STIPULATION AND ORDER SUBSTITUTING TRUE NAME OF DEFENDANT LESTER "BUCK" SQUIER FOR FICTITIOUSLY NAMED DEFENDANT JOHN DOE #1 IN PLAINTIFFS' COMPLAINT

[Local Rule 143]

TROY L. NUNLEY, District Judge.

The parties, through their undersigned counsel, stipulate as follows:

1. WHEREAS, Plaintiff Francisco Cardenas was unaware, at the time he filed his Complaint on November 20, 2018 (Dkt. #1), of the true name of the officer whom Mr. Cardenas alleges shot at and struck him on November 14, 2017, during a shootout between law enforcement and the rampaging gunman described in the Complaint, so that Mr. Cardenas sued this office under a fictitious name (see Complaint, ¶¶ 17, 108-123); and

2. WHEREAS Plaintiff has since come to learn that this officer's true name is Lester "Buck" Squier, a Tehama County Sheriff's Deputy; and

3. WHEREAS Federal Rule of Civil Procedure ("Rule") 15(a) provides for amendment of pleadings with the opposing party's written consent, even without leave of Court, and Rule15(c)(1)(C) provides for an "amendment to a pleading" which "changes... the naming of the party against whom a claim is asserted ...", under circumstances which the undersigned agree apply here; and

4. WHERERAS "[t]he policy of freely granting leave to amend should be applied with `extreme liberality'" (ING Bank v. Fazah, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 59312, *4 (E.D.C.A. 2010), quoting DCD Programs, Ltd. v. Leighton, 833 F.2d 183, 186 (9th Cir. 1987)), and the federal courts recognize a general principle favoring trial of cases on their merits,

5. The true name of Lester "Buck" Squier is hereby substituted for the fictitious name "John Doe #1" in plaintiffs' Complaint filed in this case on November 20, 2018 (Dkt. #1), so that each allegation and claim pleaded against Defendant John Doe #1 applies to Defendant Lester "Buck" Squier;

6. Defendants' consent to this substitution is not, and shall not be construed as, an admission of liability or of any allegation, claim, or cause of action asserted by plaintiffs;

7. Defendants' undersigned counsel hereby accepts service of plaintiffs' summons and complaint on Defendant Squier;

8. Defendant Squier thereby joins and is made one of the moving parties to defendants' pending motion to dismiss plaintiffs' complaint under Rule 12(b)(6) filed on April 1, 2019 (Dkt. #9), so that the Court's ruling on defendants' motion to dismiss shall apply to Defendant Squier;

9. Defendants, and each of them, expressly reserve all other rights, defenses, remedies, and arguments they have or may have in conjunction with this matter.

IT IS SO ORDERED.