Vines v. Allison

• Court: District Court, N.D. California
• Decided: February 8, 2022
• Docket: 5:21-cv-00827
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 PARIS DONTE VINES, Case No. 21-cv-00827-EMC

8 Plaintiff, ORDER DISMISSING DEFENDANT 9 v. THARRATT

10 KATHLEEN ALLISON, et al., 11 Defendants.

12 13 14 The Court ordered service upon a number of defendants in this case, including Dr. R. 15 Steven Tharratt, on October 5, 2021, through the California Department of Corrections and 16 Rehabilitation (CDCR) e-service program for civil rights cases from prisoners in CDCR custody. 17 Docket No. 11. CDCR’s Report of E-Service Waiver, a restricted entry at Docket No. 12, 18 indicates that Dr. Tharratt did not waive personal service because he is deceased. 19 This Court understands, as the Attorney General has represented to another court in this 20 district, that “[t]o the best of [the Attorney General’s] knowledge, Mr. Tharratt died on August 20, 21 2020.” See Case No. 3:20-cv-07845-CRB, Docket No. 37, 37-1. The Court takes judicial notice 22 pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 201 of the filing in that case, which attaches Mr. Tharratt’s 23 obituary published on the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation website on 24 October 6, 2020, available at https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/insidecdcr/2020/10/06/dr-robert-tharratt- 25 longtime-cchcs-medical-director-passes-away/. See Reyn’s Pasta Bella, LLC v. Visa USA, Inc., 26 442 F.3d 741, 746 n.6 (9th Cir. 2006) (federal courts “may take judicial notice of court filings and 27 other matters of public record”); Bullock v. Johnson, No. CV 15-2070 PA (AS), 2018 WL 1 2070 PA (AS), 2018 WL 4791089 (C.D. Cal. Oct. 3, 2018) (taking judicial notice of CDCR 2 obituary). 3 Dr. Tharratt’s death therefore preceded the filing of this action on February 3, 2021. “[A] 4 party cannot maintain a suit on behalf of, or against, or join, a dead person, or in any other way 5 make a dead person (in that person’s own right, and not through a properly represented estate or 6 successor) party to a federal lawsuit.” LN Mgmt., LLC v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., 957 F.3d 7 943, 955 (9th Cir. 2020). Dr. Tharratt was therefore not an appropriately named Defendant at the 8 onset of this litigation. Any claim must be made against his estate in accordance with California 9 Probate Code section 9350 et seq. 10 Defendant Dr. R. Steven Tharratt is therefore DISMISSED from this action. If Plaintiff 11 wishes to proceed with a claim against the Estate of Dr. R. Steven Tharratt, he must file a claim 12 against the estate in accordance with the provisions of California Probate Code sections 9350- 13 9354. If Plaintiff fulfills the requirements of the probate code, he may request to file an amended 14 complaint adding the Estate of Dr. R. Steven Tharratt as a defendant in this case. 15 16 IT IS SO ORDERED. 17 18 Dated: February 8, 2022 19 20 ______________________________________ EDWARD M. CHEN 21 United States District Judge 22 23 24 25 26 27