissal of plaintiffs’ first amended complaint (“FAC”) with prejudice for failure to comply with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8’s (“Rule 8”) requirement of a short and plain statement.

This case involves plaintiffs’ suit against 49 defendants, including judges, lawyers, law firms, psychologists, social workers, and various state and municipal entities, for claims arising under civil rights and racketeering, statutes. The claims are based on events related to Stuart’s divorce proceedings, including his criminal prosecution for misdemeanor harassment for sending his former wife threatening letters by email, and Stuart’s conduct at a San Diego County Bar Association seminar entitled “Litigants Behaving Badly—Do Professional Services Really Work?”

Plaintiffs initially filed a 175-page complaint with 1156 attached pages of exhibits. The district court dismissed the complaint with leave to amend, finding that the complaint did not comply with Rule 8 and instructing plaintiffs to limit the length of the amended complaint to 30 pages. Plaintiffs then filed the FAC,…