Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-azd-2_12-cv-00734/USCOURTS-azd-2_12-cv-00734-15/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 555
Nature of Suit: Prisoner - Prison Condition
Cause of Action: 42:1983 Prisoner Civil Rights

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WO 

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 

Keith P. Nance, 

Plaintiff, 

v. 

Allen Miser, et al., 

Defendants.

No. CV-12-00734-PHX-SMM

ORDER 

 This Order follows a status hearing, held on January 5, 2016, the Court scheduled 

in order to set a trial date and finalize other preliminary matters. Defense Counsel for the 

state, Neil Singh, was present. Plaintiff Keith P. Nance, who is incarcerated at an Arizona 

State Prison Complex in Florence, was directed to appear by phone. 

 At the start of the hearing the Court called the Florence Prison in an attempt to get 

Mr. Nance on a conference call, but was unable to do so. Over the phone, Prison Guard 

Diane Schmidt informed the Court that Mr. Nance was being uncooperative and refused 

to sit down in the designated seat the prison allows inmates to use to make over-thephone court appearances, which is routine and customary for these hearings. Ms. Schmidt 

indicated that Mr. Nance desired to conduct the hearing from the comfort of a private 

room. Ms. Schmidt advised the Court that inmates are required to sit in this particular 

seat for security purposes, as it contains a window and is in full view of the guards. She 

further stated that the room was sound proof and that Mr. Nance would be the only one in 

there. Finding the customary ADOC directive to be reasonable, the Court asked Ms. 

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Schmidt to inform Mr. Nance that he was ordered to sit in the designated seat as directed 

by the prison authorities and participate in the scheduled hearing or there would be 

consequences. Ms. Schmidt relayed the message to Mr. Nance, who was present and 

could hear the Court’s discussion over the speaker phone. Mr. Nance then responded to 

the Court directly, indicating that he wanted a more private area to conduct the hearing. 

The Court denied his request and personally ordered Mr. Nance to sit in the designated 

seat so as to proceed with the hearing. Mr. Nance again refused to follow the Court’s 

order and hung up the phone, thus abandoning the hearing. 

 This is the second instance of Mr. Nance’s obstreperous conduct in as many 

weeks. On December 22, 2015, Mr. Singh traveled from Phoenix to the Florence Prison, 

located roughly 60 miles away, to discuss potential settlement prospects as well as to 

finalize trial exhibits. (Doc. 177.) Mr. Nance again refused to sit down and talk to Mr. 

Singh. He then straightway walked out of the room because there was a guard in the 

vicinity and the meeting was not “confidential” as he demanded. (Id.) Mr. Singh returned 

to Phoenix empty handed and he was unable to fulfill even a speck of his mission. 

 The Court finds Mr. Nance’s actions completely unreasonable and therefore will 

dismiss this case with prejudice. Although dismissal is the most serious sanction allowed 

under Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(f) and 37(b), the Court finds that there are no reasonable 

alternatives in the present situation. See Ferdik v. Bonzelet, 963 F. 2d 1258, 1260 (9th 

Cir. 1992). Other lesser approved sanctions under the Rules are wholly inadequate 

measures in light of Mr. Nance’s repeated misconduct and blatant disregard for the rules 

and decorum of the Court and the dignity and efforts of opposing counsel. Lesser 

sanctions, such as staying further proceedings until Mr. Nance is ready to comply with 

the Court’s orders or striking particular pleadings, see Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(b)(2)(A), would 

do no more than serve as proverbial slaps on the hand and would only have the effects of 

further delaying and complicating this case. Additionally, the Court finds that Mr. Nance, 

who has been incarcerated for the better part of the past two decades, does not have the 

means to pay opposing counsel’s fees or costs. See id. at 37(b)(2)(C). Therefore, 

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dismissal is the only proper remedy. 

 The Court’s decision to dismiss this case is well supported. Mr. Nance continually 

failed to litigate this case in a cooperative, respectful, and reasonable manner. He refused 

time and again to comply with Court orders and discovery requirements. With constant 

indifference of the rules and this Court’s orders, he demanded that matters be conducted 

as he saw fit. His contemptuous conduct was the cause of wasted judicial and state 

resources. The Court, its clerks and employees, defense and pro se attorneys, expended 

countless hours processing this case, only to be met with Mr. Nance’s law-unto-himself 

attitude. For the foregoing reasons, the Court is well within its bounds to dismiss this 

case. Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(f) (“On motion or on its own, the court may issue any just orders, 

including [dismissal], if a party . . . does not participate in good faith . . . or fails to obey a 

scheduling order or pretrial order.”); see Dreith v. Nu Image, Inc., 648 F. 3d 779 (9th Cir. 

2011) (finding that the district court possessed the power to impose the sanction of 

dismissal and did not abuse its discretion by doing so); see also Ferdik, 963 F. 2d at 1260 

(dismissal in response “to the endless vexatious noncompliance of litigants” was not an 

abuse of discretion). 

 Mr. Nance is a high risk prisoner, currently serving a lengthy sentence. The Court 

has extended great liberality to Mr. Nance to pursue his claims, however, even he must 

comply with the reasonable strictures the prison and judicial systems impose upon him, 

which are designed for both his and everyone else’s safety. What he is not entitled to is 

exalted treatment, neither as a prisoner nor as a litigant. Rather, he is held to the same 

reasonable rules as all other litigants. Mr. Nance is encouraged to remember this as he 

appears before the Court in other pending matters. 

 Accordingly, for the foregoing reasons, 

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED DISMISSING this case and all pending matters 

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with prejudice. The Clerk of Court is directed to terminate the case. 

 Dated this 12th day of January, 2016. 

Honorable Stephen M. McNamee

Senior United States District Judge

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