(PC) Gradford v. Velasco ( 2021 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 WILLIAM J. GRADFORD, No. 1:20-cv-00543-NONE-EPG (PC) 12 Plaintiff, ORDER DENYING MOTION FOR SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE WITHOUT 13 v. PREJUDICE 14 F. VELASCO and T. WEBSTER, (ECF No. 30) 15 Defendants. ORDER FOR THE PARTIES TO FILE JOINT STATEMET CONCERNING A 16 SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE NO LATER THAN AUGUST 17, 2021 17 ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR COPY 18 OF ORIGINAL COMPLAINT 19 (ECF No. 35) 20 21 Plaintiff William J. Gradford (“Plaintiff”), is a former pretrial detainee proceeding pro se 22 and in forma pauperis in this civil rights action filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. On February 23 16, 2021, Plaintiff filed a motion requesting a settlement conference. (ECF No. 30). On March 10, 24 2021, Plaintiff filed a motion requesting a copy of the complaint. (ECF No. 35). 25 With respect to Plaintiff’s motion requesting a settlement conference, (ECF No. 30), the 26 Court will deny the motion without prejudice for the reasons discussed on the record at the 27 scheduling conference. However, the district judge will require a settlement conference before 28 this case proceeds to trial. Therefore, the Court will order Defendants to file a statement no later 1 | than August 17, 2021 indicating when they want to have a settlement conference before trial (to 2 | the extent the matter is not otherwise resolved by dispositive motion). 3 With respect to Plaintiff's motion requesting signed statements attached to the original 4 | complaint, (ECF No. 35), the motion requests that the Court provide Plaintiff with copies of 5 | exhibits attached to his initial complaint. Plaintiff states that due to COVID-19, he does not have 6 | access to a library or any other ability to obtain these documents. The Court will construe 7 | Plaintiff's motion as requesting a free copy of his complaint. 8 Plaintiff is advised that the Clerk of Court does not ordinarily provide free copies of case 9 | documents to parties. The Clerk charges $.50 per page for copies of documents. See 28 U.S.C. § 10 | 1914(a). In this instance, in light of the fact that Plaintiff has shown a need for a copy as he has no 11 | other, see Spisak v. State of Nevada, 2007 WL 1612293, *3 (D. Nev. June 1, 2007), and because 12 | Plaintiffs complaint is not voluminous, the Court will make a one-time exception and provide 13 | Plaintiff with a free copy of his original complaint. In the future, Plaintiff must retain a copy of all 14 | documents submitted to the Court. Plaintiff will be required to pay for copies in the future. 15 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 16 1. Plaintiff's motion requesting a settlement conference (ECF No. 30) is DENIED, 17 WITHOUT PREJUDICE; 18 2. No later than August 17, 2021, Defendants shall file a statement indicating when they 19 want to have a settlement conference before trial; 20 3. Plaintiff's motion requesting a copy of his complaint, (ECF No. 35), is GRANTED; 21 and 22 4. The Clerk of Court is directed to send Plaintiff a copy of his original complaint filed 23 on April 16, 2020, (ECF No. 1). 24 95 IT IS SO ORDERED. 26 | Dated: _ March 11, 2021 [Je hey UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 28