Joseph Lee Townsend v. Alex Villanueva

I. BACKGROUND

In July 2020, state prisoner Joseph Townsend (“Plaintiff”) filed a pro se civil rights Complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. See Dkt. 1. On August 17, the Magistrate Judge screened the Complaint and dismissed it with leave to amend. See Dkt. 4. Plaintiff was ordered, within thirty-five (35) days, to either stand on the Complaint or file a First Amended Complaint. See id. at 8. Plaintiff was expressly warned that failure to act would result in dismissal for failure to prosecute. See id. at 9. Now, nearly two months later, after the deadline has passed, Plaintiff has not filed anything. Il. DISCUSSION District courts have the inherent power to achieve the orderly and expeditious disposition of cases by dismissing actions under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) for failure to prosecute and failure to comply with a

court order. See Link v. Wabash R.R., 370 U.S. 626, 629-31 (1962). This applies to pro se litigants as well, who are expected to comply with the same procedural standards as represented litigants. See Ghazali v. Moran, 46 F.3d 52, 54 (9th Cir. 1995) (“Although we construe pleadings liberally in their favor, pro se litigants are bound by the…