Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-3_12-cv-05122/USCOURTS-cand-3_12-cv-05122-9/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
John D. Lambertson
Plaintiff
G. D. Lewis
Defendant

Document Text:

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

United States District Court

Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

JOHN D. LAMBERTSON,

Plaintiff,

v.

G. D. LEWIS,

Defendant.

Case No. 12-cv-05122-JD 

ORDER TO REOPEN CASE AND 

SEND PLAINTIFF A SUBPOENA

Plaintiff, a state prisoner, filed a pro se civil rights complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. 

Plaintiff alleged that three Doe defendants and the warden failed to protect him from an assault by 

other inmates on February 14, 2012. The case was dismissed for failure to state a claim and 

plaintiff filed an appeal. The Ninth Circuit reversed and ordered the claims to continue against the 

Doe defendants and remanded the case for further proceedings.1 The Doe defendants have not 

been identified or served.

Although the use of “John Doe” to identify a defendant is not favored in the Ninth Circuit, 

see Gillespie v. Civiletti, 629 F.2d 637, 642 (9th Cir. 1980); Wiltsie v. Cal. Dep’t of Corrections, 

406 F.2d 515, 518 (9th Cir. 1968), situations may arise where the identity of alleged defendants 

cannot be known prior to the filing of a complaint. In such circumstances, the plaintiff should be 

given an opportunity through discovery to identify the unknown defendants, unless it is clear that 

discovery would not uncover their identities or that the complaint should be dismissed on other 

grounds. See Gillespie, 629 F.2d at 642; Velasquez v. Senko, 643 F. Supp. 1172, 1180 (N.D. Cal. 

1986). 

 

1

The Ninth Circuit did not consider the claim against the warden because plaintiff failed to 

reallege his claim against this defendant in the third amended complaint.

Case 3:12-cv-05122-JD Document 60 Filed 06/01/16 Page 1 of 3
2

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

United States District Court

Northern District of California

Plaintiff must provide the identities of the Doe defendants. Plaintiff may seek such 

information through the California Public Records Act or any other means available such as 

seeking reports from his central file concerning the incident. Plaintiff may also use a Court

subpoena which the Court will provide with instruction below. If plaintiff seeks to use the 

subpoena he must return it the Court as soon as possible.

CONCLUSION

1. The Clerk shall REOPEN this case. 

2. Plaintiff shall provide the identities of the defendants within fifty-six days (56) of 

service of this Order. 

3. As a pro se litigant, plaintiff needs the Court’s Clerk to issue a subpoena. Fed. R. Civ.

P. 45(a)(3). Therefore, the Clerk shall send to plaintiff a blank records subpoena form for 

plaintiff to fill out and return to the Court so that the Clerk may issue the subpoena and the 

Marshal may serve it on the subpoenaed party. Plaintiff needs to fill in all of the necessary 

information, but must leave the signature line blank so that the Clerk may sign it. 

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: June 1, 2016

JAMES DONATO

United States District Judge

Case 3:12-cv-05122-JD Document 60 Filed 06/01/16 Page 2 of 3
3

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

United States District Court

Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

JOHN D. LAMBERTSON,

Plaintiff,

v.

G. D. LEWIS,

Defendant.

Case No. 12-cv-05122-JD 

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 June 1, 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.

John D. Lambertson ID: V-92821

California State Prison-Corcoran

P.O. Box 3466

Corcoran, CA 93212 

Dated: June 1, 2016

Susan Y. Soong

Clerk, United States District Court

By:________________________

LISA R. CLARK, Deputy Clerk to the 

Honorable JAMES DONATO

Case 3:12-cv-05122-JD Document 60 Filed 06/01/16 Page 3 of 3