Calvin v. Elfo

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE DONALD L. CALVIN, 9 Plaintiff, CASE NO. 2:20-cv-00866-RSM-BAT 10 v. ORDER DENYING MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION BILL ELFO, et al., 12 Defendant.

13 Plaintiff moves the Court to reconsider its order denying him his request to be relieved of the requirement that all pleadings be filed electronically. Dkt. 13. Motions for reconsideration are disfavored under the Court’s local rules: 16 Motions for reconsideration are disfavored. The court will ordinarily deny such motions in the absence of a showing of manifest error in the prior ruling or a 17 showing of new facts or legal authority which could not have been brought to its attention earlier with reasonable diligence.

Local Rules W.D. Wash. CR 7(h)(1). A motion to reconsider is an “extraordinary remedy,” and “should not be granted, absent highly unusual circumstances, unless the district court is presented with newly discovered evidence, committed clear error, or if there is an intervening change in the controlling law.” Kona Enters., Inc. v. Estate of Bishop, 229 F.3d 877, 890 (9th Cir. 2000) (internal citation omitted).

As the Court noted in its order denying relief from filing pleadings electronically, all prisoners held in a Washington Department of Corrections (WDOC) facility must file pleadings utilizing the prisoner e-filing procedures. See General Order 06-16. Plaintiff is held in a WDOC facility; he therefore must file his pleadings utilizing the e-filing procedures. Plaintiff originally contended WDOC limits the number of prisoners who can be in the law library at one time. The Court denied relief from electronic filing because the Court continues to receive e-filed pleadings from prisoners held in WDOC facilities, including the facility in which plaintiff is imprisoned.

7 In his motion to reconsider, plaintiff now contends he has no access to the law library or to the law librarian and thus cannot file anything electronically. However, the Court continues to receive electronically filed pleadings from other inmates at plaintiff’s prison and it seems improbable that plaintiff is the only prisoner who cannot file things electronically.

11 The Court accordingly ORDERS the motion to reconsider (Dkt. 13) is DENIED.

12 DATED this 13th day of August, 2020.

13 A BRIAN A. TSUCHIDA Chief United States Magistrate Judge