The opinion of the court was delivered by: DAVID HERNDON, District Judge
On April 14, 2004, Vincent Vega filed this lawsuit against
Shawnee Correctional Center and Alphonso C. David, in the
Northern District of Illinois (Doc. 1). Vega claims that he
injured his back and pulled a muscle in his stomach and pelvis
while picking up at least 50 wet mattresses looking for a dry one
(Doc.1, p. 6) Further, Vega alleges that he spent two years in
the Shawnee Correctional Center suffering from a painful hernia
and that Doctor David denied him medical treatment for that
injury. His complaint also states that he obtained the grievance
form and filled completed it (Doc. 1, p. 3). He alleges that he
"never got a response so I'm now writing to the Administrative
Review Board to expedite the process . . ." (Doc. 1, p. 3).
On May 7, 2004, Judge Nordberg transferred the case to this
Judicial District and the case was assigned to this undersigned
district judge (Doc. 3). On September 23, 2004, the Court granted
Vega's motion to proceed in forma pauperis and dismissed with
prejudice Shawnee Correctional Center (Doc. 9).*fn1
On December 27, 2004, David filed a motion to dismiss for
failure to exhaust administrative remedies based on Perez v.
Wisconsin Dept of Corrections, 182 F.3d 533, 534 (7thp> Cir.
1999) (Docs. 12 & 13). Vega did not respond to the motion to
dismiss. On March 23, 2005, Magistrate Judge Wilkerson entered a
Report and Recommendation opining that the Court should deny
David's motion to dismiss (Doc. 19). Thereafter, David filed
timely objections to the Report (Doc. 20).
On April 13, 2005, based on the objections and the issues
contained in the pleadings, the Court set this matter for a de
novo hearing for May 13, 2005 (Doc. 21). Due to a scheduling
conflict, the Court reset the hearing for June 3, 2005 (Doc. 22).
The Court sent notices to Vega informing him of the hearing.
On June 3, 2005, the Court held a de novo hearing on David's
motion to dismiss and Magistrate Judge Wilkeson's Report. Vega
failed to appear at the hearing. The Court heard argument from
David's counsel. Based on Vega's failure to attend and the
reasons stated on the record, the Court DISMISSES without prejudice Vega's cause of action for failure to prosecution.