Burgess

MEMORANDUM *

Plaintiff Cathy Burgess, appearing pro se, brought this damages action against the Alameda County Housing Authority (ACHA). Burgess alleges that because the ACHA failed to transfer her Section 8 paperwork to Concord County Housing Authority on a timely basis, she and her two children were unable to secure housing and consequently became homeless for over a year. She appeals, now with counsel, from the district court’s dismissal of her case.

We affirm in part and reverse in part. Because the facts are familiar to the parties, we recount them only as necessary to explain our decision.

I.

The district court dismissed Burgess’s case on January 28, 2003, stating that the “[m]ore definite statement” she had filed “cannot be interpreted, even with the liberality accorded to pleadings of pro se litigants, as an adequate complaint.”

ACHA argues the district court dismissed under Rule 41(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Neither party moved for dismissal under Rule 41(b), however. Nor did the district court mention Rule 41(b) in its order, consider the factors applicable to dismissal under Rule 41(b), or otherwise indicate that the dismissal was a sanction for…