Davis 331794 v. Morelos

CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedJune 13, 2025
Docket2:24-cv-01973
StatusUnknown

This text of Davis 331794 v. Morelos (Davis 331794 v. Morelos) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Davis 331794 v. Morelos, (D. Ariz. 2025).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

9 Baron Dupree Davis, No. CV-24-01973-PHX-SHD (DMF)

10 Plaintiff,

11 v. REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

12 B. Morelos, et al.,

13 Defendants. 14 15 TO THE HONORABLE SHARAD H. DESAI, UNITED STATES DISTRICT 16 JUDGE: 17 On October 21, 2024, this case was referred to undersigned United States Magistrate 18 Judge Deborah M. Fine pursuant to Rules 72.1 and 72.2 of the Local Rules of Civil 19 Procedure for all pretrial proceedings as authorized under 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1) (Doc. 9 at 20 13). 21 This matter is before the Court on Plaintiff’s Request for Leave to Amend 22 Complaint (Doc. 34), which included Plaintiff’s proposed First Amended Complaint (Id. 23 at 3-27). Defendants Morelos and McDaniel (“Defendants”) responded in opposition (Doc. 24 44). Plaintiff filed a reply (Doc. 46). 25 The Court has carefully reviewed and considered the pending motion and associated 26 briefing, the proposed first amended complaint, the pertinent docket filings in this matter, 27 and applicable law. As set forth below, it is recommended Plaintiff’s motion to amend be 28 denied. 1 I. PROCEDURAL POSTURE 2 In 2024, Plaintiff filed the Complaint initiating this matter (Doc. 1). In October 3 2024, the Court issued an order screening Plaintiff’s Complaint (“Screening and Service 4 Order”), which dismissed without prejudice Plaintiff’s official-capacity claims, dismissed 5 without prejudice Counts One and Three, and dismissed without prejudice Defendants 6 Howard, Garcia, O’Donnell, and Barreras (Doc. 9). In addition, the Court ordered 7 Defendants Morelos and McDaniel to answer Count Two of the Complaint (Id. at 10). 8 Also, the Court ordered:

9 If Plaintiff attempts to amend to address the shortcomings identified in this 10 Order, the amended complaint must be retyped or rewritten in its entirety on the court-approved form for filing a civil rights complaint by a prisoner 11 (including those claims and Defendants that were not dismissed), and 12 Plaintiff must comply with Rule 15 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Rule 15.1 of the Local Rules of Civil Procedure. 13 (Id.). 14 On May 20, 2025, Defendants Morelos and McDaniel filed an Answer (Doc. 41). 15 A few days later, the Court issued a Scheduling and Discovery Order (Doc. 43). 16 The pending motion to amend is Plaintiff’s second motion for leave to amend the 17 complaint (Docs. 27, 28, 29). On April 4, 2025, the Court denied Plaintiff leave to amend, 18 stating that: 19

20 Plaintiff’s motion to amend and proposed first amended complaint (Docs. 27, 28) do not comply with the Rules of Practice of the United States District 21 Court for the District of Arizona, often referred to as “the Local Rules of 22 Civil Procedure” or “LRCiv”. Rule 15.1 of the Local Rules of Civil Procedure, LRCiv 15.1, regarding amended and supplemental pleadings, 23 states as follows: 24 (a) Amendment by Motion. A party who moves for leave 25 to amend a pleading must attach a copy of the proposed amended pleading as an exhibit to the motion, which must 26 indicate in what respect it differs from the pleading which it 27 amends, by bracketing or striking through the text to be deleted and underlining the text to be added. The proposed amended 28 pleading must not incorporate by reference any part of the 1 preceding pleading, including exhibits. If a motion for leave to amend is granted, the party whose pleading was amended 2 must file and serve the amended pleading on all parties under 3 Rule 5 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure within fourteen (14) days of the filing of the order granting leave to amend, 4 unless the Court orders otherwise. 5 (b) Amendment as a Matter of Course or by Consent. If a 6 party files an amended pleading as a matter of course or with 7 the opposing party’s written consent, the amending party must file a separate notice of filing the amended pleading. The 8 notice must attach a copy of the amended pleading that 9 indicates in what respect it differs from the pleading which it amends, by bracketing or striking through the text that was 10 deleted and underlining the text that was added. The amended 11 pleading must not incorporate by reference any part of the preceding pleading, including exhibits. If an amended 12 pleading is filed with the opposing party’s written consent, the 13 notice must so certify.

14 Compliance with LRCiv 15.1 allows the Court to properly screen any proposed amended complaint, consistent with the previous screening order 15 in a case. Further, a district court’s local rules are not petty requirements, but 16 have “the force of law.” Hollingsworth v. Perry, 558 U.S. 183, 191 (2010) (citation omitted). 17

18 In his pending motion to amend complaint, Plaintiff states that he “needs to add and/or remove Defendants and amend cause(s) of action” (Doc. 27). 19 However, Plaintiff has not identified as required by LRCiv 15.1 or in any 20 other reasonable fashion which allegations in his proposed first amended complaint are different from his Complaint so that the Court can parse 21 through the allegations consistent with applicable law as set forth in the 22 previous screening order. Plaintiff’s motion and proposed amended complaint fail to comply with this Court’s October 21, 2024, Order (Doc. 9 23 at 10). 24 Plaintiff’s motion to amend (Doc. 27) will be denied because Plaintiff’s 25 motion and the proposed first amended complaint (Doc. 28) do not comply 26 with LRCiv 15.1 and fail to comply with this Court’s October 21, 2024, Order (Doc. 9 at 10). This is the second time that the Court has reminded 27 Plaintiff of these requirements since the Court’s October 21, 2024, Order (see Doc. 12 at 2). 28 1 As the Court previously stated (Doc. 12 at 2), even a timely, compliant amended complaint filed with the Court cannot proceed to service and further 2 litigation until and unless the amended complaint is screened by the Court 3 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). Pending screening of a timely filed amended complaint, the case will continue to proceed on the remaining 4 operative complaint claim and defendants per the Court’s previous screening 5 order, which is presently the Court’s October 21, 2024, Order (Doc. 9). 6 (Doc. 29 at 2-3). 7 II. PLAINTIFF’S PENDING MOTION TO AMEND (Doc. 34) FAILS TO 8 COMPLY WITH THIS COURT’S ORDER AND LRCiv 15.1 AND SHOULD BE 9 DENIED ON SUCH BASIS 10 The requirements of LRCiv 15.1 have been brought to Plaintiff’s attention three 11 times (Doc. 9 at 10; Doc. 12 at 2; Doc. 29 at 2-3). As the Court previously stated (Doc. 29 12 at 3), compliance with LRCiv 15.1 allows the Court to properly screen any proposed 13 amended complaint, consistent with the previous screening order in a case. Further, a 14 district court’s local rules are not petty requirements, but have “the force of law.” 15 Hollingsworth v. Perry, 558 U.S. 183, 191 (2010) (citation omitted). 16 Despite Plaintiff’s claim otherwise (Doc. 34), Plaintiff has not complied with LRCiv 17 15.1.

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Davis 331794 v. Morelos, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davis-331794-v-morelos-azd-2025.