Courthouse News Service v. Toste ( 2023 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 COURTHOUSE NEWS SERVICE, Case No. 1:21-cv-01790-ADA-SAB 12 Plaintiff, ORDER DISCHARGING ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE 13 v. ORDER DIRECTING CLERK OF COURT TO 14 AMANDA TOSTE, et al., CLOSE CASE AND ADJUST THE DOCKET TO REFLECT VOLUNTARY DISMISSAL 15 Defendants. PURSUANT TO RULE 41(a) OF THE FEDERAL RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE 16 17 (ECF Nos. 40, 41, 42) 18 19 20 On October 31, 2022, Plaintiff Courthouse News Service filed a notice of settlement. 21 (ECF No. 29.) The Court ordered dispositional documents or a status report be filed by March 22 24, 2023. (ECF No. 30.) Subsequent to that order, Plaintiff dismissed, in piecemeal stipulations 23 of dismissal filed on various dates in March 2023, Defendants Amanda Toste, Shawn Landry, 24 Heather Pugh, Stephanie Hansel, and Nocona Soboleski. (See ECF Nos. 31, 34, 35, 37, 38.) 25 On March 28, 2023, the Court issued an order to show cause, on the basis that the March 26 24, 2023 deadline had passed and it appeared Plaintiff had neither dismissed Defendants Sharif 27 Elmallah and Bonnie Sloan, nor filed a status report in compliance with the Court’s November 1, 28 2022 order (ECF No. 30). (ECF No. 41.) 1 On March 29, 2023, Plaintiff filed a response to the order to show cause. (ECF No. 42.) 2 Plaintiff informed the Court that, as of March 27, 2023, all Defendants were dismissed with 3 prejudice and the action could be closed. As to Defendant Bonnie Sloan, Plaintiff explained it 4 had replaced Defendant Sloan, who was sued only in her official capacity as Court Executive 5 Officer/Clerk of Yuba Superior Court, with Heather Pugh in its first amended complaint, after 6 discovering that Ms. Sloan was no longer the clerk of the Yuba Superior Court but had been 7 replaced by Ms. Pugh.1 As to Defendant Sharif Elmallah, Plaintiff conceded it did not timely file 8 the stipulation of dismissal, but that it dismissed Defendant Elmallah on March 27, 2023 (ECF 9 No. 40); the Court agrees that the order to show cause, which issued on March 28 but was signed 10 on March 27, appears to have crossed with Plaintiff’s filing of the stipulation of dismissal. 11 Further, Plaintiff apologized to the Court for the untimely dismissal of this Defendant. The Court 12 acknowledges it mistakenly ordered cause be shown as to Defendant Sloan whose substitution 13 was not reflected on the docket upon the filing of the first amended complaint, and is satisfied 14 with Plaintiff’s response to the order to show cause with respect to the late dismissal of Defendant 15 Elmallah. Accordingly, the Court shall discharge the order to show cause. In addition, the Court 16 acknowledges the dismissal of Defendant Elmallah as the last Defendant to be dismissed and 17 shall direct the Clerk of the Court to close this case. 18 Rule 41(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure allows a party to dismiss some or all of 19 the defendants in an action through a Rule 41(a) notice. Wilson v. City of San Jose, 111 F.3d 20 688, 692 (9th Cir. 1997); see also Concha v. London, 62 F.3d 1493, 1506 (9th Cir. 1995) (“The 21 plaintiff may dismiss either some or all of the defendants—or some or all of his claims—through 22 a Rule 41(a)(1) notice.”)); Hells Canyon Pres. Council v. U.S. Forest Serv., 403 F.3d 683, 687 23 (9th Cir. 2005) (The Ninth Circuit has “only extended the rule to allow the dismissal of all claims 24 against one defendant, so that a defendant may be dismissed from the entire action.”). “Filing a 25 notice of voluntary dismissal with the court automatically terminates the action as to the 26 defendants who are the subjects of the notice.” Concha, 62 F.3d at 1506. 27 In light of the stipulation of dismissal (ECF No. 40), the Court notes all Defendants have 28 1 Ms. Pugh was dismissed March 7, 2023. (ECF No. 36.) 1 | been dismissed from this action. 2 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 3 1. The Court’s March 28, 2023 order to show cause (ECF No. 41) is DISCHARGED; 4 and 5 2. The Clerk of the Court is DIRECTED to close the case and adjust the docket to 6 reflect voluntary dismissal of this action pursuant to Rule (a). 4 "| iris so.oReReD DAM Le 9 | Dated: _ March 30, 2023 0 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28