Roy Thomas Dempsey v. Unknown Leeds, et al.

• Court: District Court, D. Arizona
• Decided: January 16, 2026
• Docket: 2:24-cv-01912
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

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

9 Roy Thomas Dempsey, No. CV-24-01912-PHX-SMM (JZB)

10 Plaintiff, REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

11 v.

12 Unknown Leeds, et al.,

13 Defendants. 14 15 TO THE HONORABLE STEPHEN M. MCNAMEE, UNITED STATES DISTRICT 16 JUDGE: 17 This matter is before the Court upon its own review. Plaintiff has failed to provide 18 any notice of a change of address and has failed to show cause why this action should not 19 be dismissed for the failure to do so. Accordingly, the Court recommends this matter be 20 dismissed without prejudice pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(b).1 21 I. Background. 22 On August 1, 2024, Plaintiff, who was in custody, filed a pro se civil rights 23 Complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. (Doc. 1.) In his three-count Complaint, Plaintiff 24 alleged a First Amendment claim for retaliation, an Eighth Amendment claim for 25 inadequate medical care, and an Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) claim. See (id.) 26 Plaintiff named as Defendants: (1) a Dr. Leeds; (2) a Nurse Adams; and (3) a Correctional 27 Officer (CO) II Miller. See (id.) On March 19, 2025, the Court screened his original

28 1 This matter was referred to this Court “for all pretrial proceedings as authorized under 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1).” (Doc. 18 at 13.) 1 Complaint and dismissed it for failure to state a claim. (Doc. 13.) 2 On April 9, 2025, Plaintiff filed an Amended Complaint. (Doc. 17.) In his three- 3 count Complaint, Plaintiff alleged an Eighth Amendment claim for inadequate medical 4 care, an eighth Amendment threat to safety claim, and an ADA claim. (Id.) On July 31, 5 2025, the Court screened Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint and permitted his Eighth 6 Amendment inadequate medical care and threat to safety claims to proceed. (Doc. 18 at 7– 7 9.) 8 On September 9, 2025, a Notice of Mail Returned Undeliverable was filed. (Doc. 9 22.) This Notice stated that (docs. 20–21) were not received by Plaintiff because he “has 10 been released and he did not receive these [Notices of Electronic Filings.]” (Id. at 1, 3.) 11 On December 11, 2025, this Court issued a Show Cause Order for failure to notice 12 change of address. (Doc. 25 at 3.) To date, Plaintiff has not provided notice of a change of 13 address. This is particularly troubling as Plaintiff has received multiple warnings that, were 14 he to fail to provide notice of a change of address, his action may be dismissed. See (doc. 15 8 at 3); see also (doc. 13 at 10); (doc. 18 at 10); (doc. 25 at 3.) Since notice of Plaintiff’s 16 release was filed on September 9, 2025, 128 days have passed without Plaintiff providing 17 a notice of change of address. See (doc. 22.) 18 II. Legal Standard. 19 A Plaintiff has a duty to prosecute their action. See Fid. Phila. Tr. Co. v. Pioche 20 Mines Consol., Inc., 587 F.2d 27, 29 (9th Cir. 1978). The Court is not the proverbial 21 ‘bloodhound,’ tasked with determining every litigant’s whereabouts; Rather, it is the 22 “party, not the district court, [who] bears the burden of keeping the court apprised of any 23 changes in his mailing address.” Carey v. King, 856 F.2d 1439, 1441 (9th Cir. 1988). 24 Rule 41(b) permits a defendant to move to dismiss an action where “the plaintiff 25 fails to prosecute or to comply with these rules or a court order[.]” Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(b). 26 The Supreme Court has interpreted Rule 41(b) as permitting a Court to sua sponte dismiss 27 an action for failure to prosecute. See Link v. Wabash R.R. Co., 370 U.S. 626, 630–32 28 (1962). Moreover, “when circumstances make such action appropriate, a District Court 1 may dismiss a complaint for failure to prosecute even without affording notice of its 2 intention to do so or providing an adversary hearing before acting.” Id. at 633. 3 In making the determination whether to dismiss an action pursuant to Rule 41(b), 4 the Court must weigh the Ferdik factors. Ferdik v. Bonzelet, 963 F.2d 1258, 1260 (9th Cir. 5 1992) (affirming district judge’s dismissal of an action for failure to comply with a court 6 order requiring timely filing of a document). Those factors are: 7 (1) the public’s interest in expeditious resolution of litigation; (2) the court’s need to manage its docket; (3) the risk of prejudice to the defendants; (4) the 8 public policy favoring disposition of cases on their merits; and (5) the 9 availability of less drastic alternatives. 10 Id. at 1260–61 (quoting Thompson v. Hous. Auth. of City of L.A., 782 F.2d 829, 831 (9th 11 Cir. 1986)). 12 III. Discussion. 13 To date, Plaintiff has not provided a notice of change of address following multiple 14 warnings and a Show Cause Order issued by this Court. Since notice of Plaintiff’s release 15 was filed on September 9, 2025, 128 days have passed without Plaintiff providing a notice 16 of change of address. See (doc. 22.) Allowing this action to linger in the hope that Plaintiff 17 may someday return and prosecute this action siphons limited judicial resources. Because 18 of this, the Court recommends that this action be dismissed without prejudice for failure to 19 prosecute pursuant to Rule 41(b). 20 In making this determination, the Court has considered the five Ferdik factors. Here, 21 the first, second, and third factors favor dismissal of this case. The fourth factor, as always, 22 weighs against dismissal. With regard to the fifth factor, the Court has considered whether 23 there are less drastic sanctions available, and finds there are none. Plaintiff was provided 24 multiple warnings in four separate orders telling him that his action may be dismissed if he 25 does not provide notice of a change of address. See (doc. 8 at 3); see also (doc. 13 at 10); 26 (doc. 18 at 10); (doc. 25 at 3.) Even after these orders, Plaintiff has not provided a notice 27 of change of address. Therefore, because Plaintiff has, in effect, not complied with four 28 court orders, this Court recommends this action be dismissed without prejudice. 1 Accordingly, 2 IT IS RECOMMENDED that this action be DISMISSED WITHOUT || PREJUDICE pursuant to Rule 41(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. 4 This recommendation is not an order that is immediately appealable to the Ninth 5 || Circuit Court of Appeals. Any notice of appeal pursuant to Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(1) should 6|| not be filed until entry of the District Court’s judgment. The Parties shall have 14 days 7\|| from the date of service of a copy of this recommendation within which to file specific 8 || written objections with the Court. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1); see also Fed. R. Civ. P. 6, 9|| 72. Thereafter, the Parties have 14 days within which to file a response to the objections. 10 Failure to file timely objections to the Magistrate Judge’s Report and 11 || Recommendation may result in the acceptance of the Report and Recommendation by the || District Court without further review. See United States v. Reyna-Tapia, 328 F.3d 1114, 13 || 1121 (th Cir. 2003). Failure to file timely objections to any factual determinations of the || Magistrate Judge may be considered a waiver of a party’s right to appellate review of the 15} findings of fact in an order or judgment entered pursuant to the Magistrate Judge’s 16 || recommendation. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 72. 17 Dated this 15th day of January, 2026. 18 19 Epson 0 United States Magistrate Judge 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

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