Vergara v. Commissioner of Social Security

Opinion

1 2 3 4

5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT TACOMA 7 8 ALLEN DALE VERGARA, 9 Plaintiff, Case No. C20-5955-MLP 10 v. ORDER 11 COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY, 12 Defendant. 13

14 On June 14, 2021, this Court issued an Order to Show Cause (dkt. # 7) requesting 15 Plaintiff to demonstrate why the Court should not dismiss the complaint in this matter for failure 16 to prosecute. (Dkt. # 7). On June 18, 2021, Plaintiff filed his response. (Dkt. ## 8, 9.) 17 Plaintiff’s response indicates that though service was effectuated on December 10, 2020, 18 it was recently discovered Plaintiff mistakenly served the U.S. Attorney for Oregon, instead of 19 Washington state. (Dkt. # 9 at ¶¶ 2-4.) Plaintiff has since contacted Defendant and Defendant has 20 represented to Plaintiff that the transcript for this matter is ready and can be filed upon proper 21 service. (Id. at ¶ 5.) Plaintiff has also re-sent service by certified mail. (Id. at ¶ 6.) Plaintiff 22 therefore requests the deadline for service be extended to July 2, 2021, to obtain and submit 23 1 proof of service and that Defendant be allowed a reasonable time to file an answer thereafter. (Id. 2 at ¶ 7.) 3 Under Rule 4(m), the Court may dismiss an action without prejudice if a plaintiff fails to 4 effect proper service within 90 days of filing the complaint. Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(m). However, if

5 Plaintiff shows good cause for the failure, the Court must extend the time for service for an 6 appropriate period. Id.; see Efaw v. Williams, 473 F.3d 1038, 1041 (9th Cir. 2007) (“District 7 courts have broad discretion to extend time for service under Rule 4(m).”). 8 Based on Plaintiff’s Response to this Court’s Order to Show Cause (dkt. # 8), and finding 9 good cause, the Court hereby ORDERS that Plaintiff shall have until July 6, 2021, to effect 10 proper service to Defendant and to file proof of service with the Court. Defendant shall have 11 sixty (60) days from its receipt of service to file its Answer. 12 13 Dated this 21st day of June, 2021. 14

15 A 16 MICHELLE L. PETERSON United States Magistrate Judge 17 18

20 21 22 23