Fan v. California University - Silicon Valley

Background

On November 3, 2025, the court screened Lingling Fan’s complaint, paused service of process, and allowed her to file an amended complaint by November 21, 2025. The earlier order warned that if Fan did not timely amend, or if the amended complaint did not correct the identified problems, the case could be reassigned to a district judge with a recommendation that the complaint be dismissed in whole or in part.

The docket showed that the November 21 deadline passed without Fan filing an amended complaint.

Order to Show Cause

The court issued an order to show cause, meaning an order requiring a party to explain why a particular action should not be taken. It directed Fan to file a written response by December 31, 2025, explaining why the case should not be dismissed for failure to prosecute, meaning failure to move the case forward.

The court stated that it has inherent authority to dismiss an action on its own initiative to achieve the orderly and efficient resolution of cases. If Fan does not respond by the deadline, the court will issue an order reassigning the action to a district judge with a recommendation that the complaint be dismissed. The opinion text ends while stating the terms of that potential dismissal, so the complete wording of the warning is not available here.

Disposition

This order did not dismiss the case. It required Fan to respond by December 31, 2025, and took the December 16, 2025 initial case-management conference off the calendar.