Zambrano v. Golding

Opinion

1 2 3 6 7 JUAN CARLOS ZAMBRANO, Case No. 19-cv-03332-HSG

8 Plaintiff, ORDER DISMISSING DEFENDANT ELISE WILLIAMS 9 v.

10 ERIC GOLDING, et al., 11 Defendants.

12 13 On June 12, 2019, plaintiff, an inmate at Pelican Bay State Prison (“PBSP”), filed the 14 instant pro se civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. On August 27, 2019, the Court 15 found that the amended complaint stated a cognizable Eighth Amendment claim against RN Amy 16 Olsen, PA Laurie Thomas, RN Jasmine Yang, Dr. Elise Williams, CNA Kathrine Blakeley, RN 17 John Kim, RN Rhoda Nasr, PA Devinder Kumar and RN Eric Golding. Dkt. No. 16. The Court 18 ordered the Clerk to issue summons, and the United States Marshal to serve, these defendants. 19 Dkt. No. 16. 20 On March 4, 2020, the United States Marshal filed with the Court the unexecuted 21 summons for Dr. Williams, stating that service upon Dr. Williams was unsuccessful because she is 22 deceased. Dkt. No. 30. A party cannot sue a dead person, or otherwise make a dead person party 23 to a federal lawsuit. LN Management, LLC v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., 957 F.3d 943, 955 24 (9th Cir. 2020).1 Accordingly, defendant Williams is DISMISSED from this action. 25 1 It is unclear if plaintiff may name Dr. Williams’ estate as a defendant in lieu of Dr. Williams. 26 Fed. R. Civ. P. 25(a)(1) provides that if a party dies and the claim is not extinguished, any party may make a motion for substitution of the proper party. Fed. R. Civ. P. 25(a)(1). However, it is 27 unclear whether Dr. Williams died before or after the commencement of the action, and the Ninth 1 The Clerk is directed to terminate defendant Williams from this action. 3 } Dated: 7/2/2020 / )

HAYWOOD S. GILLIAM, JR. 5 United States District Judge 6 7 8 9 10 11 a 12

13 14

15 16

= 17

Z 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 LLC, 957 F.3d at 955.