Opinion
CASE NO. 1:10-cv-01250-LJO-GBC (PC).
August 22, 2011
ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF'S MOTIONS FOR LEAVE TO AMEND (Docs. 9, 10)
Plaintiff Sylester Williams ("Plaintiff") is a state prisoner proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis in this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The complaint was filed on July 13, 2010, and Plaintiff filed motions for leave to amend on November 17, 2010, and August 5, 2011. (Docs. 1, 9, 10).
Under Rule 15(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a party may amend the party's pleading once as a matter of course at any time before a responsive pleading is served. Otherwise, a party may amend only by leave of the court or by written consent of the adverse party, and leave shall be freely given when justice so requires. Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(a). In this case, a responsive pleading has not been served and Plaintiff has not previously amended his complaint. Therefore, Plaintiff may file an amended complaint without leave of the Court.
In addition, Plaintiff is advised that his amended complaint should be brief, Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a), but must state what each named defendant did that led to the deprivation of Plaintiff's constitutional or other federal rights, Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 129 S. Ct. 1937, 1948-49 (2009). "The inquiry into causation must be individualized and focus on the duties and responsibilities of each individual defendant whose acts or omissions are alleged to have caused a constitutional deprivation." Leer v. Murphy, 844 F.2d 628, 633 (9th Cir. 1988). Although accepted as true, the "[f]actual allegations must be [sufficient] to raise a right to relief above the speculative level. . . ." Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 554, 555 (2007) (citations omitted). Finally, an amended complaint supercedes the original complaint, Forsyth v. Humana, Inc., 114 F.3d 1467, 1474 (9th Cir. 1997); King v. Atiyeh, 814 F.2d 565, 567 (9th Cir. 1987), and must be "complete in itself without reference to the prior or superceded pleading," Local Rule 220.
Accordingly, it is HEREBY ORDERED that Plaintiff's motions for leave to amend is GRANTED. (Docs. 9, 10).
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: August 19, 2011 42 U.S.C. § 1983 Previous Lawsuits (list all other previous or pending lawsuits on back of this form) II. Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies ALL NOTICE: 42 U.S.C. § 1983 42 U.S.C. § 1997ebefore Booth v. Churner 532 U.S. 731 741 McKinney v. Carey 311 F.3d 1198 1999 Even if you are seeking only money damages and the inmate appeal or administrative remedy process does not provide money, you must exhaust the process before filing suit. Booth 532 U.S. at 734 Defendants Statement of Claim facts Relief.
Plaintiff's Name _____________________ Inmate No. ___________________________ Address ______________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA __________________________________________________________________________ (Name of Plaintiff) (Case Number) vs. AMENDED COMPLAINT ________________________________ Civil Rights Act, ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ (Names of all Defendants) I. : A. Have you brought any other lawsuits while a prisoner? Yes ___ No ___ B. If your answer to A is yes, how many? ______________ Describe previous or pending lawsuits in the space below. (If more than one, use back of paper to continue outlining all lawsuits.) 1. Parties to previous lawsuit: Plaintiff _____________________________________________________________________________________ Defendants ____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ 2. Court (if Federal Court, give name of District; if State Court, give name of County) ________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Docket Number ________________ 4. Assigned Judge ____________________________ 5. Disposition (For example: Was the case dismissed? Was it appealed? Is it still pending?) __________________________________________________________________________________________ 6. Filing date (approx.) ________________ 7. Disposition date (approx.) _____________ A. Is there an inmate appeal or administrative remedy process available at your institution? Yes ___ No ___ B. Have you filed an appeal or grievance concerning of the facts contained in this complaint? Yes ___ No ___ If your answer is no, explain why not _____________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ C. Is the process completed? Yes ___ If your answer is yes, briefly explain what happened at each level. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ No ___ If your answer is no, explain why not. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Pursuant to the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995, "[n]o action shall be brought with respect to prison conditions under [], or any other Federal law, by a prisoner confined in any jail, prison, or other correctional facility until such administrative remedies as are available are exhausted." (a). If there is an inmate appeal or administrative remedy process available at your institution, you may not file an action under Section 1983, or any other federal law, until you have first completed (exhausted) the process available at your institution. You are required to complete (exhaust) the inmate appeal or administrative remedy process filing suit, regardless of the relief offered by the process. , , (2001); , , (9th Cir. 2002). , . III. (In Item A below, place the full name of the defendant in the first blank, his/her official position in the second blank, and his/her place of employment in the third blank. Use item B for the names, positions and places of employment of any additional defendants.) A. Defendant ____________________________________ is employed as __________________________________________ _____________________ at ______________________________________________________________ B. Additional defendants __________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ IV. (State here as briefly as possible the of your case. Describe how each defendant is involved, including dates and places. Do not give any legal arguments or cite any cases or statutes. Attach extra sheets if necessary.) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ V. (State briefly exactly what you want the court to do for you. Make no legal arguments. Cite no cases or statutes.) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Date __________________ Signature of Plaintiff ____________________________________ (revised 2/10/2006)