(PC) Castro v. Pfeiffer

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

DANIEL Z. CASTRO, Case No. 1:21-cv-00418-BAM (PC) Plaintiff, ORDER REGARDING PLAINTIFF’S

NOTICE OF VOLUNTARY DISMISSAL v. (ECF No. 11)

PFEIFFER, et al.,

Defendants.

Plaintiff Daniel Z. Castro (“Plaintiff”) is a state prisoner proceeding pro se in this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

On March 16, 2021, the Court issued an order denying Plaintiff’s motion to proceed in forma pauperis, without prejudice, and ordering Plaintiff to submit a completed prisoner application to proceed in forma pauperis or pay the $402.00 filing fee within thirty days. (ECF No. 10.)

On April 1, 2021, Plaintiff filed a document requesting that the Court dismiss this action if no court fees have yet been charged. (ECF No. 11.) Based on the filing, it appears that this action was opened inadvertently, and is duplicative of Case No. 1:20-cv-01454-NONE-EPG (PC), which was opened on October 6, 2020. Plaintiff therefore requests that this complaint be dismissed with no filing fee attached to his prisoner account. (Id.) The Court construes the filing as a notice of voluntary dismissal pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1)(A)(i). “[U]nder Rule 41(a)(1)(A)(i), a plaintiff has an absolute right to voluntarily dismiss his action prior to service by the defendant of an answer or a motion for summary judgment.”

Commercial Space Mgmt. Co., Inc. v. Boeing Co., Inc., 193 F.3d 1074, 1077 (9th Cir. 1999) (quotation and citation omitted). “[A] dismissal under Rule 41(a)(1) is effective on filing, no court order is required, the parties are left as though no action had been brought, the defendant can’t complain, and the district court lacks jurisdiction to do anything about it.” Id. at 1078. No defendant has been served in this action and no defendant has filed an answer or motion for summary judgment. In addition, Plaintiff has not completed an application to proceed in forma pauperis for this action, so no filing fee has been charged.

Accordingly, this action is terminated by operation of law without further order from the Court. Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(A)(i). The Clerk of the Court is directed to terminate all pending motions and deadlines, and close this case.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: April 2, 2021 /s/ Barbara A. McAuliffe _ UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE