Kaiser v. Rodakowski

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 5 AT TACOMA 6 MICHAEL COLE KAISER, Case No. 3:20-cv-05373-BHS-TLF 7 Plaintiff, v. ORDER DIRECTING FILING OF 8 WAIVERS OR ADDRESSES OF RODAKOWSKI, et al., UNSERVED DEFENDANTS 9 UNDER SEAL Defendants. 10

11 On June 24, 2020, the Court directed service of plaintiff’s complaint. Dkt. 8, 9. 12 Waivers of service were due July 24, 2020. See id. To date, defendants T. Abraha and 13 Amy Mok have not returned waivers of service. Defense counsel has entered an 14 appearance on behalf of the remaining defendants – defendants Rodakowski, 15 Washington State Department of Corrections, White and Arnoff – but has not appeared 16 on behalf of defendants Abraha and Mok. See Dkt. 23. 17 The court has no jurisdiction over defendants Mok and Abraha until they have 18 been properly served under Fed. R. Civ. P. 4. Direct Mail Specialists, Inc. v. Eclat 19 Computerized Techs., Inc., 840 F.2d 685, 688 (9th Cir. 1988). Under Rule 4(c)(2), the 20 Court may order that personal service be made by a United States Marshal. However, 21 in this district, the marshals do not attempt personal service upon a defendant unless 22 mail service is unavailing. See Local Rule 4(c). 23 24 1 If defendants Rodakowski, Washington State Department of Corrections, White 2 and Arnoff are in possession of the last known business or residential address of 3 defendants Mok and Abraha, they are ordered to submit such address(es) to the Court 4 under seal on or before September 14, 2020 so that the Clerk may attempt to effect

5 service. This solution alleviates two concerns involving prisoner litigation: (1) the 6 security risks inherent in providing prisoners with addresses of people formerly 7 employed by the state; and (2) reducing the problems prisoners sometimes encounter 8 when they are attempting to access information through the government. Sellers v. 9 United States, 902 F.2d 598, 602-603 (7th Cir. 1990). Defendants Mok and Abraha may 10 also satisfy this order by filing a waiver and by having counsel enter a notice of 11 appearance on his or her behalf. All service documents with said address(es) shall also 12 be filed under seal. 13 The Clerk shall provide a copy of this order to all parties. 14 Dated this 24th day of August, 2020.

15 16 A 17 Theresa L. Fricke 18 United States Magistrate Judge

19 20 21 22 23 24