Motions to Strike in Action

Courts do not often strike (on motion or on its own) under FRCP 12(f), especially  an entire pleading. So this one is making the rounds and likely to appear in Civ Pro classes next year:

Plaintiff filed a § 1983 action, represented by Dragon Lawyers, P.C., whose firm logo is this:

The Complaint contained that logo as a watermark and a label on every page. The court was not amused--it struck the pleading, stating "[u]se of this dragon cartoon logo is not only distracting, it is juvenile and impertinent. The Court is not a cartoon."

The watermark is one of several mistakes that jump off the page. It misnames the court in the caption "District Court for the United States of America." And it asserts an 8th Amendment claim in a case arising from pretrial detention.

It is tempting to blame this on Trump and his minions and the Twitterfication of public policy--a pleading version of what Stephen Miller and his ilk do everyday. But lawyers have done stuff like this for years. Technology allows them to do it on another level.