Opinion
C23-5720-TSZ-SKV
12-14-2023
ZAKERY MICHAEL BONDS, Plaintiff, v. PIERCE COUNTY, et al., Defendants.
ORDER RE: PLAINTIFF'S PENDING MOTIONS
S. KATE VAUGHAN UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
This is a civil rights action proceeding under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff Zakery Bonds is currently confined at the Pierce County Jail (“the Jail”). He has submitted to the Court for consideration a motion to amend his complaint (Dkt. 6) and a motion to join parties under Fed.R.Civ.P. 20 (Dkt. 7). Defendants have not yet been served in this matter and, thus, no responses to the pending motions have been filed. The Court, having reviewed Plaintiff's motions, and the balance of the record, hereby ORDERS as follows:
(1) Plaintiff's motion to amend his complaint (Dkt. 6) is STRICKEN as unnecessary. Because Plaintiff's original pleading has not yet been served, Plaintiff is entitled to amend his pleading without first obtaining leave of court. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(a)(1). Plaintiff's proposed amended complaint (Dkt. 6-1) is accepted for filing.
(2) Plaintiff's motion to join parties under Fed.R.Civ.P. 20 (Dkt. 7) is DENIED. Plaintiff requests in his motion that the Court join this case with another case pending in this district, Wolfclan v. Washington State DSHS, C23-5399-TSZ-SKV. Plaintiff asserts that the cases have questions of law and fact in common and that he is a “named Plaintiff” in the Wolfclan case. The Wolfclan case was filed by another Pierce County Jail inmate, Echota C. Wolfclan, as a proposed class action. A review of the docket in that case confirms that Mr. Bonds sought to be added as a Plaintiff in that action, and that Mr. Wolfclan separately requested Mr. Bonds and a number of individuals who have filed similar cases be joined in that action. See Wolfclan, C23-5399-TSZ-SKV, Dkts. 30, 71. While no action has yet been taken in Wolfclan on the requests for Mr. Bonds to be joined as a party, requests for joinder are nonetheless properly filed in the action which Plaintiff seeks to join and not in a separate action.
The Court notes, with respect to the Wolfclan case, that counsel was recently appointed therein, and a deadline has now been established for the filing of an amended complaint in that action. Plaintiff is advised that until an amended complaint is filed in Wolfclan, any request to join in that action is premature.
(3) The Clerk is directed to file Plaintiff's amended complaint (Dkt. 6-1). The Clerk is further directed to send copies of this Order to Plaintiff and to the Honorable Thomas S. Zilly.