Best v. Virgil Smith
- Yvonne Rogers
- 4:19-cv-02252
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 3
In Best v. Virgil Smith, Judge Rogers denied two motions without prejudice and granted in part Best’s motion to amend his complaint.
Pro se plaintiff Brian Best and defendant Virgil Smith; the order also sets requirements affecting any defendants named in Best’s Third Amended Complaint.
What happened
Brian Best, representing himself, asked the court to require production of evidence, enter a protective order, and allow him to amend or correct his complaint. The case was at an early stage of discovery.
The court denied the evidence request without prejudice because it was premature and told the parties to try to resolve discovery disputes before following the court’s procedures. It also denied the protective-order request without prejudice, stating that the standard model order should be used. The court granted in part the request to amend.
Judge Yvonne Rogers allowed Best to file a Third Amended Complaint within 28 days, subject to requirements for clearly identifying claims, defendants, actions, injuries, and exhaustion of administrative remedies. The order terminated the three motions.
The detailed version
- Best v. Virgil Smith · No. 4:19-cv-02252
- Yvonne Rogers
- Nov. 13, 2020
Background
Pro se plaintiff Brian Best filed three motions: a motion to produce evidence, a motion for a protective order, and a motion to amend or correct his complaint. The court addressed the motions based on reasons discussed at an October 26, 2020 case-management conference and confirmed in the written order.
Motion to Produce
The court denied the motion to produce without prejudice because the request was premature. The parties had only begun discovery. The court directed them to try in good faith to resolve any discovery disputes first and then follow the court’s Standing Order in Civil Cases, including its requirement for a joint letter brief of no more than four pages.
Motion for Protective Order
The court denied the motion for a protective order without prejudice. It explained that it routinely uses the model stipulated protective order for standard litigation and that the additional paragraphs proposed by Best were not warranted. The parties could refile the model stipulated protective order for the court’s consideration.
Motion to Amend or Correct the Complaint
The court granted in part Best’s motion to amend or correct his complaint. It gave him leave to file a simple, concise, and direct Third Amended Complaint within 28 days. The new complaint must include all claims Best wants to present because it will completely replace the earlier complaint and may not incorporate earlier pleadings by reference.
The court directed Best to state each federal claim clearly, place each claim in a separate numbered paragraph, identify each defendant and the specific actions or failures that allegedly caused a constitutional-rights violation, and identify the injury resulting from each claim. He also must explain how he exhausted administrative remedies for each claim against each defendant. The complaint may not rely on conclusory assertions of “direct involvement,” name defendants based only on a supervisor’s status or respondeat-superior liability, or name Doe defendants. The order states that claims against Doe defendants had been dismissed without prejudice to a later request to add them after their identities are learned. Best could also include claims or defendants previously dismissed without prejudice, including the example of a Monell claim. Defendants’ responses were due 21 days after receiving the Third Amended Complaint.
Disposition
The court denied without prejudice the motion to produce and denied without prejudice the motion for a protective order. It granted in part the motion to amend or correct the complaint. The order terminated Docket Nos. 65, 66, and 68. It did not decide the underlying merits of Best’s claims.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.