1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 ESTATE OF MATTHEW LEE RICHARDS, Case No. 1:24-cv-01294-CDB 12 Plaintiff, ORDER ON STIPULATION GRANTING PLAINTIFFS LEAVE TO FILE FIRST 13 v. AMENDED COMPLAINT AS MODIFIED 14 KERN COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE, (Doc. 25) et al., 15 SEVEN (7)-DAY DEADLINE Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiffs Estate of Matthew Lee Richards, by and through successors in interest, Derrienne 18 Richards and Robert Williams Richards (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) initiated this action with the 19 filing of a complaint against Defendants County of Kern (erroneously sued as Kern County 20 Sheriff’s Office and Kern County) and Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood (collectively, 21 “Defendants”) on October 23, 2024. (Doc. 1). Plaintiffs seek damages pursuant to

1983 and 1988 arising from decedent Matthew Lee Richards’s death by suicide while incarcerated 23 at the Kern County Sheriff’s Office, Mojave Substation Jail.

On March 25, 2025, the Court 24 entered the operative scheduling order setting forth discovery, motion and pretrial and trial dates 25 and deadlines. (Doc. 20). On October 7, 2025, the Court granted the parties’ stipulated request to 26 amend the scheduling order as modified to continue the deadline to amend pleadings from October 27 7, 2025, to November 21, 2025. (Doc. 24). 1 | first amended complaint (“FAC”), filed on November 21, 2025. (Doc. 25). Plaintiffs attach to their 2 | stipulated a copy of the proposed FAC. (Doc. 25-2). The proposed FAC seeks to add the following 3 | individuals as named defendants: (1) Lieutenant Zachary Bittle; (2) Sergeant Jose Perez; (3) Deputy 4 | Rodolfo Ramirez; (4) Deputy Connor Bray; and (5) Senior Deputy Marcus Kochanski. (Doc. 25 5 | at 2). The parties request that Plaintiffs be provided 15 days after issuance of this order within 6 | which to file the proposed FAC as a stand-alone docket entry, and Defendants be provided 45 days 7 | after service of the FAC within which to file a response.

{fj 2-4. 8 Having considered the parties’ stipulated representations and the factors enunciated in 9 | Western Shoshone Nat'l Council v. Molini,

, 204 (9th Cir. 1991), cert. denied, 506 10 | U.S. 822 (1992), the parties’ request for Plaintiffs to have leave to amend the complaint will be 11 || granted as modified below. 12 Conclusion and Order 13 In light of the parties’ representations and good cause appearing, IT IS HEREBY 14 | ORDERED: 15 1. Within seven (7) days from entry of this order, Plaintiffs SHALL FILE as a stand-alone 16 docket entry the first amended complaint proposed in the parties’ stipulation (Doc. 25-2); 17 and 18 2. Defendants shall respond to the first amended complaint within 45 days of its service. See 19 Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(3). 20 | IT IS SOORDERED. | Dated: _ November 24, 2025 | hr 22 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 23 24 25 26 27 28