Soto

I. BACKGROUND

18 Plaintiff Francisco Vega, Jr., is a state prisoner proceeding pro se in this civil rights action 19 filed on April 21, 2022, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. This case proceeds on Plaintiff’s First 20 Amendment retaliation claims against Defendants Soto, Borba, and Noujaime. (ECF No. 15). 21 Defendants answered the complaint on December 21, 2022, raising six affirmative defenses. (ECF No. 26). On January 11, 2023, Plaintiff moved to strike the first, second, third, fourth, and sixth affirmative defenses for being “boilerplat[e]” and inapplicable to his claims. (ECF No. 27). Defendants filed an opposition on January 30, 2023, arguing that the motion should be denied as to their first and second affirmative defenses and waiving their third, fourth, and sixth affirmative defenses. (ECF No. 28). Plaintiff has not filed any reply within the fourteen- day period provided under Local Rule 230(l), and the motion is now ripe. For the reasons given, the Court will recommend that Plaintiff’s motion to strike be granted, in part, and denied, in part. II. LEGAL STANDARDS Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a defendant must…