Carlene Thie v. Anthony Christopher
Carlene Thie v. Anthony Christopher
Trial Court Opinion
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 CARLENE THIE, ) Case No. CV 21-1718 FMO (ASx) 11 ) Plaintiff, ) 12 ) v. ) ORDER DISMISSING ACTION WITHOUT 13 ) PREJUDICE ANTHONY CHRISTOPHER, ) 14 ) Defendant. ) 15 ) 16 Plaintiff Carlene Thie (“plaintiff”) filed her complaint against defendant Anthony Christopher 17 (“defendant”) on February 24, 2021. (Dkt. 1, Complaint). By order dated May 17, 2021, plaintiff 18 was ordered to show cause by May 24, 2021, why this action should not be dismissed without 19 prejudice for lack of prosecution. (See Dkt. 17, Court’s Order of May 17, 2021 (“OSC”)). The 20 OSC stated that it would stand submitted upon the filing of a proof of service, an application for 21 entry of default, or defendant’s answer. (See id.). The OSC admonished plaintiff that “[f]ailure to 22 file a timely response to [the OSC] shall result in the action or the above defendant(s) being 23 dismissed for lack of prosecution and for failure to comply with the orders of this court[.]” (Id.) 24 (citing Fed. R. Civ. P. 4 & 41(b); Link v. Wabash R.R. Co.,
370 U.S. 626, 629-30,
82 S.Ct. 1386, 25 1388 (1962)). As of the filing date of this Order, plaintiff has not filed a proof of service or an 26 application for entry of default. (See, generally, Dkt.). 27 Rule 4(m) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that a court, on its own initiative, 28 1 complaint is filed[.]” In addition, a district court may dismiss an action for failure to prosecute or 2 to comply with court orders. Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(b); Link,
370 U.S. at 629-30,
82 S.Ct. at 13883 (authority to dismiss for failure to prosecute necessary to avoid undue delay in disposing of cases 4 and congestion in court calendars); Ferdik v. Bonzelet,
963 F.2d 1258, 1260(9th Cir. 1992) 5 (district court may dismiss action for failure to comply with any court order). Dismissal, however, 6 is a severe penalty and should be imposed only after consideration of the relevant factors in favor 7 of and against this extreme remedy. Thompson v. Housing Auth. of Los Angeles,
782 F.2d 829, 8 831 (9th Cir. 1986). These factors include: (1) the public’s interest in expeditious resolution of 9 litigation; (2) the court’s need to manage its docket; (3) the risk of prejudice to the defendants; (4) 10 the public policy favoring disposition of cases on their merits; and (5) the availability of less drastic 11 sanctions. Id.; Henderson v. Duncan,
779 F.2d 1421, 1423(9th Cir. 1986) (same). 12 Pursuant to Rules 4(m) and 41(b) and the Court’s inherent power to achieve the orderly and 13 expeditious disposition of cases, Link,
370 U.S. at 629-30,
82 S.Ct. at 1388, and in light of the 14 factors outlined in
Henderson, supra,dismissal of this action without prejudice for failure to effect 15 service within the specified time and to comply with the Court’s Order of May 17, 2021 (Dkt. 12), 16 is appropriate. 17 Based on the foregoing, IT IS ORDERED that judgment be entered dismissing this action, 18 without prejudice, for failure to effect service and comply with the orders of the court. 19 Dated this 1st day of June, 2021. 20 /s/ 21 Fernando M. Olguin United States District Judge 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Reference
- Status
- Unknown