Gradford v. United States District Court Eastern District of California ( 2022 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 8 WILLIAM J. GRADFORD, Case No. 1:21-cv-01596-DAD-SKO 9 Plaintiff, 10 v. ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF’S REQUEST TO REOPEN THE CASE 11 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF (Doc. 16) 12 CALIFORNIA, 13 Defendant. / 14 William J. Gradford (“Plaintiff”), a prisoner proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis, filed 15 this action against the United States District Court, Eastern District of California, on November 1, 16 2021. (Doc. 1.) 17 On January 3, 2022, Plaintiff, in response to the Court’s findings and recommendation that 18 his complaint be dismissed without leave to amend (Doc. 11), filed a document titled “Objections 19 to Magistrate Judge’s Findings and Recommendations” in which he made a “request for voluntarily 20 [sic] dismissal” without prejudice. (Doc. 13.) On January 6, 2022, the Court closed the case in light 21 of the voluntary dismissal pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1). (Doc. 14.) 22 On September 8, 2022, Plaintiff filed a document titled “Newly Discovered Evidence,” 23 which the Court construes as a request to reopen the case. (Doc. 16.) Although difficult to discern, 24 it appears that Plaintiff believes he is aware of “newly discovered evidence” relevant to other cases 25 that he has filed in this Court and “need[s] time to study [and] gather this . . . evidence.” (See id. at 26 1–2.) 27 A voluntary dismissal under Rule 41 requires no action on the part of the Court and divests 28 1 the court of jurisdiction upon the filing of the notice of voluntary dismissal. United States v. Real 2 Property Located at 475 Martin Lane, Beverly Hills, CA, 545 F.3d 1134, 1145 (9th Cir. 2008). 3 Therefore, when Plaintiff filed the notice of voluntary dismissal pursuant to Rule 41(a)(1) on 4 January 3, 2022, the case was terminated and this Court was divested of jurisdiction over Plaintiff’s 5 case. However, as Plaintiff voluntarily dismissed his complaint without prejudice, he is free to file 6 a new complaint, or file his “Newly Discovered Evidence” document in the other case(s) mentioned 7 therein (assuming they have not been also voluntarily dismissed). However, Plaintiff’s attempt to 8 reopen this case (Doc. 16) is DENIED. 9 The Court DIRECTS the Clerk to send a copy of this Order to Plaintiff at his address listed 10 on the docket for this matter. 11 IT IS SO ORDERED. 12 13 Dated: September 12, 2022 /s/ Sheila K. Oberto . UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28