Opinion
CASE NO. CV-F-03-6408 LJO WMW.
August 9, 2007
ORDER TO COMPLY WITH LOCAL RULES
On May 24, 2007, this Court ordered Plaintiffs to "file with the Clerk of Court an email address or a fax number so that this Court may effectuate immediate notice to Plaintiffs in the future." Order of May 24, 2007 (Doc. 221). On May 31, 2007, this Court, sua sponte, issued an Informational Order highlighting specific rules of which the parties should take particular note. (Doc. 241). Over two months ago, Plaintiffs received the following information:
Failure to comply with the Local Rules, federal rules or a court order, including this order, will be grounds for dismissal, entry of default or other appropriate sanctions. See Local Rule 11-110; F.R.Civ.P. 41(b).
1. Documents intended to be filed with the Court must be mailed to the Clerk of the Court. See Local Rule 5-134(a). All documents improperly mailed to a judge's chambers will be stricken from the record. A document requesting a Court order must be styled as a motion. See F.R.Civ.P. 7. (Emphasis in the original; footnote in original)
When a document is stricken, it becomes a nullity and is not considered by the Court for any purposes.
The Informational Order is a five page document which outlines procedures of the Court, including very specific information about the procedures for filing and explanations about the current outstanding motions. The Informational Order further gives specific references to our Local Rules for further explanation. The Court also notes that the Local Rules are located on the website for the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California.
Pursuant to the local rules, the Court directed Plaintiffs to file the requested information with the clerk of court. (See Doc. 241) The Court reiterated this requirement in its Order of August 2, 2007, which required Plaintiffs to comply with the previous Court order. In that order, the Court directed Plaintiffs to "FILE this information with the Clerk of Court." (Doc. 250) (emphasis in original).
Despite two orders which specifically directed the filing of this information with the Clerk of Court and a separate order giving detailed instructions on how to file such a document in compliance with the local rules, Plaintiffs emailed the requested information on August 8, 2007 to this Court's chambers. In the document attached to that email, Plaintiffs aver that they "do not know what the court requires to file the requested information with the court." Plaintiffs have either overlooked or disregarded the informational order issued by this Court over two months ago. This Court has previously warned Plaintiffs about failing to comply with this Court's orders. Therefore, this Court orders as follows:
I. The email and all attachments received by this Chambers on August 8, 2007 is STRICKEN from the record pursuant to the Informational Order of May 31, 2007 and Local Rule 5-133;
II. Plaintiffs are ORDERED to FILE and serve the requested information in accordance with the local rules no later than Wednesday, August 15, 2007; and
III. Plaintiffs are again reminded that failure to comply with the local rules and this Court's order will result in sanctions, including dismissal of this case.
IT IS SO ORDERED.