Zaragoza

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 LANCE WILLIAMS, No. 2:21-cv-0153 DJC AC P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 14 L. ZARAGOZA, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff is a former state prisoner proceeding pro se with a civil rights action pursuant to 18 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Currently before the court is defendants’ motion to dismiss plaintiff’s first 19 amended complaint. ECF No. 29. 20 I. Procedural History 21 By order filed January 31, 2023, the undersigned screened the first amended complaint 22 and found that it stated claims for excessive force and retaliation against defendants Estrada, 23 Tovar, and Bawari, as well as a distinct claim of cruel and unusual punishment against Estrada. 24 ECF No. 17 at 15. The complaint did not state any other cognizable claims and plaintiff was 25 given the option of proceeding on the first amended complaint as screened or amending the 26 complaint. Id. Plaintiff opted to proceed on his cognizable claims and voluntarily dismissed…