(PC) Spence v. Kaur ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 GERALD SPENCE, No. 2:16-cv-1828 TLN KJN P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 G. KAUR, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff, a state prisoner, is proceeding pro se with this civil rights action seeking relief 18 under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff’s request for judicial notice is before the court. 19 Plaintiff asks the court to take judicial notice of various “facts” contained in various 20 filings by plaintiff and defendant, and asks the court to issue a citation for contempt based on 21 defense counsel’s alleged perjury in connection with the court’s order granting defendant an 22 extension of time, nunc pro tunc (ECF No. 56). 23 A “high degree of indisputability is the essential prerequisite” to taking judicial notice and 24 “the tradition [of taking judicial notice] has been one of caution in requiring that the matter be 25 beyond reasonable controversy.” Fed. R. Evid. 201(a) & (b) advisory committee’s notes. A 26 court, then, may take judicial notice of undisputed facts contained in public records, but it may 27 not take judicial notice of disputed ones. Lee v. City of Los Angeles, 250 F.3d 668, 689-90 (9th 28 Cir. 2001); Lee v. Bender, 2005 WL 1388968, at *8 (N.D. Cal. May 11, 2005) (“Court filings and 1 | orders are the type of documents that are properly noticed under Federal Rule of Evidence 201. 2 | Notice can be taken, however, ‘only for the limited purpose of recognizing the judicial act that the 3 | order [or filing] represents on the subject matter of the litigation.’”) (quoting United States v. 4 | Jones, 29 F.3d 1549, 1553 (11th Cir. 1994) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted)). 5 As demonstrated by the filings cited by plaintiff, plaintiff's request for judicial notice 6 | relies on disputed facts and therefore is not properly subject to judicial notice. Plaintiffs request 7 | for judicial notice (ECF No. 60) is denied. 8 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiffs request for judicial notice (ECF 9 | No. 60) is denied. 10 | Dated: April 7, 2020 /spen1828.rjn Fe Jbl Le Nowra 12 KENDALL J. NE UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28