1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 TROY A. SYKES, Case No.: 1:23-cv-00966-JLT-SKO (PC) 12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S 13 v. REQUEST TO SUBSTITUTE PARTY

14 AVENAL STATE PRISON, et al., (Doc. 26)

15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff Troy A. Sykes is proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis in this civil rights 18 action pursuant to

. 19 I. INTRODUCTION 20 Following screening, this action proceeds on Plaintiff’s Eighth Amendment conditions of 21 confinement claim against Defendant John Doe, Food Services Head Manager at Avenal State 22 Prison. (See Docs. 14 &15.)1 23 On October 24, 2024, the Court issued an order granting Plaintiff ninety days within 24 which to identify John Doe and to file a notice of substitution. (Doc. 16.) 25 Following issuance and service of a subpoena (see Docs. 24 & 25), Plaintiff filed a 26 document titled “Plaintiff’s Response to Court (Doc. 16) and Motion to Name Defendant” on 27 1 Previously named defendants Gamboa, Hernandez, Supervising Correctional Cooks, J. Moekly, H. Moseley, and A. Shimmin were dismissed from this action, along with all other claims, on October 21, 1 June 12, 2025. (Doc. 26.) The Court construes the filing to be a request to substitute the actual 2 name for the individual sued as John Doe, ASP Food Service Head Manager. 3 II. DISCUSSION 4 Plaintiff seeks to substitute Bryan S. Folks, Correctional Food Manager II, for John Doe, 5 ASP Food Service Head Manager. (Doc. 26.) 6 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(c), Relation Back of Amendments, provides: 7 (1) When an Amendment Relates Back. An amendment to the pleading relates back to the date of the original pleading when: 8 (C) the amendment changes the party or the naming of the party 9 against whom a claim is asserted, if Rule 15(c)(1)(B) is satisfied and if, within the period provided by Rule 4(m) for serving the summons 10 and complaint, the party to be brought in by amendment: 11 (i) received such notice of the action that it will not be prejudiced in defending on the merits; and 12 (ii) knew or should have known that the action would have been 13 brought against it, but for mistake concerning the proper party's identity. 14 15 Plaintiff did not submit a proposed amended complaint identifying the defendant by name 16 in the pleading as contemplated by Rule 15(c) and Local Rule 220. The October 24, 2024, “Order 17 Granting Plaintiff 90 Days to Identify Defendant John Doe” directed Plaintiff “to substitute this 18 defendant’s actual name by filing a ‘notice of substitution’” once he learned the individual’s 19 actual name through limited discovery. (See Doc. 16 at 3.) 20 Pursuant to the first amended complaint, Plaintiff identifies John Doe, ASP Food Service 21 Head Manager, with sufficient facts concerning his involvement in the alleged Eighth 22 Amendment conditions of confinement claim at issue. (Doc. 11.) The missing food and/or 23 inadequate portions of food occurred between December 12, 2022, and July 28, 2023. (Id. at 3, 6- 24 7 [claim one].) Thus, the filing of an amended complaint to substitute the name of Jane Doe 25 L.V.N. is unnecessary. 26 Accordingly, the first amended complaint will remain the operative complaint in this 27 action and the Court will substitute John Doe, ASP Food Service Head Manager for the named 1 Doe 1, No. 1:20-cv-00386-HBK,

, at *1-2 (E.D. Cal. July 7, 2021); Altheide v. 2 Williams, No. 2:17-cv-02821JCM-BNW,

* 1 (D. Nevada Jan. 3, 2020) (similarly 3 treating previously filed complaint as the operative complaint but substituting named-defendants 4 for the John Doe Defendants). 5 III. CONCLUSION AND ORDER 6 For the foregoing reasons, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 7 1. Plaintiff’s request to substitute John Doe, ASP Food Service Head Manager (Doc. 26) 8 is GRANTED; 9 2. The Clerk of the Court is DIRECTED to substitute Bryan S. Folks, Correctional 10 Food Manager II, for John Doe ASP Food Service Head Manager in the caption for 11 this action; and 12 3. Limited discovery is now closed. The Court will issue a separate order regarding 13 service of process in due course. 14 IT IS SO ORDERED. 15

16 Dated: June 16, 2025 /s/ Sheila K. Oberto . UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 17

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