Opinion
1:19-cv-01338-AWI-JLT (PC)
07-13-2021
EARNEST S. HARRIS, Plaintiff, v. D. NEVE, Defendant.
ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE THIRD AMENDED COMPLAINT (DOC. 45)
JENNIFER L. THURSTON CHIEF UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
Plaintiff requests leave to file a third amended complaint. (Doc. 45.) Plaintiff seeks to add one claim regarding the alleged use of excessive force and retaliation by Defendant Neve between May and June of 2018. (Id. at 1.) Defendant has not filed an opposition or a statement of non-opposition to Plaintiff's motion, and the time to do so has passed. See Local Rule 230(1).
Leave to amend a pleading “is entrusted to the sound discretion of the trial court, ” Pisciotta v. Teledyne Indus., Inc., 91 F.3d 1326, 1331 (9th Cir. 1996), and “[t]he court should freely give leave when justice so requires, ” Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(a)(2). In exercising its “discretion, a court must be guided by the underlying purpose of Rule 15 to facilitate decision on the merits, rather than on the pleadings or technicalities . . . Accordingly, Rule 15's policy of favoring amendments to pleadings should be applied with extreme liberality.” United States v. Webb, 655 F.2d 977, 979 (9th Cir. 1981) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).
Upon review of Plaintiff's motion, including the proposed third amended complaint lodged with the Court, (Doc. 46), the Court finds good cause to grant the motion. It appears, however, that the lodged complaint is missing a page. (See Id. at 6-7.) Therefore, the Court will grant Plaintiff leave to file a new third amended complaint so that he may include every intended page.
The Court reminds Plaintiff that an amended complaint supersedes the original complaint and prior amendments. Lacey v. Maricopa Cty., 693 F.3d 896, 927 (9th Cir. 2012). Thus, a third amended complaint must be “complete in itself without reference to the prior or superseded pleading.” Local Rule 220. The Court provides Plaintiff with an opportunity to file a third amended complaint to include the allegations and claim identified in his motion and proposed, lodged complaint. Plaintiff may not, however, add additional, unrelated claims in a third amended complaint. Accordingly, the Court ORDERS:
1. Plaintiff's motion for leave to file a third amended complaint (Doc. 45) is GRANTED;
2. The Clerk's Office shall send Plaintiff a civil rights complaint form; and, 3. Within 21 days of the date of service of this order, Plaintiff shall file a third amended complaint as described in this order.
IT IS SO ORDERED.