2

3 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

4 DISTRICT OF NEVADA

5 * * *

6 SEAN MAURICE DEAN, Case No. 3:22-cv-00444-MMD-CLB

7 Plaintiff, ORDER v. 8 CHARLES DANIELS, et al., 9 Defendants. 10

11 12 Plaintiff Sean Maurice Dean brings this civil-rights action under

13 to redress constitutional violations that he claims he suffered while he was incarcerated 14 at Southern Desert Correctional Center and Northern Nevada Correctional Center. (ECF 15 No. 5.) On December 5, 2022, the Court ordered Dean to file an amended complaint by 16 January 6, 2023. (ECF No. 4.) The Court warned Dean that the action could be dismissed 17 if he failed to file an amended complaint by that deadline. (Id. at 11.) That deadline expired 18 and Dean did not file an amended complaint, move for an extension, or otherwise 19 respond. 20 District courts have the inherent power to control their dockets and “[i]n the 21 exercise of that power, they may impose sanctions including, where appropriate . . . 22 dismissal” of a case. Thompson v. Hous. Auth. of City of L.A.,

(9th Cir. 23 1986). A court may dismiss an action based on a party’s failure to obey a court order or 24 comply with local rules. See Carey v. King,

(9th Cir. 1988) 25 (affirming dismissal for failure to comply with local rule requiring pro se plaintiffs to keep 26 court apprised of address); Malone v. U.S. Postal Serv.,

(9th Cir. 1987) 27 (dismissal for failure to comply with court order). In determining whether to dismiss an 28 action on one of these grounds, the Court must consider: (1) the public’s interest in 2 of prejudice to Defendants; (4) the public policy favoring disposition of cases on their 3 merits; and (5) the availability of less drastic alternatives. See In re Phenylpropanolamine 4 Prod. Liab. Litig.,

(9th Cir. 2006) (quoting Malone,

). 5 The first two factors, the public’s interest in expeditiously resolving this litigation 6 and the Court’s interest in managing its docket, weigh in favor of dismissal of Dean’s 7 claims. The third factor, risk of prejudice to Defendants, also weighs in favor of dismissal 8 because a presumption of injury arises from the occurrence of unreasonable delay in filing 9 a pleading ordered by the court or prosecuting an action. See Anderson v. Air West, 542

(9th Cir. 1976). The fourth factor—the public policy favoring disposition of 11 cases on their merits—is greatly outweighed by the factors favoring dismissal. 12 The fifth factor requires the Court to consider whether less drastic alternatives can 13 be used to correct the party’s failure that brought about the Court’s need to consider 14 dismissal. See Yourish v. Cal. Amplifier,

, 992 (9th Cir. 1999) (explaining 15 that considering less drastic alternatives before the party has disobeyed a court order 16 does not satisfy this factor); accord Pagtalunan v. Galaza,

, 643 & n.4 (9th 17 Cir. 2002) (explaining that “the persuasive force of” earlier Ninth Circuit cases that 18 “implicitly accepted pursuit of less drastic alternatives prior to disobedience of the court’s 19 order as satisfying this element[,]” i.e., like the “initial granting of leave to amend coupled 20 with the warning of dismissal for failure to comply[,]” have been “eroded” by Yourish). 21 Courts “need not exhaust every sanction short of dismissal before finally dismissing a 22 case, but must explore possible and meaningful alternatives.” Henderson v. Duncan, 779

, 1424 (9th Cir. 1986). Because this action cannot realistically proceed until and 24 unless Dean files an amended complaint, the only alternative is to enter a second order 25 setting another deadline. But the reality of repeating an ignored order is that it often only 26 delays the inevitable and squanders the Court’s finite resources. The circumstances here 27 do not indicate that this case will be an exception: there is no indication that Dean needs 28 additional time or evidence that he did not receive the Court’s screening order. Setting 1 || another deadline is not a meaningful alternative given these circumstances. Thus, the 2 || fifth factor favors dismissal. Having thoroughly considered these dismissal factors, the 3 || Court finds that they weigh in favor of dismissal. 4 It is therefore ordered that this action is dismissed without prejudice based on 5 || Dean's failure to file an amended complaint in compliance with the Court’s December 5, 6 || 2022, order and for failure to state a claim. 7 The Clerk of Court is directed to enter judgment accordingly and close this case. 8 || No other documents may be filed in this now-closed case. If Dean wishes to pursue his 9 || claims, he must file a complaint in a new case. 10 It is further ordered that Dean’s application to proceed in forma pauperis (ECF 11 || No. 1) is denied. 12 DATED THIS 1* Day of February 2023.

14 MIRANDA M. DU 15 CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28