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6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10

11 ANTHONY ALBERT BAGGETT, ) Case No.: 1:24-cv-0978 JLT GSA ) 12 Plaintiff, ) ORDER ADOPTING THE FINDINGS AND ) RECOMMENDATIONS, WITH ADDITIONAL 13 v. ) FINDINGS ) 14 DIVISION OF ADULT PAROLE ) ORDER DISMISSING THE ACTION WITHOUT CORRECTIONS AND REHABILITATION, ) PREJUDICE AND DIRECTING THE CLERK OF 15 ) COURT TO CLOSE THE CASE Defendant. ) 16 ) (Doc. 8) ) 17

18 Anthony Albert Baggett seeks to hold the defendants liable for violations of his civil rights 19 related to the denial of a parole. (See generally Doc. 1.) Shortly after Plaintiff filed his complaint, the 20 Sacramento Division issued new case documents, which the U.S. Postal Service returned as 21 undeliverable on August 12, 2024. The Sacramento Division then transferred the action to the Fresno 22 Division, after which this Court also issued new case documents and ordered Plaintiff to either pay the 23 filing fee or file an application to proceed in forma pauperis. (Docs. 5, 6.) However, the U.S. Postal 24 Service again returned the Court’s mail as “Undeliverable, Not at Facility” and unable to be forwarded 25 on August 28 and 30, 2024. 26 After the Court’s mail was returned as undeliverable, Plaintiff failed to file a notice of change of 27 address as required by Local Rule 182(f). Therefore, the magistrate judge recommended the action be 28 dismissed without prejudice “for failure to file a current address with the Court.” (Doc. 8 at 1.) The 1 Court served the Findings and Recommendations upon Plaintiff at the only address of record. The U.S. 2 Postal Service again returned the Court’s mail, marked “Undeliverable, Not at this Address” on 3 October 28, 2024. To date, Plaintiff has not notified the Court of a proper mailing address. 4 According to

(b)(1), this Court performed a de novo review of this case. Having 5 carefully reviewed the matter, the Court concludes the record clearly supports the finding that Plaintiff 6 failed to comply with Local Rule 183(f), which requires a pro se party to file a notice of change of 7 address within 63 days of the Court’s mail being returned. However, prior to recommending dismissal, 8 the magistrate judge did not address the factors identified by the Ninth Circuit in Henderson v. Duncan, 9

(9th Cir. 1986). Importantly, the Ninth Circuit has expressed a preference for the 10 district court to perform such analysis prior to dismissing an action. See, e.g., Ferdik v. Bonzelet, 963

, 1260-61 (9th Cir. 1992); Pagtalunan v. Galaza,

(9th Cir. 2002) 12 (observing that “explicitly addressing the relevant factors when contemplating dismissal” is “the 13 preferred practice”). Given the Ninth Circuit’s expressed preference and instructions, the Court makes 14 additional findings to determine whether dismissal is appropriate.1 15 To determine whether to impose terminating sanctions, the Court must consider: “(1) the 16 public’s interest in expeditious resolution of litigation; (2) the court’s need to manage its docket; (3) the 17 risk of prejudice to the defendants; (4) the public policy favoring disposition of cases on their merits; 18 and (5) the availability of less drastic sanctions.” Henderson,

(affirming dismissal of 19 an action for failure to comply with the court’s local rules and failure to prosecute); see also Carey v. 20 King,

(9th Cir. 1988) (identifying these factors and affirming the district 21 court’s dismissal after mail to the plaintiff was returned as undeliverable and he did not provide a 22

23 1 This is consistent with district courts throughout the Ninth Circuit, which have regularly addressed the factors identified by the Court prior to dismissing an action for failure to prosecute and failure to comply with a court’s 24 local rules. See, e.g., Borhan v. McKesson,

, at *1-2 (E.D. Cal. Aug. 14, 2024) (finding the 25 record supported the magistrate judge’s determination that the plaintiff failed to comply with the court’s orders and failed to prosecute the case, and independently considering the factors to prior to dismissing the action); 26 Johnson v. Skinner,

, at *1-2 (D. Az. July 24, 2024) (considering the factors where the court’s mail was returned as undeliverable, prior to dismissing the action for failure to prosecute); Osaki v. San 27 Bernardino Cnty. Sheriff Dep’t,

, at *2-3 (C.D. Cal. Aug. 8, 2023) (evaluating whether it was appropriate to sua sponte dismiss the action after the plaintiff failed to keep the court informed of his current 28 address, as required by the court’s local rules, and failed to prosecute the case). 1 proper address as required by the court’s local rules). The Court may dismiss an action when “at least 2 four factors support dismissal, or where at least three factors ‘strongly’ support dismissal.” Hernandez 3 v. City of El Monte,

(9th Cir. 1998) (citations omitted). 4 In the case at hand, the public’s interest in expeditiously resolving this litigation and the 5 Court’s interest in managing the docket weigh in favor of dismissal. See Yourish v. Cal. Amplifier, 6

, 990 (9th Cir. 1999) (“The public’s interest in expeditious resolution of litigation always 7 favors dismissal”); Ferdik, 963 F.2d at 1261 (recognizing that district courts have inherent interest in 8 managing their dockets without being subject to noncompliant litigants). The Court will not hold this 9 case in abeyance, particularly given the inability to communicate with Plaintiff. See Carey,

(“It would be absurd to require the district court to hold a case in abeyance indefinitely just 11 because it is unable, through the plaintiff's own fault, to contact the plaintiff…”). 12 Next, the Court must determine whether the defendants suffer prejudice by examining “whether 13 the plaintiff’s actions impair the … ability to go to trial or threaten to interfere with the rightful decision 14 of the case.” Malone v. U.S. Postal Service,

(9th Cir. 1987) (citation omitted). A 15 presumption of prejudice arises when a plaintiff unreasonably delays the prosecution of an action. See 16 Hernandez,

; Clear Channel Ent./Televisa Music Corp. v. Mex. Musical, Inc., 252 17 Fed. App’x 779, 781 (9th Cir. 2007). Any defendant would also suffer prejudice due to the inability to 18 contact Plaintiff and engage in discovery. Thus, this factor also supports dismissal. 19 Further, the Court must consider the imposition of lesser sanctions. Allen v. Bayer Corp., 460

(9th Cir. 2006). A court’s warning to a party that an action—or inaction— could result in 21 dismissal satisfies the “consideration of alternatives” requirement. See Malone,

; 22 Ferdik, 963 F.2d at 1262. Notably, the Ninth Circuit indicated that a court’s local rules may provide 23 notice to litigants of dismissal for failure to provide a current mailing address. See Carey,

1441 (“Requiring any additional notice in the unique circumstances presented by a pro se litigant’s 25 failure to advise the district court of a change in his address is unworkable.”). Moreover, no lesser 26 sanction than termination without prejudice is feasible because the action cannot proceed given the 27 inability to communicate with Plaintiff. See United States v. Jiang,

(9th Cir. 28 2000) (identifying dismissal without prejudice as a “lesser sanction” than dismissal with prejudice). 1 Finally, the policy favoring disposition of claims on the merits 1s outweighed by the four 2 || factors in favor of dismissal. See Malone,

(explaining that although “the public 3 || policy favoring disposition of cases on their merits ... weighs against dismissal, it is not sufficient to 4 || outweigh the other four factors”). Thus, the ORDERS: 5 1. The Findings and Recommendations dated October 22, 2024 (Doc. 8) are ADOPTED 6 with the above additional findings. 7 2. This action is DISMISSED without prejudice. 8 3. The Clerk of Court is directed to close the case. 9 10 || IT IS SO ORDERED. 1! Dated: _ November 13, 2024 Charis [Tourn 12 TED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28