Michael D. Jarrus and Linda Jarrous v. Governor of Michigan, et al.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN SOUTHERN DIVISION MICHAEL D. JARRUS and LINDA JARROUS, Case No: 25-cv-11168 Plaintiffs, Hon. F. Kay Behm U.S. District Judge v. GOVERNOR OF MICHIGAN, et al., Defendants. ________________________________/ ORDER DISMISSING CASE FOR FAILURE TO COMPLY On December 2, 2025, this court entered an order imposing monetary sanctions on both Plaintiffs individually and giving Plaintiffs until February 2, 2026, to pay $300 each in fines to the court. ECF No. 176. This sanction was reaffirmed in a subsequent ruling on Plaintiffs’ motion for reconsideration, and in both orders the court cautioned that dismissal may result for failure to pay. See ECF No. 186.

No payment has been received from either Plaintiff. When dismissing a case for failure to prosecute or failure to comply, the court should consider: (1) whether the party’s failure is due to willfulness, bad faith, or fault; (2) whether the adversary was prejudiced by the dismissed party’s conduct; (3) whether the dismissed party was warned that failure to cooperate could lead to dismissal; and (4) whether less drastic sanctions were imposed or considered before dismissal was ordered. Wu v. T.W. Wang, Inc., 420 F.3d 641, 643 (6th Cir. 2005) (citing Knoll v. American Tel. & Tel. Co., 176 F.3d 359, 363 (6th Cir. 1999)). In this case, although there is little or no specific prejudice to Defendants for failure to pay a court-initiated sanction, the fault for nonpayment lies solely with Plaintiffs, Plaintiffs were warned that failure to comply could lead to dismissal, the court attempted the lesser monetary sanction in order to avoid the sanction of dismissal, and the court gave Plaintiffs two months to comply with its order in order to avoid further sanctions for noncompliance.

Thus this case is dismissed without prejudice for failure to comply pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(b).

SO ORDERED.

Date: February 26, 2026 s/F. Kay Behm F. Kay Behm United States District Judge