Smith v. The State of Nevada, Ex Rel, Nevada Department of Corrections ( 2021 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 8 ARTHUR SMITH, Case No.: 3:19-CV-00083-RCJ-CLB 9 Plaintiff ORDER 10 v. 11 STATE OF NEVADA, et al., 12 Defendants 13 14 This action began with a pro se civil rights complaint filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 15 by a state prisoner. On September 22, 2020, the Court issued an order dismissing the complaint 16 with leave to amend and directed Plaintiff to file an amended complaint within 30 days. (ECF 17 No. 4). The 30-day period has now expired, and Plaintiff has not filed an amended complaint or 18 otherwise responded to the Court’s order. District courts have the inherent power to control their 19 dockets and “[i]n the exercise of that power, they may impose sanctions including, where 20 appropriate . . . dismissal” of a case. Thompson v. Hous. Auth. of City of Los Angeles, 782 F.2d 21 829, 831 (9th Cir. 1986). A court may dismiss an action, with prejudice, based on a party’s 22 failure to prosecute an action, failure to obey a court order, or failure to comply with local rules. 23 See Ghazali v. Moran, 46 F.3d 52, 53-54 (9th Cir. 1995) (affirming dismissal for noncompliance 24 with local rule); Ferdik v. Bonzelet, 963 F.2d 1258, 1260-61 (9th Cir. 1992) (affirming 25 dismissal for failure to comply with an order requiring amendment of complaint); Carey v. King, 26 856 F.2d 1439, 1440-41 (9th Cir. 1988) (affirming dismissal for failure to comply with local rule 27 requiring pro se plaintiffs to keep court apprised of address); Malone v. U.S. Postal Service, 833 28 F.2d 128, 130 (9th Cir. 1987) (affirming dismissal for failure to comply with court order); 1 Henderson v. Duncan, 779 F.2d 1421, 1424 (9th Cir. 1986) (affirming dismissal for lack of 2 prosecution and failure to comply with local rules). 3 In determining whether to dismiss an action for lack of prosecution, failure to obey a 4 court order, or failure to comply with local rules, the court must consider several factors: (1) the 5 public’s interest in expeditious resolution of litigation; (2) the court’s need to manage its docket; 6 (3) the risk of prejudice to the defendants; (4) the public policy favoring disposition of cases on 7 their merits; and (5) the availability of less drastic alternatives. See Thompson, 782 F.2d at 831; 8 Henderson, 779 F.2d at 1423-24; Malone, 833 F.2d at 130; Ferdik, 963 F.2d at 1260-61; 9 Ghazali, 46 F.3d at 53. 10 Here, the Court finds that the first two factors, the public’s interest in expeditiously 11 resolving this litigation and the Court’s interest in managing the docket, weigh in favor of 12 dismissal. The third factor, risk of prejudice to Defendants, also weighs in favor of dismissal, 13 since a presumption of injury arises from the occurrence of unreasonable delay in filing a 14 pleading ordered by the court or prosecuting an action. See Anderson v. Air West, 542 F.2d 522, 15 524 (9th Cir. 1976). The fourth factor—public policy favoring disposition of cases on their 16 merits—is greatly outweighed by the factors in favor of dismissal discussed herein. Finally, a 17 court’s warning to a party that his failure to obey the court’s order will result in dismissal 18 satisfies the “consideration of alternatives” requirement. Ferdik, 963 F.2d at 1262; Malone, 833 19 F.2d at 132-33; Henderson, 779 F.2d at 1424. The Court’s order requiring Plaintiff to file an 20 amended complaint within 30 days expressly stated: “IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that if 21 Plaintiff fails to file an amended complaint curing the deficiencies, the Court will dismiss this 22 action, with prejudice, for failure to state a claim.” (ECF No. 4). Thus, Plaintiff had adequate 23 warning that dismissal would result from his noncompliance with the Court’s order to file an 24 amended complaint within 30 days. 25 /// 26 /// 27 /// 28 /// 1 IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that this action is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE based on Plaintiffs failure to file an amended complaint in compliance with this Court’s September 22, 2020, order. 4 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Clerk of Court will enter judgment accordingly 5 | and close this case. 6 7 DATED this 17" day of May, 2021. 8 : an.