USCA11 Case: 19-11212 Date Filed: 05/25/2021 Page: 1 of 4
[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________
No. 19-11212
Non-Argument Calendar
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D.C. Docket No. 5:15-cv-00088-TES-CHW
WASEEM DAKER,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
COMMISSIONER HOMER BRYSON,
TIMOTHY WARD,
Assistant Commissioner,
RICK JACOBS,
Facilities Director,
STEVE UPTON,
Deputy Facilities Director,
ROBERT E. JONES,
General Counsel, et al.,
Defendants-Appellees.
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Georgia
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(May 25, 2021)
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Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, LAGOA and BRASHER, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Waseem Daker, a state prisoner, appeals pro se the sua sponte dismissal
without prejudice of his amended complaint against prison officials. On the
recommendation of a magistrate judge, the district court dismissed Daker’s
complaint as malicious because it was duplicative of earlier pleadings, 28 U.S.C.
§ 1915(e), and in the alternative, as a shotgun pleading, see Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2).
Daker challenges the dismissal of his amended complaint. We affirm.
Daker argues that the district court erred by dismissing his amended
complaint as malicious and duplicative, but we need not address that issue because
we can affirm on the alternative ground that his complaint was an impermissible
shotgun pleading. See Sapuppo v. Allstate Floridian Ins. Co., 739 F.3d 678, 680
(11th Cir. 2014). Daker’s amended complaint consisted of a “statement of facts”
that he incorporated by reference into his claims that “the defendants” violated his
right to practice his religion under the First Amendment and the Religious Land
Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, interfered with his right to obtain personal
and legal materials and to access the courts under the First and Fourteenth
Amendments, maltreated him in violation of the Eighth Amendment, and
interfered with his right to due process in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The magistrate judge classified Daker’s complaint as a shotgun pleading because it
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was impossible to identify which of the more than two dozen prison officials
named as defendants were allegedly responsible for which act and what facts
pertained to each claim for relief. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2); Weiland v. Palm
Beach Cty. Sheriff’s Office, 792 F.3d 1313, 1321–23 (11th Cir. 2015) (describing a
shotgun pleading). Daker did not object to the classification and instead argued that
he lacked resources to identify and correct the deficiencies in his pleading. As the
district court highlighted in its order adopting the magistrate judge’s report, Daker
“waive[d] the right to challenge on appeal” the dismissal of his amended complaint
as a shotgun pleading. See 11th Cir. R. 3-1.
Daker argues that he should have been allowed to amend his complaint
again or to “revert back” to his original complaint, but the district court did not
abuse its discretion by denying those requests. Daker’s amended complaint
“superseded” his original complaint, which meant that his “original pleadings were
abandoned by the amendment” and became “a legal nullity.” See Hoefling v. City
of Miami, 811 F.3d 1271, 1277 (11th Cir. 2016). We find no error in disallowing
further amendments, even though the dismissal of Daker’s amended complaint
operated as a dismissal with prejudice. See Justice v. United States, 6 F.3d 1474,
1482 & n.15 (11th Cir. 1993). “[A] dismissal with prejudice, whether on motion or
sua sponte, is an extreme sanction that may be properly imposed . . . when . . . a
party engages in a clear pattern of delay or willful contempt (contumacious
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conduct) . . . .” Betty K Agencies, Ltd. v. M/V MONADA, 432 F.3d 1333, 1337–38
(11th Cir. 2005). Daker does not dispute that his amended complaint was
duplicative of multiple lawsuits containing the same claims against the same
defendants. See Daker v. Bryson, 841 F. App’x 115, 117–21 (11th Cir. 2020)
(recounting Daker’s prior actions). And Daker waived any challenge to the
magistrate judge’s finding that his continued litigiousness evidenced his bad faith.
See 11th Cir. R. 3-1.
We AFFIRM the dismissal of Daker’s complaint.
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