(PC) Light v. County of Fresno

• Court: District Court, E.D. California
• Decided: January 17, 2025
• Docket: 1:24-cv-01508
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 THURL H. LIGHT, II 1:24-cv-01508-HBK (PC) 12 Plaintiff, ORDER DIRECTING CLERK TO SEND PLEADING TO APPROPRIATE 13 v. INSTITUTIONAL OFFICIAL 14 COUNTY OF FRESNO, FRESNO (Doc. No. 6) COUNTY JAIL, FRESNO COUNTY 15 SHERIFF DEPARTMENT, D. SOTASO, 16 Defendants. 17 18 Plaintiff, who is confined in the Fresno County Jail, initiated this action by filing a pro se 19 civil rights complaint on December 11, 2024. (Doc. No. 1). The court has not yet screened the 20 complaint pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915A, so no defendant has been served. On January 3, 2025, 21 Plaintiff filed a two-page pleading titled “motion for complaint for temporary restraining order.” 22 (Doc. No. 6, “Pleading”). Therein, Plaintiff s claims his life is in danger. (Id. at 1). The court 23 construes the Pleading of a notice of danger instead of a motion for a temporary restraining order.1

24 1 A motion’s “nomenclature is not controlling.” Miller v. Transamerican Press, Inc., 709 F.2d 524, 527 25 (9th Cir. 1983) (quoting Sea Ranch Ass’n v. Cal. Coastal Zone Conservation Comm’ns, 537 F.2d 1058, 1061 (9th Cir. 1976)). Instead, the court is to “construe [the motion], however styled, to be the type proper 26 for the relief requested.” Id. Here, the Pleading does not seek any specific relief and is facially deficient in that it fails to procedurally comply with Fed. R. Civ. P. 65(b) and Local Rule 231(a)-(b). Further no 27 defendant has been served in this action. A federal court does not have personal jurisdiction over the parties and subject matter jurisdiction over the claim if no defendant has been served in the action. 28 Zepeda, 753 F.2d at 727 (9th Cir. 1985) (if no defendant has been served with process, then injunctive 1 The court regularly receives pleadings or notices from confined persons who are proceeding 2 | pro sein actions before the court which contain allegations of suicide, danger of death, or imminent 3 | serious physical harm to themselves or to others. In an abundance of caution, the court expediates 4 | notice of such allegations to the appropriate state or federal officials for whatever action those 5 | officials deem appropriate. 6 Accordingly, it is ORDERED: 7 1. The Clerk shall forward a copy of Plaintiff's Pleading (Doc. No. 6) filed on January 3, 8 || 2025 which contains allegations of danger of harm by a confined person to the appropriate officials 9 | at Fresno County Jail for handling as officials deem appropriate. 10 2. The Clerk shall indicate on the docket the name of the official(s) to whom notice was 11 | provided. 12 3. This Order is not a ruling on the allegations or relief requested in the notice or pleading 13 | orthe merits of allegations in this case but is provided for informational purposes only. No response 14 | is required from officials to the Order. 15 4. The Clerk shall correct the docket to reflect the court construes the Pleading (Doc. 16 || No. 6) as a “notice of harm” and terminate it as a pending motion. 17 18 Dated: _ January 16, 2025 oe Uh. Sareh Zackte 19 HELENA M. BARCH-KUCHTA UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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