Bungie Inc v. Veterancheats.com

Opinion

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5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 10 11 BUNGIE, INC., a Delaware corporation, CASE NO. 2:21-cv-01114-TL 12 Plaintiff, ORDER ON DOE DEFENDANTS v. 13 MIHAI CLAUDIU-FLORENTIN, an 14 individual, d/b/a VETERANCHEATS.COM, et al., 15 Defendants. 16

17 This matter is before the Court sua sponte. In its Amended Complaint, Plaintiff Bungie 18 Inc. includes claims against a number of fictitious “Doe” Defendants who have never been 19 identified or served in this action. See Dkt. No. 18 ¶ 10. While naming fictious defendants is 20 generally disfavored in federal court, “plaintiff[s] should be given an opportunity through 21 discovery to identify the unknown defendants, unless it is clear that discovery would not uncover 22 the identities, or that the complaint would be dismissed on other grounds.” Gillespie v. Civiletti, 23 629 F.2d 637, 642 (9th Cir. 1980). Plaintiff was granted expedited discovery to identify or locate 24 the unknown defendants. Dkt. No. 9. Plaintiff’s time to serve per Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 1 4(m) was also extended. Dkt. No. 12. Plaintiff eventually filed proof of service on Defendant 2 Mihai Claudiu-Florentin, d/b/a Veterancheats.com, against whom entry of default (Dkt. No. 29) 3 and default judgment (Dkt. No. 43) was granted. The Court notes that neither of Plaintiff’s 4 default motions address the unspecified fictitious Defendants. The previously extended service

5 deadline has now long passed. 6 Rule 4(m) allows the Court to dismiss defendants who are not timely served sua sponte 7 upon notice to the plaintiff. Plaintiff is therefore directed to file a stipulated notice voluntarily 8 dismissing all unnamed Doe Defendants pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(A)(ii) within 9 fourteen (14) days of the date of this Order. Alternatively, if Plaintiff intends to proceed with 10 any of its claims against any of the Doe Defendants, it must move for leave to amend its 11 complaint to identify any unnamed defendants and for additional relief from the service deadline 12 within fourteen (14) days of the date of this Order. Otherwise, pursuant to Rule 4(m), the Court 13 will sua sponte order the dismissal of all claims against all Doe Defendants. 14 Dated this 26th day of April 2023.

15 A 16 Tana Lin United States District Judge 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24