Smith v. Equitable Life & Casualty Insurance Company

1 2 3 4 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 7 8 PHYLLIS SMITH, Case No. 22-cv-09125-JD

9 Plaintiff,

ORDER RE GUARDIAN AD LITEM

v. 10

11 EQUITABLE LIFE & CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, et al., 12 Defendants.

13 14 Plaintiff Phyllis Smith filed an unopposed motion to appoint her son, David Smith, as 15 guardian ad litem for purposes of this lawsuit. Dkt. No. 32. 16 The Court will appoint a guardian because the record indicates that Phyllis Smith is not 17 competent to proceed independently. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 17(c)(2). Her capacity to sue is 18 determined by California law. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 17(b)(1); Dkt. No. 1 ¶ 4. “In California, a party 19 is incompetent if [s]he lacks the capacity to understand the nature or consequences of the 20 proceeding, or is unable to assist counsel in the preparation of the case.” Robbins v. Mscripts, 21 LLC, No. 23-cv-01381-LB, 2023 WL 4205773, at *2 (N.D. Cal. June 27, 2023) (citations 22 omitted). Phyllis Smith’s attorney states that she “has dementia and is not competent to represent 23 herself in this…