Critchfield

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA San Francisco Division JAMES CRITCHFIELD, Case No. 20-cv-02981-LB

Plaintiff,

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO

v. DISMISS WITH LEAVE TO AMEND

PRESTON PIPELINES INC., et al., Re: ECF No. 9 Defendants. 16 INTRODUCTION Plaintiff James Critchfield, who is representing himself, sued his former employer Preston Pipelines and five Preston employees (Mike Preston, Ron Bianchini, Rich Lewis, Dennis Daikoku, and Tom Ryan), alleging that they fired him for impermissible, discriminatory reasons.1 He checked the box “Other” on the Northern District’s form employment complaint and specified that he “was passed over for many promotions or lateral moves because they would use it to harass[] me.”2 The defendants collectively moved to dismiss the complaint (1) under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(5) for insufficient service of process under Rule 4, (2) under Rule 12(b)(6) for failure…