Birch Jr v. State of Nevada

• Court: District Court, D. Nevada
• Decided: June 25, 2021
• Docket: 2:20-cv-01776
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 8 * * *

9 FRANK P. BIRCH, JR., Case No. 2:20-cv-01776-GMN-DJA

10 Plaintiff, ORDER

11 v.

12 STATE OF NEVADA, et al.,

13 Defendants.

14 15 This action is a pro se civil rights action filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by a 16 prisoner in the custody of the Nevada Department of Corrections. On May 20, 2021, the 17 Court issued an order dismissing the complaint with leave to amend the complaint within 18 30 days of the date of that order. (ECF No. 4 at 10). The time period for filing an amended 19 complaint has now expired, and Plaintiff has not filed an amended complaint or otherwise 20 responded to the Court’s order. District courts have the inherent power to control their 21 dockets and “[i]n the exercise of that power, they may impose sanctions including, where 22 appropriate . . . dismissal” of a case. Thompson v. Hous. Auth. of City of Los Angeles, 23 782 F.2d 829, 831 (9th Cir. 1986). A court may dismiss an action, with prejudice, based 24 on a party’s failure to prosecute an action, failure to obey a court order, or failure to comply 25 with local rules. See Ghazali v. Moran, 46 F.3d 52, 53-54 (9th Cir. 1995) (dismissal for 26 noncompliance with local rule); Ferdik v. Bonzelet, 963 F.2d 1258, 1260-61 (9th Cir. 27 1992) (dismissal for failure to comply with an order requiring amendment of complaint); 28 Carey v. King, 856 F.2d 1439, 1440-41 (9th Cir. 1988) (dismissal for failure to comply with 1 local rule requiring pro se plaintiffs to keep court apprised of address); Malone v. U.S. 2 Postal Service, 833 F.2d 128, 130 (9th Cir. 1987) (dismissal for failure to comply with 3 court order); Henderson v. Duncan, 779 F.2d 1421, 1424 (9th Cir. 1986) (dismissal for 4 lack of prosecution and failure to comply with local rules). 5 In determining whether to dismiss an action for lack of prosecution, failure to obey 6 a court order, or failure to comply with local rules, the court must consider several factors: 7 (1) the public’s interest in expeditious resolution of litigation; (2) the court’s need to 8 manage its docket; (3) the risk of prejudice to the defendants; (4) the public policy favoring 9 disposition of cases on their merits; and (5) the availability of less drastic alternatives. 10 Thompson, 782 F.2d at 831; Henderson, 779 F.2d at 1423-24; Malone, 833 F.2d at 130; 11 Ferdik, 963 F.2d at 1260-61; Ghazali, 46 F.3d at 53. 12 In the instant case, the Court finds that the first two factors, the public’s interest in 13 expeditiously resolving this litigation and the Court’s interest in managing the docket, 14 weigh in favor of dismissal. The third factor, risk of prejudice to Defendants, also weighs 15 in favor of dismissal, since a presumption of injury arises from the occurrence of 16 unreasonable delay in filing a pleading ordered by the court or prosecuting an action. See 17 Anderson v. Air West, 542 F.2d 522, 524 (9th Cir. 1976). The fourth factor – public policy 18 favoring disposition of cases on their merits – is greatly outweighed by the factors in favor 19 of dismissal discussed herein. Finally, a court’s warning to a party that his failure to obey 20 the court’s order will result in dismissal satisfies the “consideration of alternatives” 21 requirement. Ferdik, 963 F.2d at 1262; Malone, 833 F.2d at 132-33; Henderson, 779 22 F.2d at 1424. The Court’s order requiring Plaintiff to file an amended complaint within 23 thirty days expressly warned Plaintiff that, if he failed to file a timely amended complaint, 24 this action would be dismissed with prejudice for failure to state a claim.” (ECF No. 4 at 25 10). Thus, Plaintiff had adequate warning that dismissal would result from his 26 noncompliance with the Court’s order to file an amended complaint within thirty days. 27 For the foregoing reasons, it is ordered that Plaintiff’s application to proceed in 28 forma pauperis (ECF No. 1) without having to prepay the full filing fee is granted. Plaintiff 1 shall not be required to pay an initial installment fee. Nevertheless, the full filing fee shall 2 still be due, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915, as amended by the Prisoner Litigation Reform 3 Act. The movant herein is permitted to maintain this action to conclusion without the 4 necessity of prepayment of fees or costs or the giving of security therefor. 5 It is further ordered that, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915, as amended by the Prison 6 Litigation Reform Act, the Nevada Department of Corrections will forward payments from 7 the account of Frank P. Birch, Jr., # 1180738, to the Clerk of the United States District 8 Court, District of Nevada, 20% of the preceding month's deposits (in months that the 9 account exceeds $10.00) until the full $350 filing fee has been paid for this action. The 10 Clerk of the Court will send a copy of this order to the Finance Division of the Clerk’s 11 Office. The Clerk will send a copy of this order to the attention of Chief of Inmate 12 Services for the Nevada Department of Corrections, P.O. Box 7011, Carson City, NV 13 89702. 14 It is further ordered that, regardless of the success of Plaintiff’s action, the full filing 15 fee shall still be due, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §1915, as amended by the Prisoner Litigation 16 Reform Act. 17 It is further ordered that this action is dismissed with prejudice based on Plaintiff’s 18 failure to file an amended complaint in compliance with this Court’s May 21, 2021 order 19 and for failure to state a claim. 20 It is further ordered that the Clerk of Court shall enter judgment accordingly and 21 close this case. 22 DATED THIS 2 5 day of J u n e 2021. 23

24 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 25 26 27 28