Johnson v. Nevada Department of Corrections

• Court: District Court, D. Nevada
• Decided: February 14, 2022
• Docket: 2:21-cv-01450
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA

3 DAMON R. JOHNSON, Case No. 2:21-cv-01450-GMN-EJY 4 Plaintiff, ORDER 5 v.

6 NEVADA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, et al., 7 Defendants. 8

9 10 Plaintiff Damon R. Johnson brings this civil-rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 11 to redress constitutional violations that he claims he suffered while incarcerated at 12 Southern Desert Correctional Center. (ECF No. 1-1). On December 1, 2021, this Court 13 ordered Johnson to file an amended complaint within 30 days. (ECF No. 3). The Court 14 warned Johnson that the action could be dismissed if he failed to file an amended 15 complaint by that deadline. (Id. at 7). That deadline expired and Johnson did not file an 16 amended complaint, move for an extension, or otherwise respond. 17 I. DISCUSSION 18 District courts have the inherent power to control their dockets and “[i]n the 19 exercise of that power, they may impose sanctions including, where appropriate . . . 20 dismissal” of a case. Thompson v. Hous. Auth. of City of Los Angeles, 782 F.2d 829, 831 21 (9th Cir. 1986). A court may dismiss an action based on a party’s failure to obey a court 22 order or comply with local rules. See Carey v. King, 856 F.2d 1439, 1440-41 (9th Cir. 23 1988) (affirming dismissal for failure to comply with local rule requiring pro se plaintiffs to 24 keep court apprised of address); Malone v. U.S. Postal Service, 833 F.2d 128, 130 (9th 25 Cir. 1987) (dismissal for failure to comply with court order). In determining whether to 26 dismiss an action on one of these grounds, the Court must consider: (1) the public’s 27 interest in expeditious resolution of litigation; (2) the Court’s need to manage its docket; 28 (3) the risk of prejudice to the defendants; (4) the public policy favoring disposition of 2 Phenylpropanolamine Prod. Liab. Litig., 460 F.3d 1217, 1226 (9th Cir. 2006) (quoting 3 Malone v. U.S. Postal Serv., 833 F.2d 128, 130 (9th Cir. 1987)). 4 The first two factors, the public’s interest in expeditiously resolving this litigation 5 and the Court’s interest in managing its docket, weigh in favor of dismissal of Johnson’s 6 claims. The third factor, risk of prejudice to defendants, also weighs in favor of dismissal 7 because a presumption of injury arises from the occurrence of unreasonable delay in filing 8 a pleading ordered by the court or prosecuting an action. See Anderson v. Air West, 542 9 F.2d 522, 524 (9th Cir. 1976). The fourth factor—the public policy favoring disposition of 10 cases on their merits—is greatly outweighed by the factors favoring dismissal. 11 The fifth factor requires the Court to consider whether less drastic alternatives can 12 be used to correct the party’s failure that brought about the Court’s need to consider 13 dismissal. See Yourish v. Cal. Amplifier, 191 F.3d 983, 992 (9th Cir. 1999) (explaining 14 that considering less drastic alternatives before the party has disobeyed a court order 15 does not satisfy this factor); accord Pagtalunan v. Galaza, 291 F.3d 639, 643 & n.4 (9th 16 Cir. 2002) (explaining that “the persuasive force of” earlier Ninth Circuit cases that 17 “implicitly accepted pursuit of less drastic alternatives prior to disobedience of the court’s 18 order as satisfying this element[,]” i.e., like the “initial granting of leave to amend coupled 19 with the warning of dismissal for failure to comply[,]” have been “eroded” by Yourish). 20 Courts “need not exhaust every sanction short of dismissal before finally dismissing a 21 case, but must explore possible and meaningful alternatives.” Henderson v. Duncan, 779 22 F.2d 1421, 1424 (9th Cir. 1986). 23 Because this action cannot realistically proceed until and unless Johnson files an 24 amended complaint, the only alternative is to enter a second order setting another 25 deadline. But the reality of repeating an ignored order is that it often only delays the 26 inevitable and squanders the Court’s finite resources. The circumstances here do not 27 indicate that this case will be an exception: there is no hint that Johnson needs additional 28 time or evidence that he did not receive the Court’s screening order. Setting another 2 favors dismissal. 3 II. CONCLUSION 4 Having thoroughly considered these dismissal factors, the Court finds that they 5 weigh in favor of dismissal. It is therefore ordered that this action is dismissed without 6 prejudice based on Johnson’s failure to file an amended complaint in compliance with this 7 Court’s December 1, 2021, order and for failure to state a claim. The Clerk of Court is 8 directed to enter judgment accordingly and close this case. No other documents may be 9 filed in this now-closed case. If Johnson wishes to pursue his claims, he must file a 10 complaint in a new case. 11 12 DATED THIS _1_4_ day of February 2022. 13 14 Gloria M. Navarro, Judge 15 United States District Court

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