Welch v. Dzurenda

Opinion

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA

3 KENTRELL D. WELCH, Case No. 2:19-cv-01241-RFB-BNW

4 Plaintiff ORDER

5 v.

6 JAMES DZURENDA, et al.,

7 Defendants

8 9 I. DISCUSSION 10 Plaintiff, who is an inmate in the custody of the Nevada Department of Corrections 11 (“NDOC”), has filed a civil rights complaint, as well as two “declarations.” (ECF Nos. 1-1, 12 1-1, 5, 6.) It is not clear what the purpose of the declarations is, but it appears that 13 Plaintiff is attempting to add allegations to his complaint. The Court will not piecemeal 14 Plaintiff’s complaint together from multiple filings. Plaintiff’s operative complaint must 15 contain all claims, defendants, and factual allegations that Plaintiff wishes to pursue in 16 this lawsuit. As such, the Court grants Plaintiff leave to file a fully complete first amended 17 complaint within 30 days. If Plaintiff does not file a fully complete amended complaint, 18 the court will only screen his initial complaint (ECF No. 1-1) and will not consider any 19 allegations in Plaintiff’s additional filings. 20 If Plaintiff chooses to file a first amended complaint, he is advised that a first 21 amended complaint supersedes (replaces) the original complaint, and, thus, the first 22 amended complaint must be complete in itself. See Hal Roach Studios, Inc. v. Richard 23 Feiner & Co., Inc., 896 F.2d 1542, 1546 (9th Cir. 1989) (holding that “[t]he fact that a party 24 was named in the original complaint is irrelevant; an amended pleading supersedes the 25 original”); see also Lacey v. Maricopa Cnty., 693 F.3d 896, 928 (9th Cir. 2012) (holding 26 that for claims dismissed with prejudice, a plaintiff is not required to reallege such claims 27 in a subsequent amended complaint to preserve them for appeal). Plaintiff’s first 28 amended complaint must contain all claims, defendants, and factual allegations that 1 Plaintiff wishes to pursue in this lawsuit. Moreover, Plaintiff must file the first amended 2 | complaint on this Court's approved prisoner civil rights form, and it must be entitled “First 3} Amended Complaint.” 4| Il. CONCLUSION 5 For the foregoing reasons, IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff is granted leave to file a 6 | single complete first amended complaint. If Plaintiff chooses to file a first amended 7 | complaint, Plaintiff will file the first amended complaint within 30 days from the date of 8 | entry of this order. 9 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Clerk of the Court will send to Plaintiff the 10 | approved form for filing a § 1983 complaint, instructions for the same, and a copy of his 11 | initial complaint, as well as his declarations (ECF Nos. 1-1, 5, 6). If Plaintiff chooses to 12 file a first amended complaint, he must use the approved form and he will write the words “First Amended” above the words “Civil Rights Complaint” in the caption. 14 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, if Plaintiff does not timely file a first amended 15 | complaint, the Court will screen the original complaint (ECF No. 1-1) only and will not 16 | consider any allegations in Plaintiff's declarations. 17 DATED April 6, 2021. 8 Lrg la WOES 19 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

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