Saddozai v. Atchley
- Beth Freeman
- 5:20-cv-07534
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Saddozai v. Atchley, Judge Freeman granted Shikeb Saddozai 45 more days to file an amended complaint.
Shikeb Saddozai, who received additional time to file an amended complaint; the defendants in his civil-rights action were also affected because claims and defendants omitted from the amended complaint would no longer remain in the case.
What happened
In Saddozai v. Atchley, Shikeb Saddozai, a state prisoner representing himself, asked for more time to file an amended complaint. He cited COVID-19 restrictions and limited law-library access.
The court granted his motion and gave him the requested 45-day extension. The opinion excerpt does not show the new filing deadline.
Judge Freeman reminded Saddozai that the amended complaint would replace the original complaint and that failing to file it on time would lead to dismissal of the action without prejudice and without further notice.
The detailed version
- Saddozai v. Atchley · No. 5:20-cv-07534
- Beth Freeman
- Apr. 16, 2021
Background
Shikeb Saddozai, a state prisoner proceeding without a lawyer, brought a civil-rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against prison staff at Salinas Valley State Prison and the Director of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. On March 5, 2021, the court dismissed his complaint but allowed him to file an amended complaint with sufficient facts for a deliberate-indifference claim. The court set April 2, 2021, as the filing deadline.
Motion and ruling
Saddozai moved for an extension of time, citing COVID-19 restrictions, including limited access to the law library. The court found good cause and granted the motion, giving him the requested 45-day extension. The opinion excerpt does not show the resulting calendar deadline because the relevant date is missing from the text provided.
Instructions and effect
The court ordered that the amended complaint use the case caption and civil case number stated in the order and include the words “AMENDED COMPLAINT” on its first page. It also instructed Saddozai to answer all questions on the required form. The amended complaint would replace the original complaint; claims and defendants omitted from it would no longer be part of the action. Judge Beth Labson Freeman warned that failure to file the amended complaint within the extended period would result in dismissal of the action without prejudice and without further notice.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.