Brunskill v. Booth
- William Orrick
- 3:23-cv-04077
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Brunskill v. Booth, Judge Kim dismissed the complaint with leave to amend, requiring a proper amended complaint within 28 days.
The ruling affected Dylan Richey Brunskill, who was given 28 days to file an amended complaint. It also affected the claims and defendants in the case because only those included in the amended complaint would be considered, and the action would be dismissed if a proper amended complaint was not filed.
What happened
In Brunskill v. Booth, Dylan Richey Brunskill, a pretrial detainee at the Santa Cruz County Jail, alleged that jail officials used excessive force during a hospital transport and denied him medical care after his return.
Brunskill filed the lawsuit without a lawyer under a federal civil-rights law. He later asked to add claims alleging retaliation and interference with legal mail. The court found that his request was timely and that the proposed claims did not appear frivolous.
Judge Sallie Kim dismissed the complaint with leave to amend. Brunskill had 28 days to file a proper amended complaint using the required caption and case number. The court warned that the amended complaint would replace the original and that failing to file it properly would result in dismissal of the action.
The detailed version
- Brunskill v. Booth · No. 3:23-cv-04077
- William Orrick
- Nov. 3, 2023
Background
Dylan Richey Brunskill, identified in the caption as a plaintiff proceeding without a lawyer, was a pretrial detainee at the Santa Cruz County Jail. He said that jail officials transported him to Dominican Hospital on November 22, 2022, used excessive force against him, and denied him medical care after he returned to the jail. He brought the claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a federal law that allows certain civil-rights claims against state actors.
Brunskill later filed a request to formally amend his complaint by adding claims for retaliation and interference with legal mail.
Amendment request
The court applied Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a)(1), which allows a party to amend a pleading once as a matter of course within specified time limits. The court found Brunskill’s request timely and stated that his proposed claims did not appear frivolous.
Ruling
Judge Sallie Kim dismissed the complaint with leave to amend within 28 days of the order. The court required the amended pleading to be simple and concise, to use the caption and civil case number from the order, and to state “FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT” on its first page.
The court explained that the amended complaint would replace the original complaint and all other pleadings. Claims and defendants omitted from the amended complaint would not be considered. The court stated that failure to file a proper amended complaint within the designated time would result in dismissal of the action.
Disposition
The complaint was dismissed with leave to amend. The opinion does not state that the dismissal was with or without prejudice.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.