Harris v. Dzurenda et al

Filing 52

ORDER Denying without prejudice Plaintiff's 41 Motion to Serve Defendants Jo Gentry and Byrne. Plaintiff's 43 Motion for Enlargement of Time to Serve Defendants Jo Gentry and Byrne is Granted. Deadline: 5/10/2019. Signed by Magistrate Judge Carl W. Hoffman on 1/10/2019. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - SLD)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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DISTRICT OF NEVADA

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***

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GREGORY HARRIS,

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Case No. 2:18-cv-00294-APG-CWH
Plaintiff,
ORDER

v.
JAMES DZURENDA, et al.,

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Defendants.

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Presently before the court is Nevada state-prison inmate Gregory Harris’ Motion to Serve

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Defendants Jo Gentry and Byrne (ECF No. 41), filed on November 5, 2018. Also before the

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court is Harris’ Motion for Enlargement of Time to Serve Defendants Jo Gentry and Byrne (ECF

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No. 43), filed on November 19, 2018. The motions are unopposed.

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The United States Marshal attempted to serve Jo Gentry and Byrne at their last-known

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addresses, which were provided to the court under seal by the Nevada Attorney General’s Office.

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(Sealed Submission of Last Known Addresses (ECF No. 20).) The U.S. Marshal indicated the

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address provided for Byrne was not a valid address. (Summons Returned Unexecuted (ECF No.

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32) at 1.) The U.S. Marshal attempted to serve Jo Gentry on three occasions, stating that the first

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time nobody was home and that on the second and third attempts he was “unable to contact at the

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address.” (Id. at 4.)

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Harris now requests that U.S. Marshal attempt to serve the defendants again, or that the

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court run an advertisement in the newspaper to locate and serve Jo Gentry and Byrne. Harris also

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requests an additional 120 days to serve these defendants. Given that Byrne’s address was not a

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valid address and that the U.S. Marshal made diligent attempts to serve Jo Gentry at his address to

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no avail, the court finds that it would be futile to have the U.S. Marshal attempt to repeat service

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on those addresses. The court will, however, extend time for service by an additional 120 days

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from the date of this order to provide Harris with an opportunity to investigate alternative

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addresses for Byrne and Jo Gentry. If he identifies alternative addresses, he may file a motion

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requesting service by the U.S. Marshal at those addresses. If he is unable to find alternative

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addresses, he may file any motion he deems proper under Rule 4 of the Federal Rules of Civil

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Procedure.

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IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that plaintiff Gregory Harris’ Motion to Serve
Defendants Jo Gentry and Byrne (ECF No. 41) is DENIED without prejudice.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Harris’ Motion for Enlargement of Time to Serve

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Defendants Jo Gentry and Byrne (ECF No. 43) is GRANTED. His deadline to serve these

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defendants is extended to May 10, 2019.

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DATED: January 10, 2019

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C.W. HOFFMAN, JR.
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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