Wilson v. Mount Diablo Unified School District/Special Education Local Plan Area ( 2020 )

1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 3 4 MICHAEL GEARY WILSON, Case No. 19-cv-03441-MMC 5 Plaintiff, AMENDED* ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S 6 v. MOTION TO AMEND; DISMISSING COMPLAINT 7 MOUNT DIABLO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT/SPECIAL EDUCATION 8 LOCAL PLAN AREA, et al., 9 Defendants. 10 11 Before the Court is plaintiff Michael Geary Wilson’s (“Wilson”) “Request,” filed 12 March 19, 2020, “to Add New Causes of Action and New Defendants to His First 13 Amended Complaint.” Defendants have filed opposition, to which Wilson has replied. 14 Having read and considered the parties’ respective written submissions, the Court finds 15 the matter appropriate for decision thereon and rules as follows. 16 BACKGROUND 17 On June 17, 2019, Wilson, proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis, filed his initial 18 complaint in the above-titled action, asserting therein five federal Claims for Relief and 19 two state law Claims for Relief, namely, (1) “Attempted Civil Extortion under California 20 Penal Code §§ 518 et seq.,” (2) “Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress,” (3) “42 21 U.S.C. § 1983,” (4) “Conspiracy to Affect the Due Course of Justice in a State (42 U.S.C. 22 § 1985(2)),” (5) “Conspiracy to Deny the Equal Protection of the Laws (42 U.S.C. 23 § 1985(3)),” (6) “Failure to Prevent Violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1985 (42 U.S.C. § 1986),” 24 and (7) “42 U.S.C. § 1983 Monell Liability.” 25 Thereafter, defendants filed multiple motions to dismiss, which, in an order filed 26 27 * The sole amendment is to substitute “No. 3:20-cv-3368-MMC” for “No. 3:20-cv- 1 February 27, 2020, the Court granted. By said order, the Court dismissed the federal 2 claims in Wilson’s initial complaint, afforded him limited leave to amend “to cure the 3 deficiencies noted” (see Order, filed February 27, 2020, at 10:21-22), and precluded him 4 from “add[ing] any new claims or new defendants without first obtaining leave of court” 5 (see id. at 10:28-11:1).1 6 On March 19, 2020, rather than file an amended complaint, Wilson filed the instant 7 motion, attaching thereto a proposed First Amended Complaint (“FAC”), wherein Wilson 8 realleges the claims asserted in his initial complaint and adds nine new claims and 9 twenty-eight new defendants 10 DISCUSSION 11 The Court construes Wilson’s motion as a request for leave to file an amended 12 complaint that includes claims and parties beyond those for which he was afforded leave 13 to amend. 14 Pursuant to Rule 15 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the “court should 15 freely give leave [to amend] when justice so requires.” See Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(2). 16 Accordingly, the instant motion is hereby GRANTED, and, in the interests of judicial 17 economy, the proposed FAC is deemed filed. (See Doc. No. 75.) 18 Where, as here, however, a party proceeds in forma pauperis, the district court, 19 pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2), must dismiss the complaint “at any time if the court 20 determines” the plaintiff “fails to state a claim on which relief may be granted” or the 21 action is “frivolous and malicious.” See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B). 22 In this instance, the Court finds the FAC is subject to dismissal in its entirety, for 23 the reason that all of the claims alleged therein are already alleged in a separate action 24 pending before this Court, specifically, Wilson v. Mt. Diablo Unified School District, et al., 25 No. 3:20-cv-3368-MMC. See Cato v. U.S., 70 F.3d 1103, 1105 n.2 (9th Cir. 1995) 26 1 Additionally, the Court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over 27 Wilson’s state law claims and dismissed those claims without prejudice to refiling if 1 (finding district court has discretion to dismiss where plaintiff proceeds in forma pauperis 2 || and complaint “merely repeats pending or previously litigated claims” (citing former 28 3 || U.S.C. § 1915(d)) (internal quotation and citation omitted));? see also Complaint at 5:16- 4 18, Wilson v. Mt. Diablo Unified School District, et al., No. 3:20-cv-3368-MMC (N.D. Cal. 5 || May 14, 2020), Doc. No. 1 (“add[ing] the facts, defendants and claims from my 3/19/2020 6 || First Amended Complaint (FAC) in Case No. 19-cv-3441-MMC to this Complaint”). 7 CONCLUSION 8 For the reasons stated above, the FAC is hereby DISMISSED, without prejudice to 9 plaintiff's prosecuting such claims in Wilson v. Mt. Diablo Unified School District, et al., 10 || No. 3:20-cv-3368-MMC. 11 IT IS SO ORDERED. 12 - 13 || Dated: June 25, 2020 > MAKINE M. CHESNEY 14 Unitéd States District Judge 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 > In 1996, § 1915(e) replaced § 1915(d).