Miles v. Lassen County et al

Filing 16

ORDER signed by District Judge Troy L. Nunley on 1/19/17 ORDERING for the above state reasons, the Court hereby ORDERS the case CLOSED. The Clerk of the Court is directed to close the case. CASE CLOSED. (Becknal, R)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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GEORGIA MILES,

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No. 2:15-cv-02391-TLN-AC

Plaintiff,
v.

ORDER

LASSEN COUNTY, et al.,
Defendants.

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Plaintiff Georgia Miles (“Plaintiff”) commenced this action on November 17, 2015.

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(Compl., ECF No. 1.) On August 8, 2016, the Court issued an Order to Show Cause as to why

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the complaint should not be dismissed for failure to prosecute the case due to Plaintiff’s failure to

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complete service of process on Defendants. (ECF No. 8.) Counsel for Plaintiff filed a response

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to the Order to Show Cause explaining that Counsel would like to withdraw from the case. (ECF

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No. 9.) The Court issued a minute order asking Counsel to file a motion to withdraw within 30

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days. (ECF No. 10.) The Court granted Counsel’s motion to withdraw and asked Counsel to

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notify the court of Plaintiff’s current address. (ECF No. 12.) Counsel provided the Court with a

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potential address for Plaintiff on November 21, 2016. (ECF No. 13.) On November 22, 2016, the

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Court issued a Minute Order ordering Plaintiff to serve Defendants with the Complaint within

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thirty (30) days of the order. (ECF No. 14.) The Court attempted to serve Plaintiff by mail at the

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address provided by Counsel, but the mail was returned as undeliverable on December 2, 2016.
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Subsequently, Counsel sent an email to the Court on December 8, 2016, notifying it of a new

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address for Plaintiff. (ECF No. 15.) The Minute Order was re-served by mail to Plaintiff at the

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new address and has not been returned. To date Plaintiff has not served Defendants with the

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Complaint.

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Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(m) allows a party 90 days from the filing of the

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complaint to serve Defendants. The Court has allowed Plaintiff over a year from her November

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17, 2015, filing to serve Defendants − well past the 90 days provided by the federal rules. The

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Court on its own motion gave Plaintiff thirty days to serve Defendants and Plaintiff to comply

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with the Court order. In an abundance of caution, the Court took steps to ensure that Plaintiff

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receives the Court’s orders and Court information, even going so far as to ask Plaintiff’s previous

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counsel for a current address to serve Plaintiff and re-serving Plaintiff when a new address was

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provided to the Court. The Court finds that it has granted Plaintiff every opportunity to serve

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Defendants with the Complaint. Yet, Plaintiff has failed to do so. For the above state reasons,

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the Court hereby ORDERS the case CLOSED. The Clerk of the Court is directed to close the

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case.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.

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Dated: January 19, 2017

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Troy L. Nunley
United States District Judge

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