Opinion
CV 24-685 PA (AGRx)
04-03-2024
Present The Honorable PERCY ANDERSON, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
CIVIL MINUTES - GENERAL
Proceedings: IN CHAMBERS - COURT ORDER
On March 22, 2024, the Court denied the Third Petition for Appointment of Guardian Ad Litem because it merely repeated the identical information that plaintiffs provided in their Second Petition for Appointment of Guardian Ad Litem and provided none of the information the Court's March 20, 2024 Minute Order required from plaintiffs so that it could properly assess whether the proposed guardian ad litem satisfied the requirements for such a position. The Court's March 22, 2024 Minute Order gave plaintiffs until April 1, 2024, to file a revised Petition for Appointment of Guardian Ad Litem. The Court warned plaintiffs that “[f]ailure to timely respond to this order may result in the dismissal without prejudice of the minors' claims.” To date, and despite the Court's warning and the expiration of the deadline, plaintiffs have not filed a revised Petition for Appointment of Guardian Ad Litem.
The Court notes that plaintiffs' counsel's failure to properly or timely respond to the Court's Orders in this case is part of a pattern that ultimately lead to the dismissal of plaintiffs' earlier case, Case No. CV 23-5415 PA (AGRx). In that case, much like this one, plaintiffs' counsel failed to adequately or timely respond to the Court's repeated orders explaining the deficiencies in plaintiffs' efforts to serve the Government defendants in compliance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(i). Similar to this case, plaintiffs' counsel filed multiple rounds of documents that failed to cure the deficiencies identified in the Court's orders before later failing to respond at all. Eventually, the Court dismissed that action without prejudice as a result of plaintiffs' failure to prosecute and plaintiffs' counsel's failure to comply with the Court's Orders.
Based on the failures of plaintiffs and plaintiffs' counsel to adequately or timely respond to the Court's Orders in this action, the Court orders plaintiffs and plaintiffs' counsel to show cause in writing why the claims of the minor plaintiffs should not be dismissed for failure to comply with the Court's Orders. The Court additionally orders plaintiffs' counsel to show cause in writing why he should not be sanctioned in an amount up to $2,000.00 for his repeated failures to comply with the Court's Orders. The Responses to these Orders to Show Cause shall be filed by no later than April 10, 2024. Failure to timely or adequately Respond to these Orders to Show Cause may, without further warning, result in the dismissal of the claims of the minor plaintiffs and the imposition of sanctions against plaintiffs' counsel.
IT IS SO ORDERED.