Rodriguez v. Mesa, City of et al

Filing 31

ORDER, denying without prejudice Plaintiff's Motion Absence of Leave to Amend Original Complaint 27 . Signed by Magistrate Judge Eileen S Willett on 9/11/15.(REW)

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

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Oger Rodriguez,

No. CV-14-00699-PHX-DJH (ESW)
Plaintiff,

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v.

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ORDER

Mesa, City of, et al.,

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Defendants.

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Pending before the Court is Plaintiff’s “Motion Absence of Leave to Amend

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Original Complaint” (Doc. 27) and Defendants’ Opposition to Plaintiff’s Motion

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Absence of Leave to Amend Original Complaint (Doc. 28). Pursuant to LRCiv 7.2(d),

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the time to file a reply has expired. The matter is deemed submitted for decision.

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Procedural History

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Plaintiff is confined in the Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis and filed a pro se

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civil rights Complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Doc. 1). The Court screened the

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Complaint pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a), and Defendants Hermes and Trentz were

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ordered to respond to Count One (Doc. 8). Defendants Hermes and Trentz were timely

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served and filed an Answer (Doc. 16). The Court thereafter issued its Order (Doc. 19)

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requiring that “[m]otions to amend the complaint and to join additional parties shall be

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filed no later than March 31, 2015.” (Id. at 4). Plaintiff filed a First Amended Complaint

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(Doc. 22), which the Court struck by an Order issued on June 23, 2015 (Doc. 26).

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Standard of Review

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Plaintiff now seeks leave to amend to add additional defendants, counts, and issues

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(Doc. 27 at 2). However, Plaintiff has failed to comply with LRCiv 15.1(a). LRCiv

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15.1(a) provides in pertinent part that “[a] party who moves for leave to amend a pleading

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must attach a copy of the proposed amended pleading as an exhibit to the motion, which

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must indicate in what respect it differs from the pleading which it amends, by bracketing

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or striking through the text to be deleted and underlining the text to be added.” A district

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court’s local rules are not petty requirements, but have “the force of law.” Hollingsworth

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v. Perry, 558 U.S. 183, 191 (2010) (citation omitted). The District Court of Arizona

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routinely denies amendment motions for failure to comply with LRCiv 15.1(a). See, e.g.,

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Bivins v. Ryan, 2013 WL 321847, at *4 (D. Ariz. Jan. 28, 2013); J-Hanna v. Tucson

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Dodge Inc., 2012 WL 1957832, at *1 (D. Ariz. May 31, 2012); Huminski v. Heretia,

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2011 WL 2910536, at *1 (D. Ariz. July 18, 2011).

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Here, Plaintiff does not attach a copy of the proposed amended complaint, instead

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weaving new counts and people into the argument of his motion. Even if the Court were

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to consider the motion to be the proposed amended complaint, the Court is not instructed

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by brackets, strikes, or underlining how the proposed amended complaint differs from the

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original Complaint. Though the Court previously has instructed the Plaintiff regarding

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the requirements of LRCiv 15.1(a) in its Order filed on June 23, 2015 (Doc. 26 at 2-3),

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the Plaintiff fails to comply with LRCiv 15.1(a).

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In addition, Plaintiff’s Motion (Doc. 27) is untimely filed pursuant to the Order of

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the Court issued on February 6, 2015 (Doc. 19 at 4). Any motions to amend pleadings

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were required to be filed no later than March 31, 2015. Plaintiff has not set forth good

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cause for his untimely filing. Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 608

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(9th Cir. 1992) (“party seeking to amend a pleading after date specified in scheduling

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order must first show ‘good cause’ for amendment under Rule 16(b), then, if ‘good

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cause’ be shown, the party must demonstrate that amendment was proper under Rule 15”)

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(quoting Forstmann v. Culp, 114 F.R.D. 83, 85 (M.D.N.C. 1987)).

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Conclusion

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Therefore,

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IT IS ORDERED denying without prejudice Plaintiff’s “Motion Absence of

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Leave to Amend Original Complaint” (Doc. 27).
Dated this 11th day of September, 2015.

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Honorable Eileen S. Willett
United States Magistrate Judge

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