Flanigan v. City and County of San Francisco et al

Filing 7

ORDER OF DISMISSAL (RE: ECF No. 1). Signed by Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler on 2/25/2016. (lsS, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 2/25/2016)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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San Francisco Division

United States District Court
Northern District of California

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WILLIE MAURICE FLANIGAN,

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Case No. 16-cv-00269-LB

Plaintiff,
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v.

ORDER OF DISMISSAL

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CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN
FRANCISCO, et al.,

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[Re: ECF No. 1 ]

Defendants.

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Willie M. Flanigan, an inmate at the San Mateo County Jail in Redwood City, filed this pro se

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civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and applied to proceed in forma pauperis. He has

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consented to proceed before a magistrate judge. (ECF No. 1 at 4.)1 His complaint is now before

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the court for review under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A.
The court must dismiss a prisoner's complaint if it determines that the action “is frivolous [or]

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malicious.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1). (Section 1915A(b)(1) is the prisoner analog to 28 U.S.C.

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§ 1915(e), which allows the court to dismiss any pauper‟s complaint if it is, among other things,

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“frivolous or malicious.”) The district court may dismiss a pauper or prisoner “complaint „that

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merely repeats pending or previously litigated claims.‟” Cato v. United States, 70 F.3d 1103, 1105

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Citations are to the Electronic Case File (“ECF”); pin cites are to the ECF-generated page
numbers at the tops of the documents.

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n.2 (9th Cir. 1995); Bailey v. Johnson, 846 F.2d 1019, 1021 (5th Cir. 1988) (duplicative or

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repetitious litigation of virtually identical causes of action is subject to dismissal under 28 U.S.C.

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§ 1915 as malicious); Van Meter v. Morgan, 518 F.2d 366 (8th Cir. 1975) (dismissal of complaint

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as frivolous was not an abuse of discretion where plaintiff had filed other similar complaints).

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The complaint in this action repeats the excessive force claim Mr. Flanigan asserts in Flanigan
v San Francisco Police Department, No. 16-cv-269 LB. Although the complaint in this action

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does not provide any details of the use of force, both complaints are based on the force used

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during Mr. Flanigan‟s arrest on October 31, 2014, and both complaints list the same five members

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of the San Francisco Police Department as defendants. Mr. Flanigan does identify the municipal

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defendant differently in the two actions -- here it is the City and County of San Francisco, and in

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United States District Court
Northern District of California

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the earlier action it is the San Francisco Police Department -- but even an action against a new

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defendant may be dismissed as duplicative. Bailey, 846 F.2d at 1021. If Mr. Flanigan believes he

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needs both entities, he can include the City and County of San Francisco in his amended complaint

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in the earlier-filed action. Mr. Flanigan cannot, however, pursue the same claim in two separate

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cases.

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This action is DISMISSED as frivolous because it is duplicative of Flanigan v. San Francisco
Police Department, No. 16-cv-269 LB. The clerk shall close the file.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: February 25, 2016

___________________________
LAUREL BEELER
United States Magistrate Judge

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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WILLIE MAURICE FLANIGAN,

Case No. 3:16-cv-00269-LB

Plaintiff,
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v.

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

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United States District Court
Northern District of California

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CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN
FRANCISCO, et al.,
Defendants.
I, the undersigned, hereby certify that I am an employee in the Office of the Clerk, U.S.
District Court, Northern District of California.

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That on February 25, 2016, I SERVED a true and correct copy(ies) of the attached, by
placing said copy(ies) in a postage paid envelope addressed to the person(s) hereinafter listed, by
depositing said envelope in the U.S. Mail, or by placing said copy(ies) into an inter-office delivery
receptacle located in the Clerk's office.

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Willie Maurice Flanigan ID: 1077777
Maguire Correctional Facility
300 Bradford Street
Redwood City, CA 94063

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Dated: February 25, 2016

Susan Y. Soong
Clerk, United States District Court
By:________________________
Lashanda Scott, Deputy Clerk to the
Honorable LAUREL BEELER

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