Curtis v. Leathers et al

Filing 17

ORDER DECLINING SERVICE AND GRANTING LEAVE TO AMEND re plaintiff's 12 Motion for leave to conduct pre-service discovery to obtain the full name and address of dft Leathers (FNU); defendant to provide information under seal within 10 days of this order signed by Hon. Brian A Tsuchida.**2 PAGE(S), PRINT ALL**(James Curtis, Prisoner ID: 984533)(RS)

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1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 5 6 7 JAMES E. CURTIS, Case No. C17-474 RAJ-BAT Plaintiff, 8 ORDER DECLINING SERVICE AND GRANTING LEAVE TO AMEND v. 9 LEATHERS (FNU), WASHINGTON 10 DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, Defendants. 11 12 Plaintiff James E. Curtis seeks leave to conduct pre-service discovery to obtain the full 13 name and address of Defendant “Leathers (FNU)”. Dkt. 12. For the following reasons, the 14 motion is denied. 15 16 DISCUSSION Mr. Curtis filed this action on March 23, 2017, under the First Amendment and the 17 Washington State Public Records Act. He alleges that Defendant Leathers improperly rejected a 18 piece of incoming prison mail. Dkt. 7. The Court ordered that the complaint and waiver of 19 service forms be emailed to the Department of Corrections (“DOC”). Dkt. 8. Under the 20 “Prisoner E-Filing Initiative: Consent to Receive Electronic Notice and Authorizing Delivery of 21 Service Documents Via E-Mail” agreement between the Attorney General’s Office and the 22 Court, defense counsel notified the Court that “Leathers (FNU)” is not a current Washington 23 state employee. Dkt. 9. Mr. Curtis seeks pre-service discovery to obtain the full name and ORDER DENYING PRETRIAL DISCOVERY - 1 1 address of Defendant “Leathers (FNU).” Dkt. 12. 2 Because Defendant Leathers has not been served, she is not subject to discovery and the 3 Court has no jurisdiction over her. Rather, Mr. Curtis should address his discovery requests to 4 the DOC in the normal course of this litigation. According to counsel, however, the DOC 5 believes that this defendant has moved out of state and may have changed her name. Therefore, 6 the current address for Ms. Leathers in DOC’s possession is likely not current, but the DOC is 7 willing to provide the address to the Court under seal. Dkt. 14. 8 The Court finds that the solution proposed by the DOC is reasonable. If service of 9 Defendant Leathers at the last known address provided by the DOC is not successful, Mr. Curtis 10 may seek further discovery from the DOC in the normal course of litigation. 11 Accordingly, it is ORDERED: 12 (1) Plaintiff’s motion for pre-trial discovery (Dkt. 12) is DENIED. 13 (2) Defendant DOC shall provide Defendant Leathers (FNU)’s last known address to 14 the Court under seal within ten (10) days of this Order. 15 DATED this 6th day of July, 2017. A 16 BRIAN A. TSUCHIDA United States Magistrate Judge 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ORDER DENYING PRETRIAL DISCOVERY - 2

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