Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-3_16-cv-00269/USCOURTS-cand-3_16-cv-00269-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 550
Nature of Suit: Prisoner - Civil Rights (U.S. defendant)
Cause of Action: 42:1983 Civil Rights Act

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United States District Court

Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

San Francisco Division

WILLIE MAURICE FLANIGAN,

Plaintiff,

v.

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN 

FRANCISCO, et al.,

Defendants.

Case No. 16-cv-00269-LB 

ORDER OF DISMISSAL

[Re: ECF No. 1 ]

Willie M. Flanigan, an inmate at the San Mateo County Jail in Redwood City, filed this pro se 

civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and applied to proceed in forma pauperis. He has 

consented to proceed before a magistrate judge. (ECF No. 1 at 4.)1 His complaint is now before 

the court for review under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A. 

The court must dismiss a prisoner's complaint if it determines that the action “is frivolous [or] 

malicious.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1). (Section 1915A(b)(1) is the prisoner analog to 28 U.S.C. 

§ 1915(e), which allows the court to dismiss any pauper‟s complaint if it is, among other things, 

“frivolous or malicious.”) The district court may dismiss a pauper or prisoner “complaint „that 

merely repeats pending or previously litigated claims.‟” Cato v. United States, 70 F.3d 1103, 1105 

 

1 Citations are to the Electronic Case File (“ECF”); pin cites are to the ECF-generated page 

numbers at the tops of the documents.

Case 3:16-cv-00269-LB Document 7 Filed 02/25/16 Page 1 of 3
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United States District Court

Northern District of California

n.2 (9th Cir. 1995); Bailey v. Johnson, 846 F.2d 1019, 1021 (5th Cir. 1988) (duplicative or 

repetitious litigation of virtually identical causes of action is subject to dismissal under 28 U.S.C. 

§ 1915 as malicious); Van Meter v. Morgan, 518 F.2d 366 (8th Cir. 1975) (dismissal of complaint 

as frivolous was not an abuse of discretion where plaintiff had filed other similar complaints). 

The complaint in this action repeats the excessive force claim Mr. Flanigan asserts in Flanigan 

v San Francisco Police Department, No. 16-cv-269 LB. Although the complaint in this action 

does not provide any details of the use of force, both complaints are based on the force used 

during Mr. Flanigan‟s arrest on October 31, 2014, and both complaints list the same five members 

of the San Francisco Police Department as defendants. Mr. Flanigan does identify the municipal 

defendant differently in the two actions -- here it is the City and County of San Francisco, and in 

the earlier action it is the San Francisco Police Department -- but even an action against a new 

defendant may be dismissed as duplicative. Bailey, 846 F.2d at 1021. If Mr. Flanigan believes he 

needs both entities, he can include the City and County of San Francisco in his amended complaint 

in the earlier-filed action. Mr. Flanigan cannot, however, pursue the same claim in two separate 

cases.

This action is DISMISSED as frivolous because it is duplicative of Flanigan v. San Francisco 

Police Department, No. 16-cv-269 LB. The clerk shall close the file.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: February 25, 2016 ___________________________

LAUREL BEELER

United States Magistrate Judge

Case 3:16-cv-00269-LB Document 7 Filed 02/25/16 Page 2 of 3
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United States District Court

Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

WILLIE MAURICE FLANIGAN,

Plaintiff,

v.

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN 

FRANCISCO, et al.,

Defendants.

Case No. 3:16-cv-00269-LB 

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I, the undersigned, hereby certify that I am an employee in the Office of the Clerk, U.S. 

District Court, Northern District of California.

That on February 25, 2016, I SERVED a true and correct copy(ies) of the attached, by 

placing said copy(ies) in a postage paid envelope addressed to the person(s) hereinafter listed, by 

depositing said envelope in the U.S. Mail, or by placing said copy(ies) into an inter-office delivery 

receptacle located in the Clerk's office.

Willie Maurice Flanigan ID: 1077777

Maguire Correctional Facility

300 Bradford Street

Redwood City, CA 94063 

Dated: February 25, 2016 Susan Y. Soong

Clerk, United States District Court

By:________________________

Lashanda Scott, Deputy Clerk to the 

Honorable LAUREL BEELER

Case 3:16-cv-00269-LB Document 7 Filed 02/25/16 Page 3 of 3