Opinion
Civil Action No. 05-cv-01691-EWN-OES.
November 29, 2005
ORDER
Pending before the court is plaintiff's Motion To Amend Request For Relief. The court has previously granted plaintiff's requests to supplement his Complaint with additional exhibits. See Dockets #7 and #28. Plaintiff now seeks to substantively amend his Complaint to alter the relief he is requesting in this action.
The provisions of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a) indicate that the plaintiff may amend his pleading once, as a matter of course, before a responsive pleading is served. Service of process has been waived in this case by defendants Colorado Department of Corrections and Joe Ortiz, but they have not appeared in this matter and the deadline for them to do so has not yet passed. Counsel on their behalf has also not appeared of record. Additionally, while the court incorrectly noted previously that service of process had not been made upon defendant Decesaro, see Docket #35, service by the United States Marshal had, in fact, been made, see Docket #32. However, defendant Decesaro has not yet appeared in this matter and the deadline for him to do so has not yet passed. Counsel on his behalf has also not appeared of record. Accordingly, plaintiff's motion will be granted.
However, there can be only one operative Complaint in a lawsuit, and the court will not piece together a pleading from two separate documents nor expect the defendants to comb through the docket to find all filings in this regard to which they must answer and prepare a defense. Accordingly, if plaintiff desires to amend his Complaint, he must present to the court an Amended Complaint which will constitute plaintiff's governing pleading in this action.
Therefore, it is ORDERED that plaintiff's Motion To Amend Request For Relief [Filed November 25, 2005; Docket #36] is GRANTED. It is FURTHER ORDERED that the office of the Clerk shall provide the plaintiff with the standard forms necessary for the filing of a Prisoner Complaint in this regard, which the plaintiff shall use in the filing of his Amended Complaint. Finally, it is ORDERED that plaintiff shall have until and including December 19, 2005, in which to file his Amended Complaint. Plaintiff must make sure that any and all documentation he intends to attach as exhibits is filed with the Amended Complaint. Any amendments attempted to be made outside of the scope of this Order will be summarily dismissed.