Russell v. Wilcoxen ( 2024 )

2 3 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 4 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 5 * * * 6 JAMELLE RUSSELL, Case No. 3:24-cv-00024-MMD-CLB 7 Plaintiff, ORDER v. 8 WILCOXEN, et al., 9 Defendants. 10 11 I. SUMMARY 12 Plaintiff Jamelle Russell brings this civil-rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to 13 redress constitutional violations that he claims he suffered while incarcerated at Lovelock 14 Correctional Center. (ECF No. 1-1.) On June 17, 2024, this Court ordered Russell to 15 update his address by July 15, 2024. (ECF No. 5.) That deadline expired without an 16 updated address from Russell, and his mail from the Court is being returned as 17 undeliverable. (See ECF Nos. 4, 6.) 18 II. DISCUSSION 19 District courts have the inherent power to control their dockets and “[i]n the 20 exercise of that power, they may impose sanctions including, where appropriate . . . 21 dismissal” of a case. Thompson v. Hous. Auth. of City of Los Angeles, 782 F.2d 829, 831 22 (9th Cir. 1986). A court may dismiss an action based on a party’s failure to obey a court 23 order or comply with local rules. See Carey v. King, 856 F.2d 1439, 1440-41 (9th Cir. 24 1988) (affirming dismissal for failure to comply with local rule requiring pro se plaintiffs to 25 keep court apprised of address); Malone v. U.S. Postal Service, 833 F.2d 128, 130 (9th 26 Cir. 1987) (dismissal for failure to comply with court order). In determining whether to 27 dismiss an action on one of these grounds, the Court must consider: (1) the public’s 28 2 (3) the risk of prejudice to the defendants; (4) the public policy favoring disposition of 3 cases on their merits; and (5) the availability of less drastic alternatives. See In re 4 Phenylpropanolamine Prod. Liab. Litig., 460 F.3d 1217, 1226 (9th Cir. 2006) (quoting 5 Malone, 833 F.2d at 130). 6 The first two factors, the public’s interest in expeditiously resolving this litigation 7 and the Court’s interest in managing its docket, weigh in favor of dismissal of Russell’s 8 claims. The third factor, risk of prejudice to defendants, also weighs in favor of dismissal 9 because a presumption of injury arises from the occurrence of unreasonable delay in filing 10 a pleading ordered by the court or prosecuting an action. See Anderson v. Air West, 542 11 F.2d 522, 524 (9th Cir. 1976). The fourth factor—the public policy favoring disposition of 12 cases on their merits—is greatly outweighed by the factors favoring dismissal. 13 The fifth factor requires the Court to consider whether less drastic alternatives can 14 be used to correct the party’s failure that brought about the Court’s need to consider 15 dismissal. See Yourish v. Cal. Amplifier, 191 F.3d 983, 992 (9th Cir. 1999) (explaining 16 that considering less drastic alternatives before the party has disobeyed a court order 17 does not satisfy this factor); accord Pagtalunan v. Galaza, 291 F.3d 639, 643 & n.4 (9th 18 Cir. 2002) (explaining that “the persuasive force of” earlier Ninth Circuit cases that 19 “implicitly accepted pursuit of less drastic alternatives prior to disobedience of the court’s 20 order as satisfying this element[,]” i.e., like the “initial granting of leave to amend coupled 21 with the warning of dismissal for failure to comply[,]” have been “eroded” by Yourish). 22 Courts “need not exhaust every sanction short of dismissal before finally dismissing a 23 case, but must explore possible and meaningful alternatives.” Henderson v. Duncan, 779 24 F.2d 1421, 1424 (9th Cir. 1986). Because this action cannot realistically proceed without 25 the ability for the Court and the defendants to send Russell case-related documents, 26 filings, and orders, the only alternative is to enter a second order setting another deadline. 27 But without an updated address, the likelihood that the second order would even reach 28 Russell is low, so issuing a second order will only delay the inevitable and further 1 || squander the Court’s finite resources. Setting another deadline is not a meaningful 2 || alternative given these circumstances. So the fifth factor favors dismissal. 3 Having thoroughly considered these dismissal factors, the Court finds that they 4 || weigh in favor of dismissal. 5 || lll. CONCLUSION 6 It is therefore ordered that this action is dismissed without prejudice based on 7 || Plaintiff Jamelle Russell's failure to file an updated address in compliance with this Court’s 8 || June 17, 2024 order. 9 It is further ordered that Russell’s motion for appointment of counsel (ECF No. 1- 10 || 2) is denied as moot. 11 The Clerk of Court is directed to enter judgment accordingly and close this case. 12 DATED THIS 22"4 Day of July 2024. 14 MIRANDA M. DU 15 CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28