Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-3_14-cv-02333/USCOURTS-cand-3_14-cv-02333-9/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Episcopal Community Services of San Francisco
Defendant
Polliana W. Tsoi
Plaintiff

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United States District Court

Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

POLLIANA W. TSOI,

Plaintiff,

v.

EPISCOPAL COMMUNITY SERVICES 

OF SAN FRANCISCO,

Defendant.

Case No. 14-cv-02333-RS 

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE WHY CASE 

SHOULD NOT BE DISMISSED

Plaintiff Polliana W. Tsoi filed this action in May of 2014. Her pleadings are handwritten 

and difficult to decipher, but the gravamen of her complaint appears to be that she was harassed 

and mistreated while living at a shelter operated by defendant Episcopal Community Services. 

Some of the alleged harassment was from fellow residents that defendant purportedly failed to 

control, and some came directly from defendants’ employees. 

Defendant answered in June of 2014. Citing health and other problems, plaintiff sought 

and was granted several continuances of the initial Case Management Conference. The CMC 

eventually went forward in February of this year, and the parties were ordered to participate in a 

settlement conference with a magistrate judge.

Plaintiff failed to attend the settlement conference. Although she filed a motion to be 

“exempted” from the settlement conference that same day, in light of her failure to seek relief in 

advance of her failure to appear, the magistrate judge issued an order to show cause. See Dkt. No. 

42. Plaintiff then failed to attend the hearing on the magistrate judge’s order to show cause, 

although she did communicate with the court through certain filings and telephone calls, as 

Case 3:14-cv-02333-RS Document 57 Filed 12/21/15 Page 1 of 2
ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE

CASE NO. 14-cv-02333-RS

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United States District Court

Northern District of California

described in the magistrate judge’s subsequent Report and Recommendation. See Dkt. No. 45. 

Because plaintiff’s conduct made it impossible to move forward with a settlement conference, 

however, the magistrate judge recommended that a further order to show cause be issued by the 

undersigned.

That order to show cause issued in September of this year. While plaintiff thereafter filed 

certain other motions, which were denied, she never directly responded to that order to show 

cause, other than twice to seek continuance of the hearing. On the morning of the hearing, plaintiff 

telephoned the court and advised that she would not attend. 

On this record, while plaintiff has made some minimal efforts to stay in communication 

with the court, her course of conduct demonstrates an unwillingness and/or inability to comply

with court orders and rules such that the case has not moved forward and cannot be expected to. 

Accordingly, plaintiff is ordered to appear in person at 1:30 p.m. on January 28, 2016 in 

Courtroom 3, Seventeenth Floor of the court, 450 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, and show 

cause why the case should not be dismissed for her failure to comply with orders and rules and/or 

for lack of prosecution. No continuances of the hearing will be granted. In the event plaintiff 

fails to appear, this case may be dismissed without further notice.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: December 20, 2015

______________________________________

RICHARD SEEBORG

United States District Judge

Case 3:14-cv-02333-RS Document 57 Filed 12/21/15 Page 2 of 2