Ponce v. Hanford Police Department K-9 Unit ( 2021 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 DAVID PONCE, Case No. 1:21-cv-01110-AWI-BAM 12 Plaintiff, ORDER REGARDING PLAINTIFF’S NOTICE OF VOLUNTARY DISMISSAL 13 v. (Doc. 5) 14 HANFORD POLICE DEPARTMENT K-9 UNIT, 15 Defendant. 16 17 18 Plaintiff David Ponce (“Plaintiff”) is a county jail inmate proceeding pro se and in forma 19 pauperis in the instant civil rights action. (Doc. 1.) 20 Currently before the Court is Plaintiff’s motion to dismiss this duplicative action filed on 21 September 20, 2021. (Doc. 5.) The Court construes the motion to dismiss as a request for 22 voluntary dismissal pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1)(A)(i). Under Rule 23 41(a)(1)(A)(i), “a plaintiff has an absolute right to voluntarily dismiss his action prior to service 24 by the defendant of an answer or a motion for summary judgment.” Commercial Space Mgmt. 25 Co., Inc. v. Boeing Co., Inc., 193 F.3d 1074, 1077 (9th Cir. 1999) (quotation and citation 26 omitted). “[A] dismissal under Rule 41(a)(1) is effective on filing, no court order is required, the 27 parties are left as though no action had been brought, the defendant can’t complain, and the 28 1 district court lacks jurisdiction to do anything about it.” Id. at 1078. No defendant has been 2 served in this action and no defendant has filed an answer or motion for summary judgment. 3 Accordingly, this action is terminated by operation of law without further order from the 4 Court. Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(A)(i). The Clerk of the Court is DIRECTED to terminate all 5 pending motions and deadlines, and to CLOSE THIS CASE. 6 IT IS SO ORDERED. 7 8 Dated: September 22, 2021 /s/ Barbara A. McAuliffe _ UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28