Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-azd-2_10-cv-00537/USCOURTS-azd-2_10-cv-00537-1/pdf.json

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

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 “Doc.#” refers to the docket number of filings in this case. 

JDDL-K

WO SC

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

Willis Clyde Thomas, 

Plaintiff, 

vs.

Courtroom Deputy for Judge Ronan, 

Defendant. 

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No. CV 10-0537-PHX-RCB (ECV)

ORDER

Plaintiff Willis Clyde Thomas, who is confined in the Arizona State Prison Complex,

East Unit, in Florence, Arizona, has filed a pro se civil rights Complaint pursuant to 42

U.S.C. § 1983 and an Application to Proceed In Forma Pauperis. (Doc.# 1, 24.)1

 The Court

will dismiss the Complaint with leave to amend.

I. Application to Proceed In Forma Pauperis and Filing Fee

Plaintiff’s Application to Proceed In Forma Pauperis will be granted. 28 U.S.C.

§ 1915(a). Plaintiff must pay the statutory filing fee of $350.00. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1).

The Court will not assess an initial partial filing fee. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). The statutory

fee will be collected monthly in payments of 20% of the previous month’s income each time

the amount in the account exceeds $10.00. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2). The Court will enter a

separate Order requiring the appropriate government agency to collect and forward the fees

according to the statutory formula. 

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II. Statutory Screening of Prisoner Complaints

The Court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief against

a governmental entity or an officer or an employee of a governmental entity. 28 U.S.C.

§ 1915A(a). The Court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if a plaintiff has raised

claims that are legally frivolous or malicious, that fail to state a claim upon which relief may

be granted, or that seek monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief.

28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1), (2). 

A pleading must contain a “short and plain statement of the claim showing that the

pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2) (emphasis added). While Rule 8 does not

demand detailed factual allegations, “it demands more than an unadorned, the-defendantunlawfully-harmed-me accusation.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 129 S. Ct. 1937, 1949 (2009).

“Threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory

statements, do not suffice.” Id.

“[A] complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a

claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Id. (quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly,

550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). A claim is plausible “when the plaintiff pleads factual content

that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the

misconduct alleged.” Id. “Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for

relief [is] . . . a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial

experience and common sense.” Id. at 1950. Thus, although a plaintiff’s specific factual

allegations may be consistent with a constitutional claim, a court must assess whether there

are other “more likely explanations” for a defendant’s conduct. Id. at 1951.

If the Court determines that a pleading could be cured by the allegation of other facts,

a pro se litigant is entitled to an opportunity to amend a complaint before dismissal of the

action. See Lopez v. Smith, 203 F.3d 1122, 1127-29 (9th Cir. 2000) (en banc). The Court

should not, however, advise the litigant how to cure the defects. This type of advice “would

undermine district judges’ role as impartial decisionmakers.” Pliler v. Ford, 542 U.S. 225,

231 (2004); see also Lopez, 203 F.3d at 1131 n.13 (declining to decide whether the court was

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required to inform a litigant of deficiencies). Plaintiff’s Complaint will be dismissed for

failure to state a claim, with leave to amend because the Complaint may possibly be saved

by amendment.

III. Complaint

Plaintiff’s Complaint consists of two pages: the first page of the court-approved form

complaint for use by incarcerated inmates and second page that is not part of the courtapproved form complaint in which Plaintiff sets forth allegations freehand. Plaintiff

identifies the Defendant as a courtroom deputy for Maricopa County Superior Court Judge

Emmet Ronan in the criminal case against Plaintiff, case# CR2008-15620. Plaintiff does not

identify the courtroom deputy by name in his Complaint. Plaintiff also does not identify the

relief sought. 

IV. Failure to State a Claim

To state a claim under § 1983, a plaintiff must allege facts supporting that (1) the

conduct about which he complains was committed by a person acting under the color of state

law and (2) the conduct deprived him of a federal constitutional or statutory right. Wood v.

Ostrander, 879 F.2d 583, 587 (9th Cir. 1989). In addition, a plaintiff must allege that he

suffered a specific injury as a result of the conduct of a particular defendant and he must

allege an affirmative link between the injury and the conduct of that defendant. Rizzo v.

Goode, 423 U.S. 362, 371-72, 377 (1976).

To state a claim against a defendant, a “plaintiff must allege facts, not simply conclusions,

that show that an individual was personally involved in the deprivation of his civil rights.”

Barren v. Harrington, 152 F.3d 1193, 1194 (9th Cir. 1998). For an individual to be liable in

his official capacity, a plaintiff must allege that the official acted as a result of a policy,

practice, or custom or that the official promulgated a policy, practice or custom resulting in

the violation. See Cortez v. County of Los Angeles, 294 F.3d 1186, 1188 (9th Cir. 2001).

Further, there is no respondeat superior liability under § 1983, so a defendant’s position as

the supervisor of someone who allegedly violated a plaintiff’s constitutional rights does not

make him liable. Monell v. Dep’t of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 691 (1978); Taylor v. List,

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880 F.2d 1040, 1045 (9th Cir. 1989). A supervisor in his individual capacity, “is only liable

for constitutional violations of his subordinates if the supervisor participated in or directed

the violations, or knew of the violations and failed to act to prevent them.” Taylor, 880 F.2d

at 1045. However, where a defendant’s only involvement in allegedly unconstitutional

conduct is the denial of administrative grievances, the failure to intervene on a prisoner’s

behalf to remedy the alleged unconstitutional behavior does not amount to active

unconstitutional behavior for purposes of § 1983. Shehee v. Luttrell, 199 F.3d 295, 300 (6th

Cir. 1999); accord Mintun v. Blades, No. CV-06-139-BLW, 2008 WL 711636 at *7 (D.

Idaho Mar. 14, 2008); Stocker v. Warden, No. 1:07-CV-00589LJODLBP, 2009 WL 981323

at *10 (E.D. Cal. Apr. 13, 2009).

A. Failure to Use the Court-Approved Form Complaint

Local Rule of Civil Procedure (LRCiv) 3.4(a) provides that an incarcerated person

must file a complaint on the court-approved form. Because Plaintiff did not use the courtapproved form complaint, his Complaint will be dismissed with leave to amend by filing a

first amended complaint using the court-approved form in compliance with the Instructions.

The form must be completely filled in to the extent applicable with all questions

answered clearly and concisely in the appropriate space on the form. Further, the

Instructions for completing the court-approved form complaint provide as follows: 

Local Rule of Civil Procedure (LRCiv) 3.4(a) provides that complaints by

incarcerated persons must be filed on the court-approved form. The form

must be typed or neatly handwritten. The form must be completely filled in

to the extent applicable. All questions must be answered clearly and concisely

in the appropriate space on the form. If needed, you may attach additional

pages, but no more than fifteen additional pages , of standard letter-sized

paper. You must identify which part of the complaint is being continued and

number all pages. If you do not fill out the form properly, you will be asked

to submit additional or corrected information, which may delay the processing

of your action. You do not need to cite law.

(Instructions at ¶ 1) (italics added). In addition, the Instructions provide that: 

1. Counts. You must identify which civil right was violated. You may allege

the violation of only one civil right per count. 2. Issue Involved. Check the box that most closely identifies the issue

involved in your claim. You may check only one box per count. If you

check the box marked “Other,” you must identify the specific issue involved.

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 The Ninth Circuit has held that where identity is unknown prior to the filing of a

complaint, the plaintiff should be given an opportunity through discovery to identify the

unknown defendants, unless it is clear that discovery would not uncover the identities, or that

the complaint would be dismissed on other grounds. Wakefield v. Thompson, 177 F.3d

1160, 1163 (9th Cir. 1999) (citing Gillespie v. Civiletti, 629 F.2d 637, 642 (9th Cir. 1980)).

JDDL-K - 5 -

3. Supporting Facts. After you have identified which civil right was violated,

you must state the supporting facts. Be as specific as possible. You must state

what each individual defendant did to violate your rights. If there is more than

one defendant, you must identify which defendant did what act. You also

should state the date(s) on which the act(s) occurred, if possible.

4. Injury. State precisely how you were injured by the alleged violation of

your rights.

(Id., part C) (italics added).

In a first amended complaint, Plaintiff should carefully follow the Instructions by

setting forth each constitutional violation in a separate count, concisely describe the facts that

support how, when, and where any named defendant violated the particular constitutional

right at issue. Plaintiff should repeat this process for each count. 

B. Failure to Name Any Defendant

Rule 10(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requires a plaintiff to include the

names of the parties in the action. As a practical matter, it is impossible in most instances

for the United States Marshal or his designee to serve a summons and complaint or amended

complaint upon an anonymous defendant. 

As noted above, Plaintiff did not identify the courtroom deputy by name as a

defendant in his Complaint. After he filed his Complaint, Plaintiff filed numerous notices

which indicated that Plaintiff had learned the courtroom deputy’s name. If Plaintiff seeks

relief against that deputy, Plaintiff must name him as a defendant in any amended complaint.

Similarly, Plaintiff must name any other “person” against whom he seeks relief under

§ 1983. Where the names of individual defendants are unknown at the time a complaint or

amended complaint is filed, a plaintiff may refer to the individual unknown defendants

fictitiously as John Doe 1, John Doe 2, John Doe 3, and so on, and allege facts to support

how each particular Doe defendant violated the plaintiff’s constitutional rights.2

 The plaintiff

may thereafter use the discovery processes to obtain the names of fictitiously-named

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defendants whom he believes violated his constitutional rights and seek leave to amend to

name those defendants. 

V. Leave to Amend

For the foregoing reasons, Plaintiff’s Complaint will be dismissed for failure to state

a claim upon which relief may be granted. Within 30 days, Plaintiff may submit a first

amended complaint to cure the deficiencies outlined above. The Clerk of Court will mail

Plaintiff a court-approved form to use for filing a first amended complaint. If Plaintiff fails

to use the court-approved form, the Court may strike the amended complaint and dismiss this

action without further notice to Plaintiff.

Plaintiff must clearly designate on the face of the document that it is the “First

Amended Complaint.” The first amended complaint must be retyped or rewritten in its

entirety on the court-approved form and may not incorporate any part of the original

Complaint by reference. Plaintiff may include only one claim per count. 

A first amended complaint supersedes the original complaint. Ferdik v. Bonzelet, 963

F.2d 1258, 1262 (9th Cir. 1992); Hal Roach Studios v. Richard Feiner & Co., 896 F.2d 1542,

1546 (9th Cir. 1990). After amendment, the Court will treat an original complaint as

nonexistent. Ferdik, 963 F.2d at 1262. Any cause of action that was raised in the original

complaint is waived if it is not raised in a first amended complaint. King v. Atiyeh, 814 F.2d

565, 567 (9th Cir. 1987).

VI. Warnings

A. Release

Plaintiff must pay the unpaid balance of the filing fee within 120 days of his release.

Also, within 30 days of his release, he must either (1) notify the Court that he intends to pay

the balance or (2) show good cause, in writing, why he cannot. Failure to comply may result

in dismissal of this action.

B. Address Changes

Plaintiff must file and serve a notice of a change of address in accordance with Rule

83.3(d) of the Local Rules of Civil Procedure. Plaintiff must not include a motion for other

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relief with a notice of change of address. Failure to comply may result in dismissal of this

action.

C. Copies

Plaintiff must submit an additional copy of every filing for use by the Court. See

LRCiv 5.4. Failure to comply may result in the filing being stricken without further notice

to Plaintiff.

D. Possible “Strike”

Because the Complaint has been dismissed for failure to state a claim, if Plaintiff fails

to file an amended complaint correcting the deficiencies identified in this Order, the

dismissal may count as a “strike” under the “3-strikes” provision of 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g).

Under the 3-strikes provision, a prisoner may not bring a civil action or appeal a civil

judgment in forma pauperis under 28 U.S.C. § 1915 “if the prisoner has, on 3 or more prior

occasions, while incarcerated or detained in any facility, brought an action or appeal in a

court of the United States that was dismissed on the grounds that it is frivolous, malicious,

or fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, unless the prisoner is under

imminent danger of serious physical injury.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). 

E. Possible Dismissal

If Plaintiff fails to timely comply with every provision of this Order, including these

warnings, the Court may dismiss this action without further notice. See Ferdik, 963 F.2d at

1260-61 (a district court may dismiss an action for failure to comply with any order of the

Court).

IT IS ORDERED: 

(1) Plaintiff’s Application to Proceed In Forma Pauperis is granted. (Doc.# 24.)

(2) As required by the accompanying Order to the appropriate government agency,

Plaintiff must pay the $350.00 filing fee and is not assessed an initial partial filing fee.

(3) The Complaint (doc.# 1) is dismissed for failure to state a claim. Plaintiff has

30 days from the date this Order is filed to file a first amended complaint in compliance with

this Order. 

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(4) If Plaintiff fails to file an amended complaint within 30 days, the Clerk of

Court must, without further notice, enter a judgment of dismissal of this action with prejudice

that states that the dismissal may count as a “strike” under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g).

(5) The Clerk of Court must mail Plaintiff a court-approved form for filing a civil

rights complaint by a prisoner.

DATED this 6th day of June, 2010.

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