Wallace v. Lemoore PD

• Court: District Court, E.D. California
• Decided: January 6, 2025
• Docket: 1:21-cv-01275
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

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7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

8 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

10 JAMES EDWARD WALLACE, Case No. 1:21-cv-01275-KES-EPG

11 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR 12 v. LEAVE TO FILE THIRD AMENDED COMPLAINT 13 COSPER, et al., (ECF No. 70) 14 Defendants. 15 16 Plaintiff James Edward Wallace proceeds in forma pauperis and with counsel in this 17 civil rights action. This matter is before the Court on Plaintiff’s motion for leave to file a third 18 amended complaint, filed on December 13, 2024. (ECF No. 70). As stated in the motion, 19 [t]he proposed amendment seeks to add 2 new defendants: the City of Lemoore and Chief Darrell Smith (but only to the relevant proposed new causes of 20 action), and to allege 5 new causes of action (against all defendants as 21 applicable) based on the Plaintiff’s recent acquittal from criminal charges related to this lawsuit's underlying facts. 22 (Id. at 2). Elsewhere, Plaintiff lists the following causes of action to be added as follows: “First 23 Amendment Retaliation and Fourth Amendment Malicious Prosecution against the currently 24 named defendants, and California common law Malicious Prosecution, California Constitution 25 Article I, Section 13 violations and Negligence against all defendants, including the proposed 26 defendants.” (Id. at 12). 27 No Defendant has timely opposed the motion under the Court’s Local Rules, and the 28 “failure to file a timely opposition may . . . be construed by the Court as a nonopposition to the 1 motion.” Local Rule 230(c). 2 Under Rule 15(a), a party may amend a pleading once as a matter of course within 3 twenty-one days of service, or if the pleading is one to which a response is required, twenty-one 4 days after service of a motion under Rule 12(b), (e), or (f). Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(1)(B). “In all 5 other cases, a party may amend its pleading only with the opposing party’s written consent or 6 the court’s leave.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(2). 7 Granting or denying leave to amend is in the discretion of the Court. Swanson v. United 8 States Forest Service, 87 F.3d 339, 343 (9th Cir. 1996). Leave should be “freely give[n] . . . 9 when justice so requires,” Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(2). “In exercising this discretion, a court must 10 be guided by the underlying purpose of Rule 15 to facilitate decision on the merits, rather than 11 on the pleadings or technicalities.” United States v. Webb, 655 F.2d 977, 979 (9th Cir. 1981). 12 Consequently, the policy favoring the grant of leave to amend is applied with “extreme 13 liberality.” Id. (citation omitted). “Five factors are taken into account to assess the propriety of 14 a motion for leave to amend: bad faith, undue delay, prejudice to the opposing party, futility of 15 the amendment, and whether the plaintiff has previously amended the complaint.” Desertrain v. 16 City of L.A., 754 F.3d 1147, 1154 (9th Cir. 2014) (quoting Johnson v. Buckley, 356 F.3d 1067, 17 1077 (9th Cir.2004)). 18 With these standards in mind, the Court will grant Plaintiff leave to file a third amended 19 complaint. There is no indication of bad faith or undue delay. While Plaintiff has previously 20 amended the complaint, Plaintiff only recently learned of the basis for the new claims 21 following Plaintiff’s acquittal of criminal charges relating to the incident at issue in this case. 22 Additionally, no Defendant has argued that amendment will be prejudicial, nor does prejudice 23 appear to be implicated based on the circumstances of the case. Lastly, the newly alleged 24 claims do not appear to be futile. 25 Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED as follows: 26 1. Plaintiff’s motion for leave to file a third amended complaint (ECF No. 70) is 27 granted. 28 2. Plaintiff shall file a copy of the proposed third amended complaint (ECF No. 70- 1 2) within seven (7) days of the entry of this order. 2 3. The Clerk of Court shall list the City of Lemoore and Chief Darrell Smith as 3 Defendants on the docket. 4 4. Defendants shall respond to the third amended complaint (once filed) within the 5 time provided under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 6 15(a). 7 g IT IS SO ORDERED. ° |! Dated: _ January 6, 2025 [Jee hey 10 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28